City of McCall presents data-driven area-of-impact map; commissioners question sewer capacity, public-land inclusions

City of McCall staff and outside consultants presented a data-driven proposal to redraw the city's Area of City Impact (AOI) boundary at a joint meeting with the Valley County Board of Commissioners, citing Idaho Code criteria and a 2-mile statutory planning buffer. The presentation used 24 mapped criteria organized under five categories drawn from Idaho law (anticipated growth, geographic factors, transportation, water/sewer service horizons, and other public-service districts) to score parcels and produce a modified AOI boundary for county consideration.

The proposal was described to commissioners and the public as a starting point for negotiation rather than a final decision. Diane Kushline, principal consultant with Kushlin Associates, said the project's goals included statutory compliance and better intergovernmental coordination: "the overarching goal is for us to work together to meet the requirements, on the goals and policies," she said. Megan Moore, senior associate planner with Logan Simpson, and Ben Esterling, GIS analyst with Logan Simpson, explained the methodology: they assembled 24 spatial layers, weighted them into the five statute-based categories, and aggregated those into an overall suitability map that produced specific expansions and exclusions compared with the current AOI.

Why it matters: the AOI defines the transitional planning area between the City of McCall and unincorporated Valley County and informs annexation planning, service provision and zoning relationships. Bill Punkenny, city attorney, reviewed relevant state law and emphasized criteria the county and city must "consider" under Idaho Code 67-65-26, including anticipated growth, geographic factors, transportation connectivity, areas where municipal water and sewer are expected within five years, and public-service district boundaries. He added the statute also directs that an area of impact generally should not exceed lands "very likely to be annexed" within five years and should not extend beyond two miles from city limits in most cases.

Key details from the presentation - Modeling and criteria: Logan Simpson mapped 24 input layers (examples: existing and projected water-service boundaries from the McCall Water System Master Plan, fire and EMS drive-time polygons, police incident response zones, park buffers, shoreline and viewshed constraints, major roads and scenic corridors). Each parcel in the two-mile study area was assigned scores for applicable layers; scores were aggregated to create five statute-category maps and one overall suitability map. - Water and sewer scoring: the team used the McCall Water System Master Plan's current service area, a 5-year service boundary and a 20-year service boundary and assigned descending scores (current = 5, 5-year = 3, 20-year = 1) to reflect proximity to likely service. The team said some plan maps date to 2018 and may be outdated. - Public services: for fire/EMS the consultants modeled a 6-minute drive-time polygon from McCall Fire stations to represent comparative service coverage; for police they used incident-response data to model where McCall Police assist outside city limits. - Parcel rules: consultants followed the statute's direction not to split parcels when the 2-mile buffer intersects a parcel; where the buffer crossed a single large parcel, the entire parcel was included in the study-area parcel set used for scoring.

Commissioner and community concerns Commissioners pressed staff and consultants on several points they said must be clarified before the county accepts a modified AOI: the likely pathways for annexation on the south and north ends; whether sewer infrastructure realistically could be extended within five years; why state-owned lands or parcels with conservation easements are included when development is unlikely; and whether inclusion would create difficult enclaves or administrative burdens.

Several commissioners and county staff emphasized practical limits on annexation. Jeff (sewer district representative) told the meeting that the sewer district is not planning to expand beyond its current footprint until a roughly $60 million collection/treatment upgrade is completed; the city recently passed a separate bond of about $16 million for plant upgrades, the presenters said. Commissioners noted that annexation in Idaho is typically driven by landowner consent and that the statutory thresholds for city-initiated annexation include written consent by landowners representing 60% of parcels and 50% of the area proposed.

On public lands: the consultants included Idaho Department of Lands parcels and other large public parcels in the study-area parcel set because the two-mile buffer intersected them and state parcel records used in the model treated some of those holdings as single units. Commissioners said county parcel records and sale plans presented by IDL appeared to identify subdivisions within those holdings and asked staff to clarify ownership/parcelization with county assessor and state land records.

Administration and next steps Both city and county staff stressed that a boundary alone does not determine which regulations apply on the ground. Michelle Grunewelt, Community and Economic Development Director for McCall, said the AOI's administration is as important as the boundary: current practice relies on a joint planning and zoning commission (four city appointees, three county appointees) and on city staff (including the building official) to process many applications in the impact area. The city recommended an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) or updated memorandum of understanding to clarify roles, legal representation at hearings, engineering review responsibilities, and how appeals would be handled going forward.

Direct quotes from the record "Areas of impact should be planned for growth and development and should not be used to stop growth," said Commissioner Thompson during opening remarks. City Attorney Bill Punkenny summarized the statute: "in defining the area of impact or in modifying or confirming the existing area of impact, the criteria set forth in this subsection shall be considered." Megan Moore of Logan Simpson described the modeling: "we took the data that we could track down from the city and spatially defined it, but we also organized those into those five state statute categories" and "there are 24 maps...that were overlaid to form the overall suitability." Diane Kushline said the effort is intended to be a starting point and noted the team's limited public engagement to date: "this is a data driven analysis and really doesn't have that qualifying that you usually get with public engagement."

Votes at a glance - Motion to adjourn: motion made and seconded; chair called for the vote and commissioners present voted "Aye." Outcome: approved (recorded as unanimous Aye in the meeting minutes). (Tally: yes 3, no 0, abstain 0; vote recorded without individual roll-call names.)

What comes next County and city staff said the next, more detailed work session is scheduled for May 19 at 1:00 p.m. to continue the AOI discussion with additional data and to refine administrative options; a formal public hearing and subsequent decisions will follow after further outreach and staff work. Staff flagged follow-up tasks: verify parcelization of state lands, update water/sewer service assumptions with the sewer district and city engineer, provide an annexation-pathways analysis (parcels where voluntary owner-initiated annexation is feasible), and draft options for an intergovernmental agreement defining administration and legal representation for AOI land-use matters.

Ending Presenters and commissioners agreed the data-driven boundary is a defensible starting point for negotiation, not an adopted final map. County commissioners asked staff to produce additional technical clarifications and outreach results before the next formal decision steps.