Drafter
Clerk 10/01/2026
Title
AN ORDINANCE to reactivate the operations of Drainage District 5 & 5A in accordance with state law.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Drainage District 5 ("the district") was formed in 1916. However, over the past century, territory within the district that used to be located in unincorporated King County has been absorbed by the city of Enumclaw. Before 2026, of the approximate 1,300 acres that made up the district's service area, over sixty percent were located in Enumclaw.
2. Enumclaw maintains and operates a stormwater utility within its incorporated city limits.
3. At least since 2024, the then district's three-member board ("the board") began exploring how to reconfigure the district to carve out the properties located in Enumclaw from those in unincorporated King County.
4. The three board members all resided within the city limits.
5. By way of a May 1, 2025, notice, the board notified all parcel owners within the district of the board’s proposed action to adjust the district's boundaries so that its service area within the city limits and a limited strip of adjacent unincorporated properties ("the withdrawn area"), together with district capital facilities located within the withdrawn area, would be transferred to Enumclaw. The notice invited the public to give comment at a public hearing held on June 9, 2025. The district received no comments against the proposed action.
6. On May 27, 2025, the Enumclaw City Council passed Resolution No. 1843, expressing Enumclaw's support of the board's proposed action to withdraw the identified territory and Enumclaw's agreement to incorporate the district's capital facilities into its system and serve the properties in the withdrawn area then currently served by the district.
7. In January 2026, the board submitted its proposed withdrawal proposition to the Boundary Review Board ("the BRB"). No one invoked the BRB's jurisdiction. By a March 10, 2026, letter the BRB notified i...
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