The North Highline Fire Station heated up April 3 when the unincorporated area council hosted Burien City Manager Mike Martin.

Martin presented council members with three partial annexation options and a "no-annexation" option that he proposed earlier in the week to Burien lawmakers.

Each option would have Burien annex an area of unincorporated North Highline with more than 10,000 residents - about one third its total population.

Residents within an area targeted for annexation would eventually have the opportunity to cast an up-or-down vote.

Martin insisted that nothing was written in stone at this time. The Burien City Council is expected to discuss the options on Monday, April 21.

Burien council members are still in a "fact-finding mode," he added. "We want to make a recommendation within the month, and bring this issue to a close between November and February."

In late 2006, Burien designated all of North Highline as a potential annexation area, claiming residential neighborhoods and local retail centers roughly north of South/Southwest 128th Street and south of South/Southwest Roxbury Street, and west of State Route 509 to Puget Sound, to give the city time to evaluate the possible annexation of part or all of it.

Seattle then designated all of North Highline as a potential annexation area in early 2007.

Tukwila earlier had designated an adjacent area in the northeast part of North Highline for annexation, and SeaTac recently expressed interest in annexing the southeast part of North Highline for annexation.

King County Executive Ron Sims has urged the four cities to enter into mediation to resolve the conflicting annexation claims.

Last month, Martin sent a letter on behalf of the city council to Sims and the other three cities renewing Burien's willingness to enter into mediation. Seattle officials have not indicated whether they will agree to mediation.

Martin noted that the three partial annexation options "are drawn to recognize logical physical boundaries as well as considering service delivery needs."

Each option has "at least 10,000 population," which would allow "Burien to receive the State sales tax credit to offset costs for serving the annexed area," he said.

Just before Martin's turn at the microphone, however, Boulevard Park resident Claire Henson gave an impassioned five-minute plea for North Highline not to annex, and invoked the wishes she recalled of the late Judy Duff, former president of the North Highline council.

"She prayed we should reject any future division of North Highline with a 'no' vote," said Henson of Duff. "We must quit playing ball with Burien and reject all three options. If we get fractured we will lose our political power. Remember who drove this council, and honor the path of Judy Duff."

If the "no-annexation plan" was chosen, some on the board worried that Seattle would be looming over them and may gobble them up, or perhaps a portion, as it sees fit.

Martin stepped behind the podium and before saying a word, grinned and put on a hardhat as if anticipating an onslaught of tossed tomatoes.

"I know how sensitive annexation is," Martin said. He got a laugh and then got down to business.

Packets were distributed containing three foldout maps of the annexation options with colorful but complex boundary designations. He said he wanted to be unbiased, but personally leaned toward the first two schemes and felt the third did not do as well at "respecting neighborhood boundaries," and seemed to "chop up' areas.

"Each annexation option is 'revenue neutral' to Burien," he said, meaning one option would not benefit Burien more than the others.

A North Highline resident voiced concerns that her home may have less value with a Burien address than a Seattle address, and that her realtor told her, "Seattle has more cachet."

Council vice president Liz Giba told her that her property taxes would go up and she would need more cash if she became a resident of Seattle rather than Burien.

Councilman Douglas Harrell said he does not want White Center to be annexed by Seattle.

Harrell acknowledged his opinion was partly based on personal reasons as he owns two businesses there and does not desire big city bureaucracy and other urban issues.

Ron Johnson said he was tired of North Highline being taken advantage of financially and being overlooked by the county and state.

Councilman Ray Helms told Martin he thought the Burien presentation was well thought out.

Martin told the North Highline council that he spoke with Kurt Triplett, chief of staff for King County Executive Ron Sims, "a great guy who is very supportive (of annexation by Burien).

"The county wants to get out of the unincorporated business. With upcoming budget shortfalls they will be under enormous pressure to have all the county's unincorporated areas annexed to dramatically decrease their costs."

He said Triplett asked about the remaining 20,000 North Highline residents not included in the plans.

"If Burien annexed the entire North Highline area in one fell swoop it would financially sink us," Martin declared. "We couldn't offer proper police protection and other staffing this community deserves."

Martin attempted to spell out the complexities of any annexation plan.

"Fire departments, sewer districts, libraries, there are a lot of players," he said. "You have two functioning fire districts here. Your staffs are professionals. You'll need to sit down and work things out."

Before the meeting, North Highline Council District 1 Rep. Barbara Peters, who also is one of three North Highline Fire District commissioners, echoed the concerns of Fire Chief Scott LaVielle and others in the department.

"If we annex, we'd like full annexation," Peters said. "We want to make sure firefighters and other personnel stay together.

"If we get gobbled up by different communities, sometimes they like to make changes," Peters said. "That is our biggest concern."

Maps of the three proposed partial annexation areas together with additional information on these options are on the city's Web site at www.ci.burien.wa.us/commdvlpmnt/Annexation/annexation.htm.