City again preparing for annexation of land

The planning commission again discussed the possibility of annexing various properties around the city’s boundaries at Tuesday’s meeting.

“There is a major development out towards the interstate that is just outside, but adjacent to, the city limit boundaries and it’ll be something that we want annexed,” explained city manager Gary Person.

The process of annexation is a fairly lengthy and intensive one that requires public hearings in front of both the planning commission and city council. Laws concerning what land can and cannot be annexed are subject to interpretation by the courts, said city attorney J. Leef. The law states that rural, agricultural land cannot be annexed.

“The courts have looked at that and said, well they can be rural, but if you’ve got commercial all around them, then it’s subject to annexation,” Leef said.

The city has contacted the property owners adjacent to the unannounced Interstate 80 development who are also seriously interested in becoming part of the city. If these two properties are brought forward for annexation, it would make sense for the council to include any other properties it thinks should also become part of the city in the annexation process at the same time. This proposed project should be ready for announcement by late spring to early summer, Person theorized.

Person and Leef explained to the commission that the city has final say as to whether or not a property is annexed, independent of the property owner’s wishes.

“You’re always going to have somebody who doesn’t want to be in,” Person said. “But the proper time to do it is when those developments are going forward, they’re asking for city streets, they’re asking for water, they’re asking for sanitary sewer.”

Some of the areas around the city that have not yet been annexed were already developed and received utilities in the past without being added to the city’s boundaries.

“Every property has to stand on its own merit and you have to justify what you’re doing but anything that is adjacent to the city limit boundaries, you certainly have the legal right to annex it,” Person said.

The only exception is rural agricultural land.

Person was initially worried about agriculture land standing between a proposed development and the city limits, which could lock that land out of the city.

“The court’s been really clear that you have to look at not only the use of it but also the use of the areas around it when you’re considering whether or not its agricultural land,” Leef said. “That’s something we’d want to look at if there is ground there.”

As long as the two governing bodies can show that adding the ground to the city boundaries is reasonably necessary and that services can be provided in a reasonable amount of time the two bodies do not need the support of the land owners.

“The whole reason for the two hearings is so the planning commission and the city both have the opportunity to hear all the pros and cons, but in the end it is the planning commission and the city’s responsibility and choice whether that land gets annexed or not,” Leef said.