McCleary City Council holds public hearing on annexation petition
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Earlier this month, the McCleary City Council held a public hearing for an annexation petition that Mark Studer submitted to the city in October 2025. Studer, a developer who lives in Montesano, is petitioning for the 42.6-acre parcel that abuts Summit Place 2 plat to be annexed.
During the public meeting, Studer said, “I’d like to put in a subdivision there. No final plat yet or concept without some studies and so forth, but likely somewhere between 65 to 75 lots. So just under half an acre is kind of the target size, some will be a little larger.”
If the parcel is annexed into the city limits, the houses would be connected to the city water system.
The reason for holding the public hearing at the June 10 Council meeting was because the city failed to hold a public hearing prior to passing the resolution accepting the petition for annexation during the Nov. 5, 2025, City Council meeting. (A public hearing had been scheduled for Dec. 3, 2025, but then canceled.)
At the City Council meeting held on May 27, 2026, Mayor Brycen Huff acknowledged that The Daily World had reached out to the city to confirm whether a public hearing had been held and that the petition for annexation had been submitted to the Grays Harbor County Boundary Review Board without having had a public hearing.
“The typical annexation process would be the petition, a public hearing, and then it would get filed with the county, go to Boundary Review [Board],” said Huff. “And Council, once they heard back from them [the Boundary Review Board], would vote an ordinance to approve or reject the annexation.”
Huff continued, “During the transition, I’ll put it that way, with the election, the transition of administration, some steps got skipped. Council had given the green light to entertain the annexation, but the public hearing was never rescheduled and held. So talking with Madison [Pleasant, the city attorney], it’s a little out of order, definitely not the norm, but it’s still workable that we can move forward in the process, have the public hearing before a decision vote on the ordinance.”
When a city transmits a notice of intention to the Grays Harbor County Boundary Review Board, among the exhibit items to be included are a copy of the legal description, an area map and assessor’s parcel map, a certified copy of the public hearing minutes and a certified copy of the official resolution or ordinance.
As per the Boundary Review Board Rules of Practice and Procedure, when “the Notice of Intention is sufficient and the filing fee paid, the Clerk shall file the Notice of Intention and assign a file date and number.” For this Notice of Intention, Wendy Chatham, clerk of the board, assigned it 2026-001.
The city’s oversight of approving the resolution without holding a public hearing had been raised by community member Teri Franklin at the Boundary Review Board’s May 6 meeting. She also called out that the acreage was listed incorrectly – 4.2 instead of 42. (An additional typo was listing the library as Timberline instead of Timberland.)
In an email to Chatham, The Daily World asked what was the determination of the secondary legal review on this application, which had been asked for by the Boundary Review Board in response to Franklin’s comment. Chathman replied via email that “Legal verified the application a total of three times.”
As for the current status of the Notice of Intention, Huff reported that the Boundary Review Board received a citizen’s petition for a public hearing.
“So until that public hearing is held, their decision is paused,” he said.
This 42-acre parcel has been through the annexation process before, with the process initiated by Port Blakely and a public hearing held on Aug. 11, 2021. However, when it came time for the City Council to vote whether to annex the parcel during the Sept. 28, 2022, Council meeting, the Council voted 3-2 to reject the annexation. Voting Yea for rejecting the annexation were councilors Jenna Amsbury, Joy Iversen and Max Ross. Voting Nay were then-Councilor Brycen Huff and current Councilor Andrea Dahl.
This parcel isn’t the only one being considered for annexation in the near future along Summit Road. During the public hearing, Larry Birindelli said that he is going to apply for annexation of 12 acres he owns on Lynch Road and Summit Road.
