The county-wide Growth Management Planning Council recommended on Oct. 4 that two overlapping, dueling claims for annexation of the North Highline Unincorporated Area be recognized.

Burien and Seattle both have designated the unincorporated area as a potential annexation area (PAA).

This recommendation will be forwarded to the King County Council, which is expected to review the recommendation and decide whether to change the current potential annexation area map.

Any action by the county council likely won't take place until next year.

According to Burien Community Development Director Scott Greenberg, several overlapping PAA claims elsewhere in King County already appear on the potential annexation area map.

If the county council agrees that both competing claims to North Highline should be recognized on the map, that action then must be ratified by a majority of cities in King County.

Only then can formal steps leading to annexation of North Highline be taken by either Burien or Seattle.

King County Executive Ron Sims submitted a letter to the planning council asking that Burien and Seattle, together with Tukwila, which also has a claim on part of North Highline, resume negotiations about dividing the unincorporated area for annexation by three cities.

If SeaTac also proceeds with an annexation claim to Boulevard Park, part of North Highline, that city likely would participate in negotiations, too.

Sims added that his staff is working on a dispute resolution process to resolve the annexation stalemate.