After hearing from foes and supporters of Fairwood incorporation Monday night, the City Council unanimously accepted a petition for an annexation that would attach Fairwood’s commercial core to the city.

However, the Red Mill annexation is on hold until after the matter of Fairwood incorporation is settled, possibly by voters later this year.

How Fairwood might govern itself in the future is complicated, as evidenced by who testified Monday night.

On the table now are the Fairwood Municipal Initiative – incorporation – and the Red Mill annexation. And, there is a larger annexation proposal – Choose Renton – that would annex the entire Fairwood area in one swoop.

It’s also possible that the Washington state Boundary Review Board for King County could remove the Red Mill annexation from the proposed incorporation boundaries as proposed in the Fairwood Municipal Initiative.

But Monday night, the topic was Red Mill, a 224-acre, relatively narrow piece of land extending from Renton’s border eastward, roughly bounded on the north by Petrovitsky Road.

On its northeastern border, it juts over to include the Fairwood Shopping Center.

Right now, there are an estimated 684 dwelling units, such as single-family homes, condos and apartment units, in the area. There’s a potential for another roughly 190 homes.

According to a city presentation Monday night, the City of Renton would face a deficit of about $20,000 to provide services to the annexation area, based on the revenue it currently generates. However, when the annexation area is fully developed, there would be an estimated surplus of about $340,000.

The City of Renton already provides fire services to the Fairwood area through a contract with Fire District 40.

About a dozen people testified at a public hearing on the Red Mill annexation Monday night, with most of the support going to annexation.

In technical terms, the City Council accepted the 60 percent direct petition to annex 224 acres and authorized the city to send the proposal to the Boundary Review Board for further study and approval.

City staff pointed out the annexation meets city policy goals and the requirements under state law for annexation.

However, the Boundary Review Board will not take formal action on the Red Mill annexation until after incorporation is settled. The Fairwood Municipal Initiative has been before the board for more than a year. The board will conduct a public meeting Feb. 9 on a study that’s being done on the financial feasibility of the proposed city.

For the Red Mill petition to move to the City Council, it must have contained the signatures of the owners of at least 60 percent of the area’s assessed valuation, currently estimated at about $156 million. That minimum was exceeded, at 74 percent.

Although it’s the law, the petition was questioned by some opponents as undemocratic, in part because it was signed by out-of-state landowners and apartment dwellers didn’t get to vote.

However, before moving to have the council accept the petition, council member King Parker looked out into the standing-room-only crowd.

“That’s a democratic process if I ever heard of one,” he said.