POULSBO — As the city council voted to annex another 85.55 acres into the city limits Wednesday night, Councilman Mike Regis stood alone in opposition.

On Aug. 16, 2006, council members agreed to consider allowing property owners in the northeastern part of the city’s Urban Growth Area bounded by Genes Lane to the north, State Route 305 to the west, Forest Rock Lane to the south and Caldart Avenue to the east to circulate an annexation petition.

Wednesday night, city associate planner Edie Berghoff informed council members those property owners had indeed met the 60 percent assessed value requirement for annexation, setting the stage for the council to make its decision.

Mark Kuhlman of Team4 Engineering, which has development plans for one of the properties, told the council he looked forward to the completion of the process. Kuhlman is also involved in several developments along Noll Road, which prompted the city’s moratoriums on Planned Unit Developments and development in or near critical areas.

However, in light of the city’s moratorium on development in or near critical areas, Regis expressed his concerns about the development potential in the area.

“Some years back Kitsap County completed a study that defined the area as a salmon refugia area,” he said. “My question is did Kitsap County adopt salmon refugia areas?”

Berghoff replied that the county is aware of the drainage issues in the area and there is concern because the main fork of Dogfish Creek is to the north of the area.

“There are viable review documents of Kitsap County that did identify part of the area as a refugia,” Regis said. “My guess is that it is a sensitive area that helps with water quality.”

Since the city has an interlocal agreement with the county regarding properties in the city’s UGA, there should be some information about how to deal with critical areas, Regis said.

“What the interlocal agreement says is that the county will use city ordinances with the exception of the Critical Areas Ordinance,” Berghoff said. “Once an area is annexed it is under city ordinances including the Critical Areas Ordinance.”

With the understanding that the city’s current moratoriums would affect the proposed annexation, Regis said the area still presents some “terrifying problems in terms of topography and direction of drainage.”

But Councilman Ed Stern reminded Regis the area was part of the compromise with the county on the city’s UGA borders.

“We said we would take it, and we have an obligation to annex it,” Stern said.

Annexation is not the time to raise concerns about critical areas, he added.

“We keep going back and forth,” Stern said. “It isn’t at the time of annexation, but rather when development takes place.”

Regis said he agreed it is the council’s priority to annex areas within the city’s UGA, but this particular annexation has several unanswered questions.

“I think council should say, ‘Staff, you’re done with the legal issue. Now let’s get the natural systems issues,’ so when development comes in we’re prepared,” Regis said.

As he prepared to make the motion to annex the 85.55 acres, Stern said the issues raised by Regis will have to be sorted out once development is proposed.

After a second by Councilman Jeff McGinty, Councilwomen Kimberlee Crowder and Connie Lord along with Councilman Jim Henry voted to approve the annexation.