MONROE — The city has plans to grow northward by potentially annexing about 250 acres in the near future.
One is about 150 acres in the Robinhood area northwest of the Fairgrounds that has 31 acres being turned into a residential development called the Woodlands; homes have already begun being built here. Another annexation area is 44 acres directly east of the Woodlands, but for it to be eligible for annexation, the landowner needs the Woodlands site to join Monroe first to form a contiguous boundary since the site otherwise doesn’t touch the city limit borders, city planners said. The two annexation areas are along the two sides of 175th Avenue SE, which is west of Robinhood Lane.
The third proposed annexation is a swath of 160 acres at the very northeast of the city that would include a future residential development called the Monroe Estates.
All told, the two tract housing developments would bring more than 250 more homes to north Monroe, city planners estimate.
The city has many steps to take toward annexation, but will be reaching out to residents this fall with a petition, city planner Shana Restall said.
The city would take that petition to the City Council for approval to pursue annexation, and proceed to get a petition signed by 60 percent of the affected landowners to then take to the county, city planning director Ben Swanson explained.
The city can’t predict the county’s timelines for approving any of the potential annexations, and it’s possible the county planning department could ask the city to modify the boundaries to annex a smaller or larger area. If the annexation area enlarges, the city would send notices of potential annexation to homeowners, Swanson said.
Both the developers want to join Monroe, Swanson said.
For the Estates, its interest is to bring city sewer and water utilities to the area. The developers would pay for these utility additions, Swanson said.
Homebuilder D.R. Horton is building the Monroe Woodlands along 175th Avenue SE, and it says the residents are in the Snohomish School District some six miles away. These homes hover from $450,000 to $600,000. Access is from Robinhood Lane, which turns into 179th Avenue SE in town.
An investment company owns the Monroe Estates site at the very end of 205th Avenue SE. The proposed annexation area is east of Chain Lake Road, but it appears any traffic would use Ingraham Road, which is connected to Woods Creek Road. The future development would be north of The Farm neighborhood development accessed by Country Crescent Boulevard.
The county is handling plat work for the Woodlands and Monroe Estates sites, Swanson said. If these are annexed, the city would take on permit work after the platting is done.
A year-and-a-half ago, the city’s original plan was to annex its entire northern urban growth area, but it scaled back this much larger plan because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It wasn’t practical,” Restall said.
For anyone counting, Monroe’s city boundaries are equal to 3,315 acres, or about 5.1 square miles. While the proposed annexation sizes in this story are tentative, as proposed these would increase Monroe’s footprint to about 3,600 acres, or 5.6 square miles.
A city flyer offers a few points on annexations:
1) “Homeowners with private septic systems can keep their septic system until the end of its useful life.”
2) Livestock will be allowed under a “grandfathered” basis.
3) The Monroe Police Department would expand its coverage to annexed areas. Snohomish Fire District 7 (Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue) would continue fire service.
