By Myrna Trauntvein
TN Correspondent
A recent legislative change at the state level allows cities to currently annex property that may not be contiguous to the city’s boundaries. “This is a change from what was allowed in the past,” said Seth Atkinson, city administrator. “This would allow for ‘island’ annexations.” Certain rules apply for these types of annexations. “Island annexations must not overlap an annexation growth area of another city, the county must approve of the annexation, and it must be for the purpose of providing municipal services,” he said. A number of businesses near the city’s current annexation area boundary have expressed interest in being annexed to receive city services. The first step for these businesses has been undertaken. They have approached the Nephi Planning Commission and requested that Nephi City’s annexation area boundary be expanded to include these properties and to be designated as Level 3 found in the city’s annexation policy plan. The city council still has authority to allow any properties to change from a Level 3 to a Level 2 or to a Level 1 and also has authority to allow annexation and designate any zone upon annexation. “The requests from businesses are separated geographically,” said Atkinson. The two requests were shown on a map that identified the two locations. “On the map, Level 3 is orange, Level 2 is purple and Level 1 is green and that means it is prime for annexation,” he said. The southern request has originated from two sources, the city and a group of private businesses. The property that is contiguous to that section is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he said. “The city owns a property south and west of the parcel owned by Owens Corning,” said Atkinson. “It was purchased as an opportunity to build a second industrial park.” There are 52 usable acres in the piece owned by the city. One business has already expressed interest in moving their facility into this future industrial park and state economic development funds may be available to expand utilities into this parcel. A group of private businesses have also expressed interest in annexing into the city near the Old Pinery Road. These businesses are already in existence and use some city utilities. “They would like to expand and also use the city’s gas, electric, and water utilities,” Atkinson said. “With the expansion of the city’s water system to the water tank on the southern end, it has become very feasible to supply utilities to these companies.” Not only would they supply ongoing utility revenue for the city, but they would be required to pay impact fees for the infrastructure upgrades completed by the city. “Did it start with a couple of property owners?” asked Nathan Memmott, council member. All the requests were property owner driven. “The cost of improvement would be on those annexing,” said Kent Jones, council member. The increase to the city’s infrastructure to maintain would be marginal. “The main reason for expanding the city’s infrastructure was to allow for commercial/industrial growth of this kind,” he said. When the Nephi Planning Commission examined the request they recommended that the whole area between the properties requesting inclusion be part of the area expansion. “The requests are consistent with our plan,” said Glade Nielson, mayor. “The geographical request on the north end of the city is different from the requests on the south in the sense that it will be a much longer extension of some of the city’s utilities,” said Atkinson. However, the reasoning is the same as the area on the south end. With the construction of the north side substation, the National Guard water line constructed, and a gas line near the new water line, the city is in a position to look into the possibility of providing utilities to this area. “A hard look at the utility extensions will be necessary to determine whether or not the city has the resources to maintain those extensions into the future,” he said. “Adding the properties to Annexation Level 3 allows this.” Similar to the south properties requesting inclusion into the annexation area boundary, the properties to the north are in the process of being constructed or are already in existence. “This means that the businesses will be paying utility fees to some entity. If that entity is the city, it would be helpful for future utility cash flow,” said Atkinson. “They would also be paying into the city’s General Fund with property taxes and potentially sales taxes to assist with providing general city services. It is a given that at some point these businesses will make use of some of the city’s general services such as roads, police services, etc. “Since inclusion in the annexation growth area does not constitute annexation and since there are at least three more steps on which the council has control before annexation occurs, staff does not see the harm in including these areas,” he said. Then, more in-depth analysis can occur before any annexations proceed. The council did decide to accept the planning commission recommendations for the expansion of the city’s annexation area boundary but did them as two separate approvals. “I have a conflict of interest on the north section,” said Memmott. “I would like the south and north requests to be done separately so that I could vote on the south and recuse myself on the north.” “On the north end,” said Larry Ostler, “they can’t get power until the substation is done.” However, said Atkinson, impact fees may help with that. The welding business may want to be connected to power because they are using generators to supply power needs now, said Skip Worwood, council member. Justin Seely, council member, made the motion to add the south property to a Level 3 on the annexation map and the vote was unanimous. Worwood made the motion on the north property request to add it to the annexation map at a Level 3. Seely made the second and all voted in favor, with Memmott abstaining. City staff will now do the further analysis needed before the levels are increased. | 