The Bellevue Planning and Zoning Commission is a vote away from deciding whether an annexation application submitted by Wood River Valley developer Harry Rinker should be considered by the City Council.
P&Z commissioners last Thursday instructed Bellevue City Attorney Jim Phillips to come back to a March 1 meeting with a cleaned-up version of their annexation findings.
The findings have been generated during successive meetings held by the P&Z and codify all of the commission's requirements and conditions regarding the annexation application.
Once they've reviewed the findings at the March 1 meeting, the P&Z will likely vote on whether or not to recommend approval of Rinker's annexation application.
"You'll be able to review those and make a vote on the findings," Bellevue Planning and Zoning Administrator Craig Eckles told the P&Z.
Of course, the P&Z's recommendation will be just that, and nothing more. The final say on the annexation application will rest with the City Council.
At the upcoming meeting, the P&Z will also renew its discussion of another pending annexation submitted by Wood River Valley landowner John Scherer. Scherer has requested to have a 280-acre property he owns just south of Rinker's land to be annexed into the city.
The public will be allowed to comment on Scherer's proposal at the continued public hearing March 1.
Altogether, Rinker and Scherer's combined 560-acre development proposal for the two properties includes a combined 970 residential lots and 50 acres for a future school site. Other aspects of the two applications include significant space set aside for public parks, a business park, a village center and a light industrial park.
The adjacent properties are located south of the Muldoon Ranch subdivision, east of Gannett-Picabo Road, north of the Griffin Ranch subdivision, and west of the foothills managed primarily by the Bureau of Land Management's Shoshone Field Office.
Rinker and Scherer first introduced their annexation proposals to Bellevue in the fall of 2005.
The Bellevue City Council is also in the midst of considering another annexation proposal submitted by Ketchum developer Jeff Pfaeffle. Pfaeffle has asked the city to annex approximately 100 acres located in Slaughterhouse Canyon northeast of the city.
The council won't vote on any of the proposed annexations, however, until attorneys working for the city reach a resolution on a potential water rights issue. The issue involves the accessibility of one of Bellevue's key water sources located on land in Muldoon Canyon, which is east of the city.
At a meeting several weeks ago, the council voted unanimously to delay any decision on the pending annexation applications until the water rights issue is resolved.
