I have heard the complaints from people who did not vote for annexation and I understand their concerns. More laws, zoning restrictions and an increased police presence are not what some people want or anticipated when they moved to an unincorporated area.

But on the morning of Monday, Nov. 22, when the snow began to fall I started wondering how the response to an event such as we saw last week will change after annexation.

When I arrived at work the snow had just began to fall and I knew we would need some pictures for the paper. So I went to the one place I knew there could be some good snow photos. I got about two-thirds up Juanita Drive N.E. on Finn Hill when the line of cars ahead of me began to slow to a stop on the cold, white road.

The picturesque view into the wooded area was beautiful, but the fact that I was stopped there for 10 minutes made me wonder what was going on. I rolled down my window and realized the few cars that were passing me had turned around. Some drivers were telling others in my lane that there was an accident, so I managed to get to a side street and park, grabbed the camera and started my walk up the hill. Trying to keep my footing I heard no sirens and saw no road crews.

When I reached the head of the line there were about five cars sitting in the middle of the road, some chaining up and one in the ditch. It was a surreal scene with no one getting by and everyone frustrated. There were no emergency response vehicles, no plows, no sand or de-icers. The road was treacherous as my wrist would attest after I slipped and fell.

Juanita Drive was bad during this storm. Getting home that night was an adventure.

But most streets, especially main thoroughfares, were passable in Kirkland. There were 13 roads in the city that were closed due to ice and snow. Most of those were clustered in the west side of Norkirk on steep grade hills. But there were still ways to get around the closures.

On my way home I saw many streets in the annexation area that should have been closed but were not, including the street my car became a sled on. It was also obvious that there were very few if any plows running in the annexation area.

But the shift to covering a larger area for the city will be a challenge after annexation and snow response is not always at the forefront of planning.

To my knowledge, the City of Kirkland’s snow response this year has been good so far. But this winter, which hasn’t even technically began yet, is a long way from being over.

When you can keep all the main arterials open and only have to close streets with steep grades, you are staying ahead of the game. But what will happen when the city has to cover twice the area? And the annexation area has many steep hills. Will the city’s snow response suffer at the hands of annexation? On the other hand, will high elevation streets in the annexation area get better response than it currently gets from King County?

Only time and planning will tell. But for now, we have the rest of this fall and winter to worry about, which could be a bigger problem.

Matt Phelps is a reporter for the Kirkland Reporter.