Annexation: Today's Gamble for Tomorrow's Gain-part I
| Publication year | 1988 |
| Pages | 603 |
| Citation | Vol. 17 No. 4 Pg. 603 |
1988, April, Pg. 603. Annexation: Today's Gamble for Tomorrow's Gain-Part I
In the last few years, real estate development attention in Colorado has been focused, once again, on preliminary property development. Developers, municipalities, landowners and other "players" have invested time and money in the preparatory work which will allow them to take advantage quickly of future upswings in the ever-changing Colorado real estate market. The focus of Part I of this article is on one of the first steps in converting raw or agricultural land to more potentially profitable urbanized land---the filing of a petition for annexation of the property to a municipality. Part II, to be published in the May issue, will focus on the annexation process following the filing of an annexation petition.
As the annexation movement has intensified, owners of both developed and undeveloped properties have found themselves suddenly faced with the prospect of either seeking annexation by a municipality of their choice or being annexed by another which might not be as desirable or even acceptable. Counties are reluctant to surrender land use control and rural electric associations and quasimunicipal corporations are less than enthusiastic at the possibility of decreased revenues. Landowners, on the other hand, stand to gain access (or access with reduced fees) to municipal services from the annexing municipality, which services tend to enhance property values. Municipal services include public works, parks and recreation, community services, fire and police protection, building and zoning regulation and judicial services. Municipalities are willing to provide these amenities in exchange for an increased tax base and a larger voice in determining matters of state and regional concern, provided the costs do not outweigh the benefits.
Time and time again over the last few years, diverse interests have collided in the annexation process. Newspapers have chronicled some of the more difficult struggles as each party has worked to advance its own interests. One such series of stories relates to the City and County of Denver's current effort to annex land in Adams County for the construction of a new airport.
Until recently, the Municipal Annexation Act of 1965 ("Act")(fn1) had set forth a rather vague, but simple process by which a municipality other than the City and County of Denver could annex land.(fn2). Two of the stated purposes of the Act are to encourage the natural and well-ordered development of municipalities while evenly and equitably distributing the costs of municipal services among those residents who use such services.(fn3) However, due to the rapidly increasing number of annexations over the past few years and the resultant effect on land use and planning, in 1987 the Colorado General Assembly amended the Act, most significantly with respect to the eligibility, notice and hearing requirements.(fn4) Senate Bill ("S.B.") 45 became effective on May 28, 1987, and applies to all annexations pursuant to petitions filed after that date. The impact of the passage of S.B. 45 on certain steps in the annexation process is discussed next, along with a general overview of the technical provisions of the Act.
Any parcel of land proposed to be annexed must meet certain statutorily defined threshold eligibility requirements.
One of these threshold requirements is that not less than one-sixth of the perimeter of such area be contiguous to the City.(fn5) The Act provides that contiguity is not affected by the existence of: a platted street or alley, a public or private right-of-way, a public or private transportation right-of-way or area, public lands, whether owned by the State, the United States, or an agency thereof, except county-owned open space, or a lake, reservoir, stream, or other natural or artificial waterway between the annexing municipality and the land proposed to be annexed.(fn6)
Thus, roads, streets, alleys, utility or other rights-of-way (whether easement rights or fee ownership rights), bridle trails, airports, train and bus depots, highway interchanges or other transportation areas, flood-plains, streams and reservoirs and other similar intervening parcels (each referred to herein as an "excluded parcel") may be "jumped over" without affecting the required contiguity. The Act does not distinguish between an excluded parcel lying in an unincorporated portion of a county and an excluded parcel lying within another municipality. Further, the Act does not specify that the perimeter of the area consists solely of its external perimeter. Therefore, in calculating the perimeter of an area to determine one-sixth contiguity, the conservative approach is to measure the perimeter of each excluded parcel (other than the pole portion of a flag only annexation as described below), as well as the external perimeter of the area.
Upon initial examination, if the contiguity requirement does not appear to have been met, there are several methods of meeting the requirement. One alternative is to petition for several annexations in a series. In these "serial" annexations, a number of petitions are filed simultaneously in such a manner that the area annexed in each prior petition provides the necessary contiguity for the area to be annexed in the immediately following petition.
S.B. 45 amended the Act expressly to permit the use of serial annexations as a method by which petitioning landowners can establish the necessary contiguity.(fn7) As a result, the use of serial annexations may render the one-sixth contiguity requirement meaningless except as a technical exercise for engineers and lawyers.
Serial annexations are not always possible for a variety of reasons, which may include opposition from intervening landowners or an absence of intervening landowners who are willing to join in annexation petitions. A second method frequently used to establish contiguity where no direct contiguity to the boundaries of the City appears to exist...
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