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Trustees accept annexation petition for roughly 87 acres in Wright County, appoint Agrivia to prepare engineer's report
Summary
Trustees for Joint Drainage District 46-92, representing Wright and Webster counties, received an annexation petition to include about 87 acres in Section 28 of Troy Township, Wright County, and appointed Agrivia PLC to produce an engineering report; landowners will bear costs and a public hearing will follow per state timing rules.
Trustees for Joint Drainage District 46-92, representing Wright and Webster counties, voted by unanimous voice vote to receive a petition to annex about 87 acres in Section 28 of Troy Township in Wright County and to appoint Agrivia PLC of Perry, Iowa, to prepare an engineer's annexation report.
The petition came from a tenant, Daryl Hay, who plans to install field tile draining to the district's main open ditch north of County Road C56. Crystal Lloyd, drainage office staff, told trustees that the parcel is currently partly outside any drainage district and that the landowner (not the tenant) will be assessed for engineering and annexation costs.
Why it matters: The annexation would allow new tile to outlet into the district's open ditch rather than forcing the landowner to route flows south into a different district. Trustees said the landowner must pay all costs associated with annexation, road crossings and the engineer's report; the county has also held a secondary-road permit pending completion of the annexation process.
Trustees and staff described the site and next steps. Lloyd said the petition covers "roughly 87 acres or so" and that an on-site engineer had found two small existing tile outlets in the area that currently discharge into the district from land that is not formally in the district. She said the requested new work appears to include a roughly 20-inch tile under the road to reach the open ditch. "All costs will have to be paid by the landowners that are being annexed in," Lloyd said.
Lloyd also noted the landowner's contractor had talked about beginning boring work in two weeks, but told trustees that schedule was unlikely to be achievable given public-notice and engineering requirements. "It is very, very unlikely that that is going to happen because of all the procedures and the public hearings and engineering and all that has to take place," she said.
Trustees discussed whether the petition area overlapped an existing Wright County drainage unit (Joint Branch District 169) and said the annexation would clarify which district receives the tile outlet rather than leaving the outlets in "no man's land." Wright County engineer Adam Clemens had been contacted about right-of-way permitting; staff said the county withheld approval of a secondary-road permit until the annexation is completed.
Trustees named Agrivia PLC (Jacob and Tyler, the engineers the petitioner supplied) as the engineer to prepare the annexation report. Lloyd said Agrivia had provided a preliminary submission staff judged not to meet the full code requirements for an engineer's annexation report, so the trustees appointed Agrivia to produce the formal report and set the next procedural steps.
State-timing requirement cited: Staff referred to a timing rule they called the "4,020 rule," and told trustees that establishment of a new drainage district and related hearings require at least 40 days between action and the hearing and additional publication and mailing time. The trustees scheduled a presentation by the engineer for the trustees' next meeting (the engineer's team was set to present at 10:30 a.m. on the following Monday) and then moved to table the formal setting of a public-hearing date until the trustees had reviewed the full engineer's report.
Votes at a glance - Motion to receive the annexation petition: received by unanimous voice vote (Wright County and Webster County recorded as "all ayes"). - Motion to appoint Agrivia PLC, Perry, Iowa, as the engineer to prepare an annexation report: approved by unanimous voice vote (Wright County and Webster County recorded as "all ayes"). - Motion to table setting a public-hearing date/time (and schedule Agrivia to present to trustees on the next Monday at 10:30 a.m.): motion moved by Conrad (Webster) and seconded; approved by unanimous voice vote. - Motion to adjourn: approved by unanimous voice vote.
What remains: Trustees will review Agrivia's formal engineering report and, after staff confirmation that the report meets code requirements, set and publish a public hearing at least 40 days later in line with the timing rule cited in the meeting. Staff said assessment of engineering costs and any work in the county right-of-way will be charged to the landowner(s) of the annexed acres, not to the entire district.
Background and names: The petition concerns lands described as the Northeast of the Northwest and the Northwest of the Northeast and adjacent tracts in Section 28 of Troy Township, Wright County. The petition also touches land near the Wright County Joint Branch District 169 boundary and a nearby Agribusiness Park referred to in the discussion as "Prestige." Agrivia PLC (engineers Jacob and Tyler) was appointed to prepare the engineer's annexation report.
No legal findings, retroactive assessments or final construction authorizations were made at the call; trustees received the petition, appointed an engineer and set follow-up procedural steps that include a public hearing once the engineer's formal report is submitted and meets code requirements.
