Lakeland Annexations

I just realized that the annexation areas on the ballot last week for the unincorporated region between Federal Way and Auburn neatly follows the boundary between the two school district. The entire area, however, has Auburn addresses.

(Federal Way is a much newer city than Auburn. In fact, the US Post Office still lets you write "Auburn" as the city for all addresses in Federal Way!)

The Auburn area of the annexation vote passed, 57% to 43%. The Federal Way area(s) of the annexation vote failed, 66% to 34%.

They've been writing "Auburn" as their city for years, and Federal Way thought they could take them over? Not even being in Federal Way School District was enough to override that.

Maybe they should incorporate as their own city, Lakeland, like Fairwood has considered (Renton addresses, Kent School District). Too bad Lakeland is almost entirely cut in two by Federal Way and Auburn. Only the width of Peasley Canyon Road connects the two halves. Stranger things have happened, though. Look at Centennial, Colorado.