POULSBO — Poulsbo Planning Director Glenn Gross took the old “good news, bad news” adage to new heights Wednesday night when he dropped a bomb on the Public Works Committee with a few short sentences.

On the positive side, Gross pointed out that the city was “closer than ever to getting its Urban Growth Area.”

The anticipated problems will come after Kitsap County and Poulsbo reach their agreement on the finalized UGA boundary and property owners try to annex into the city via the tried-and-true petition process.

The dilemma? The petition method no longer exists.

On March 14, the State Supreme Court ruled that the much-used petition procedure of annexation is unconstitutional, a decision that will not only make it more difficult for property owners to hook up to city services but — in some cases — impossible.

“I don’t want to say that it doesn’t make any sense. This is a Democracy after all but it’s certainly not as user friendly,” Gross explained.

Without the 57-year-old petition method in place, cities throughout the state will be facing a technique that some are terming “annexation without property owner representation.”

Under the old process, landowners could annex into a particular city by having a majority petition signed by nearby residents and business owners. The petition would then be presented to the city council for adoption.

Now, the final decision is up to all the eligible voters in the proposed area — not just the property owners.

“The majority vote decides whether the area is annexed,” Gross said, noting that the city would have to pay for the county-run election. “This is having shockwaves all over the state. It will be very interesting to see what kind of remedies are put in place.”

While several “antidotes” may be may be in the works at the state level, Gross didn’t feel any would relieve the heartburn that many property owners and cities will suffer. The Supreme Court may reconsider its decision or the Legislature might attempt to fix it, he explained.

“Hopefully, they have some smart people working on this because short of those two things, we’re stuck with the election method,” Gross remarked.

This will be bad news not only for landowners but for the city as well.

With the loss of the petition process, Poulsbo may have lost its reasonable ability to offer services to unannexed residents — something that will definitely be felt by expansion supporters on north Viking Way.

“There is a lot of concerns out there about this project,” Public Works Supt. Bill Duffy said, noting that although the city is hooking itself up to services at a new well on Viking Way’s north end, it will be reluctant to offer the same improvements to unincorporated property owners along the way. “We can still expand, we just can’t allow hook ups. The timing couldn’t be worse.”

Under the former petition method, the city would enter into agreements with the property owners, who in turn promised to support future annexation efforts in their area. Now this process is nullified.

“We lose our leverage,” Gross explained, adding that the state decision effectively eliminates the city’s ability to enforce such agreements. “At this point, I’d recommend that water and sewer connections not take place prior to annexation.”

This requirement might deter residents in areas surrounding Poulsbo from annexing at all though, the committee agreed, reducing both the city’s ability to grow and expand its tax base.

If property owners are forced to wait and wade through an extensive election process, many might decide to simply upgrade their own water and sewer capabilities. Once this happens the residents will be less likely to consider annexation because they will have spent a good deal of money improving their homes.

To make matters even worse for Poulsbo, the majority of commercial property can no longer be annexed because most sites do not have a registered voter residing there. This means vacant property, even though it may be owned, cannot be annexed either.

“It looks like we have a lot of questions and very few answers,” Poulsbo City Councilwoman Jackie Aitchison said.

The committee agreed. Gross will present the issue and its ramifications to members of the Finance Committee and City Council next Monday, May 1 at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. respectively.