H-567                _______________________________________________

                                                    HOUSE BILL NO. 285

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State of Washington                              49th Legislature                              1985 Regular Session

By Representatives Valle, Haugen and Lux

Read first time 1/28/85 and referred to Committee on Local Government.

AN ACT Relating to incorporation of first class cities; and amending RCW 35.03.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

        Sec. 1.  Section 35.03.020, chapter 7, Laws of 1965 as amended by section 2, chapter 270, Laws of 1969 ex. sess. and RCW 35.03.020 are each amended to read as follows:

          A petition shall first be presented under the provisions of RCW 35.03.005 through 35.03.050 to the county auditor of such county, signed by ((at least five hundred)) persons who are qualified electors of the county((,)) and residents within the limits of such proposed corporation((, which)) equal in number to at least ten percent of the votes cast at the last general election in the area.  The petition shall set forth and particularly describe the proposed boundaries of such corporation, state the name of the proposed corporation, and state the number of inhabitants therein as nearly as may be, and shall pray that the same may be incorporated under the provisions of this chapter.  The county auditor shall within thirty days from the time of receiving said petition determine that the legal description of the area proposed to be incorporated is correct and that there is a sufficient number of valid signatures.  Upon such determination, the county auditor shall transmit said petitions accompanied by the certificate of sufficiency to the board of county commissioners except that in counties in which a boundary review board exists under chapter 36.93 RCW, said petition and the certificate of sufficiency shall be transmitted to the boundary review board.  If a period of sixty days shall elapse from the filing of the said petition with the boundary review board without such board's jurisdiction having been invoked, as provided in RCW 36.93.100, the proposed incorporation shall be deemed to have been approved by the board.  Upon presentation of said petition in counties in which there is no boundary review board, the board of county commissioners shall ascertain the number of inhabitants residing within said proposed boundaries.  If, in the opinion of the board of county commissioners, the population within such proposed boundaries can be ascertained from the figures compiled from the last federal or state census for said county, such population figures shall be used, otherwise said board of county commissioners shall make an enumeration of all persons residing within said proposed boundaries.  If the board of county commissioners shall ascertain that there are twenty thousand or more inhabitants within said proposed boundaries, they shall set a date for hearing on said petition, the same to be published in accordance with the notice required by RCW 29.27.080 prior to such hearing in some newspaper published in said county, together with a notice stating the time and place of the meeting at which said petition will be heard.  Such hearing may be adjourned from time to time, not to exceed one month in all, and, on the final hearing, the board of county commissioners shall make such changes in the proposed boundaries as they may find to be proper, but may not enlarge the same, nor reduce the same so that the population therein would be less than twenty thousand inhabitants:  PROVIDED, That if the jurisdiction of the boundary review board has been invoked and it has approved the proposed incorporation or has modified it so that the statutory requirements for incorporation have still been satisfied, then the said petition shall not be referred to the board of county commissioners for action and hearing thereon as provided above.  Within thirty days after the conclusion of the final hearing on the proposed incorporation before a boundary review board, that board shall file its written decision of approval, modification, or rejection with the board of county commissioners.