Kent, Covington Clash Over Suburb -- Lake Meridian Area Caught In Tug Of War

LAKE MERIDIAN - Chuck Gearhart ambles down the dock with a fishing pole in one hand and a bucket in the other. He stops long enough to offer an opinion on an issue that is wearing on Lake Meridian-area residents like a bad batch of stink bait:

Should they join the city of Kent, which wants to annex the area in January, or try their luck with the folks who want to form the city of Covington?

"I'd be inclined to go with Covington," said Gearhart, an elderly man who has lived in the area most of his life. "It's more rural and quiet."

A half-mile to the west, Penny Thode pushes a lawn mower in the new View Ridge development. She favors joining Kent. "When we moved here (a year ago), I didn't want to have anything to do with Kent," Thode said. "It had that stigma: Camaros, cowboy boots and pickups. But it's not really that way."

Two people, two opinions. And two groups are angling over the Lake Meridian area, home to about 9,000 people, a country club and some of the priciest homes in the Green River Valley.

Patsy Davis, in testimony before the Metropolitan King County Council, last month, summed up why she thought Lake Meridian-area residents didn't want to join Kent: "We relate culturally to Covington." Davis said.

If "culturally" can be summed up in a drive along Southeast 272nd Street, the main drag in the Lake Meridian area, it becomes apparent that the community is influenced on the fringes by both areas, but doesn't share much of a chemistry with either one.

Heading west, the subdivisions of Kent's East Hill blend well with the residential flavor of Lake Meridian, but the apartments, taverns and industrial parts of Kent are completely foreign.

Going east, the new subdivisions in Covington, such as Lake Winterwood, and the Covington Square shopping center could fit well with the suburban flavor of Lake Meridian. But a gun shop called Bear Arms, a Western clothing store and houses with shooting ranges in the back yard would likely appeal to fewer Lake Meridian residents.

For Thode, the question boils down to which city would be the better provider. Kent is a bigger city than Covington would be and could provide better police protection and other services right away.

In March, the question wasn't even in doubt. It was apparently settled after a brief but frenzied effort by two groups: residents who lived east of Kent who were circulating a petition to have a 5.9-square-mile area of 20,000 residents annexed to Kent, and a group of Covington residents wanting to form a city of 18,000.

The pro-Kent group won by default when about half of the 1,400 signatures gathered by the Covington group were declared invalid, leaving them short of the 922 needed to put the issue on the ballot. Meanwhile, the pro-Kent group succeeded in signing up property owners representing more than 60 percent of the assessed area, essentially settling the matter, until now.

The Covington group has kicked off a new petition drive and still wants the Lake Meridian area. The group claims the pro-Kent group didn't really give Lake Meridian residents a say.

Mike Aronoff, an attorney who is leading the Covington cityhood effort, said property owners in 34 percent of the area that agreed to annex to Kent were trying to get utility services and had signed a "no-protest agreement," meaning they would not oppose an annexation bid. "It was legal, but it was a loophole," said Joe Jenkins, executive director of the Covington Chamber of Commerce. "They signed so they could get water from Kent."

Kent Mayor Jim White, speaking at a Covington Chamber luncheon recently, defended the annexation petition. He told the Covington crowd that Kent wasn't trying to stand in the way of the cityhood drive, but he made it clear Kent wasn't giving up Lake Meridian.

The state Boundary Review Board for King County is expected to settle the issue Aug. 10, after a public hearing on the Kent-annexation proposal July 23.

White said he expects the city to take over the area Jan. 1.

Kent may have the edge for several reasons:

-- The Kent annexation is further along in the process than Covington cityhood.

-- The Lake Meridian area, under King County's growth plans, already is designated as an area that should be annexed by Kent.

-- State law favors annexations over incorporations.