Planning director updates commissioners on area-of-city-impact negotiations and maps; Lava Hot Springs boundary is focal point

Planning Director Hal Jensen and Assistant Planning Director Tristan Corkwin updated the commission on the county's negotiations with cities over Areas of City Impact (ACI) and on draft ACI maps and agreement language prepared for each city.

Jensen said staff met with Pocatello, Chubbuck, McCammon, Arimo and others; the county had not yet met with Inkom and Downey at the time of the update. Staff presented draft maps and a draft ACI ordinance and said they had reviewed the work with county legal counsel. He said many draft ACI maps submitted by the cities were substantially smaller than prior boundaries and that the county had dialed back its proposals in some areas to match the statutory requirement of projected annexation within five years.

Jensen singled out Lava Hot Springs as the jurisdiction where staff wanted to push back on the city's requested ACI expansion, noting the county believed much of the area the city proposed was beyond likely five-year annexation given infrastructure limitations. Commissioners discussed specific areas (including east and south sides of municipalities, water towers and sewer infrastructure) and recommended returning draft maps to city limits in some cases and asking cities to defend larger proposals that appear to exceed five-year growth expectations.

Assistant Planning Director Corkwin outlined next steps: send proposed maps and the draft intergovernmental ACI agreement to each city for review and to provide cost estimates for public-notice advertising under the statute; schedule any needed follow-up meetings (staff expected Lava to request a meeting); and anticipate public hearings for each city by August or early September with separate notices for each jurisdiction during consolidated public hearings if the county so chooses. The board directed staff to proceed with that schedule and to prepare notices and cost estimates for the cities.