Hailey nixes annexation
Council questions Airport West numbers
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Following two hours of sometimes tortured deliberations, the Hailey city
council voted unanimously Monday night to deny an annexation and development request for
62 acres of land located west of the Hailey airport.
Separately:
Mayor Brad Siemer presented a $3.2 million preliminary fiscal year
2000-2001 city budget proposal;
The city council approved a sewer user fee increase of $2.20 per month
to cover wastewater treatment plant construction cost overruns.
Concerning the annexation denial, city officials have been working for
five years on the proposed Airport West office and industrial park—and have already
approved a special zoning ordinance for it. But they denied annexation of the land,
because they could not reach agreement with the developer, Ron Sharp, over the amount of
annexation impact fees the developer should pay the city.
Developers commonly pay impact fees to cover the cost of extending city
services—fire, water, police, sewer, etc.—into new developments.
Both the developer and the city have made several suggestions concerning
the amount of those fees, but the developer claims the current figure is $1.9 million.
Siemer was clearly unhappy with the developer’s proposal to offset
the amount of those fees by contributing 5 acres of land to the city. The developer claims
the value of the land to be $1.2 million.
Siemer said he could not support an agreement that uses the dedication of
land to "virtually wipe out the impact fees that have been calculated."
Siemer said the city is counting on using the fees for capital
improvements.
Ed Lawson, a lawyer representing the developer, claimed Airport West would
generate from $50,000 to $100,000 a year for the city. But city officials said they had
little faith in the idea.
City officials also seemed sympathetic to the concerns of about 20
Broadford Road residents who showed up to voice complaints about a suggested major
entrance to Airport West on Broadford.
While all four council members and Siemer criticized the application,
Councilwoman Susan McBryant made an especially impassioned plea against it.
"I don’t understand most parts of this application," she
said, expressing frustration at the five-year, convoluted process leading to the current
proposal. "I don’t understand how we got where we are [with it]."
McBryant said she doesn’t like the special zoning ordinance the city
created for the development, and she doesn’t like the fact that the city wrote the
ordinance specifically for the developer.
"I can’t believe we did that," she said.
McBryant said she believes extending commercial uses away from the city
center is appropriate, but "I think we have bent over backwards for this developer.
"The city is not in a position to forego any of the [annexation]
fees. Send me packing in the next election, but I’m just not comfortable with
this."
Nevertheless, McBryant moved to approve the application with the
conditions that a consultant review the impact fees, that the agreement be revised to
allow the development plans to be altered in the future and that the agreement allow the
council to change the Broadford Road entrance to an emergency vehicle entrance only.
Siemer, however, said he could not approve a motion that "even
insinuated" approval of the proposed impact fees.
McBryant then withdrew her motion and made another motion do deny the
application.
#
Siemer, while presenting the fiscal year 2000-2001 preliminary budget,
said the goals he tried to achieve include "the creation of several new positions in
the city—something that hasn’t occurred in the last several years—and
replacement of aging equipment—something that also hasn’t occurred in the last
several years."
The new budget, at $3.2 million, is up $215,000 from last year’s $3
million budget.
Siemer said he would like to hire an assistant city planner this coming
year, which would increase the planning department’s expenditures by more than 50
percent and "would free us up to do some planning, not just reacting."
Siemer also anticipates adding an additional employee to the streets
department, which will increase that department’s expenditures by about 13 percent,
and to the fire department. The new fire department position, according to the budget,
will be paid for with revenues normally dedicated to volunteer and contract labor pay.
All existing city employees, Siemer said, are eligible for a three percent
raise.
