Costco Wholesale Corp. v. City of Beaverton

*21WALTERS, J.

Under state statute, a city may annex property that is contiguous to the city by obtaining either the consent or majority vote of the owners of the property to be annexed. A city may annex property without such approval if the city boundaries “surround” the property to be annexed, a form of annexation referred to as an island annexation. In this case we decide whether a city may annex only part of an island that it surrounds without the consent or majority vote of the owners.

The territory that gives rise to the dispute in this case is made up of property owned by Wells Real Estate…