Shoreline Annexation Winning By Big Majority

Shoreline is gaining about 1,500 residents.

Eighty-seven percent of 403 ballots counted in amail election yesterday favored annexation to the 2-year-old city.

"Now there is no question about what the people wanted," said Shoreline Mayor Connie King.

The annexed area includes the sliver of neighborhoods between Shoreline and Lake Forest Park, north of Northeast 145th Street and south of Northeast 168th Street.

King County elections officials expect as many as 300 more ballots to come in. But if the voting pattern continues, the results shouldn't change, said Bob Bruce, superintendent of elections in King County.

Shoreline and Lake Forest Park have been battling for about a year over the unincorporated parcels between the two communities. Lake Forest Park wanted to annex the area with a method that does not put the measure on the ballot.

In a related measure, 63 percent of the voters supported assuming Shoreline's long-term debt.

While most school districts got what they wanted in yesterday's special elections, Arlington did not. Fifty-two percent of Arlington voters supported a $41 million bond measure to build a high school, but that wasn't enough. A 60 percent yes vote was required for passage.

The Arlington measure was to build a high school that would have housed 1,600 students. The current 62-year-old high school, and its 15 portable classrooms, now serves about 1,200 students, but was built for 900 students.

The new school was to be on a portion of 180 acres along Highway 530, about 1.5 miles from town.

If the measure had passed, $10 million in matching state funds would have modernized Presidents Elementary School and remodeled the existing high school for use as another school, probably a middle school. The 20-year bonds would have cost $2 per thousand of assessed valuation, or $300 a year on a $150,000 house.

"We feel good that over 50 percent of the people realize that change was needed," said Bob Campbell, co-chairman of the citizen levy committee. The next step is to figure out what part of the measure they didn't like, he said.

The district doesn't expect to return to voters until May, said Superintendent Linda Byrnes.

Schools weren't the only items rejected. Voters also turned away proposals for new parks and ballfields in Monroe, and a police station in Bothell, according to unofficial final results.

Monroe residents voted 2-1 against new parks and ballfields.

About 64 percent of the voters rejected a $550,000 bond measure that would have paid for 65 acres on Yeager Road three miles northeast of the city. Even more residents, 68 percent, turned down a $3.5 million bond proposal that would have built baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, picnic facilities and trails. Together, they would have cost the owner of a $150,000 home about $42 a year.

Voter turnout was the critical factor in Bothell, where 65 percent of the voters supported a 20-year, $9.7 million bond measure to build a public-safety building across from City Hall.

The measure failed because only 3,803 voted - 1,258 shy of the number needed to validate the election. It needed a turnout of at least 40 percent of those who voted in November.

"We knew that we were taking somewhat of a risk trying to get 5,000 voters out," said City Councilwoman Jeanne Edwards.

Now the council must decide whether to wait until November, when four council seats are up for election, or return this proposal to the polls earlier.

The city will be back. "We have to. There's just no doubt in my mind," Edwards said.

The city has been leasing "temporary" quarters for its police station and 911 dispatch center in the Quadrant Business Park for 10 years. Officials say the space is inadequate. The police station nearly lost its roof during recent winter storms.

The staff has outgrown the space, the structure doesn't meet safety codes, and prisoners are locked in plywood cubicles because there are no cells.

The failed measure would have cost property owners 37.6 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. An owner of a $150,000 home would have paid $56.40 a year.

The only uncontested races yesterday were in a small area east of Arlington. The Love Israel commune selected Love Israel, Serious Israel and Abishai Israel as the three commissioners for the Jordan Water District that will serve the 300-acre commune.

Other election results:

-- Tahoma School District. About 68 percent of the voters approved a $45.48 million bond measure to renovate older facilities and build a high school. Superintendent Mike Marayanski said he was confident that the 341 votes still needed for validation would trickle in this week.

-- Fife School District. A one-year $2.65 million maintenance-and-operation levy passed with a 69-percent yes vote. The levy will supplement state funds to pay for everything from books to salaries.

-- Bainbridge Island School District. A $26.8 million bond measure passed with a 72 percent yes vote and a turnout of more than 5,000 voters. The money will be used to remodel and expand Bainbridge High School, while the remainder will build a new elementary-intermediate school.

-- Tacoma School District. About 62 percent of the voters said yes to a $150 million, six-year levy to renovate and build schools. Officials still needed 390 more yes votes and were hoping they would come through with last-minute absentee ballots.

-- Fire District 26 in Des Moines. A $4.96 million bond measure to build or renovate a firehouse failed despite having a 74 percent yes vote. The measure was short 2,859 votes for validation.

-- Fire District 38 in the upper Snoqualmie area. Voters (66 percent) rejected by 2-1 a measure to merge with the Issaquah-based Fire District 10.

-- City of Auburn. The city will get a library twice the size of the current one, with voters approving annexing to the King County Library System.