Trustees receive engineers report on voluntary annexation to JDD 46-92; county supervisors debate who should pay for 20-inch road bore

Wright County drainage trustees and Webster County trustees on May 6 received an engineers report on a voluntary annexation petition to add four parcels to Joint Drainage District (JDD) 46-92 and voted to receive the report.

The report, presented by Jacob Hagen of Perrys Agravita engineering firm, described four parcels (one of about 22 acres with 14 acres that do not now drain to JDD 46-92) the landowner seeks to annex and the hydraulics of the outlet. Hagen said pattern-tiling the requested acreage would add about 0.3 cubic feet per second (cfs) to the ditch; he estimated the ditch has an 81 cfs capacity under a 2-year, 48-hour design storm and a normal depth near 2.5 feet under such a storm.

The annexation proposal includes installing private tile that would require a 20-inch bore under a county road. Supervisors and trustees expressed concern that the cost of that crossing would be borne by county secondary roads funds unless the landowner agreed to pay. Supervisor Rick Rasmussen said the crossing cost is a county-budget issue; other trustees noted existing undersized tiles (7-inch and 8-inch) are already present in the area and patterned tile would likely need a larger crossing.

Why it matters: trustees must balance the technical hydraulics described in the engineers report with county budget and equitable cost allocation for road crossings. Whether the landowner will pay the crossing cost affects secondary roads funding and whether the annexation proceeds with county financial support.

Hagen recommended the board appoint two disinterested landowners (one from each county) to the benefit/classification commission and produce a classification schedule for the four parcels. Trustees agreed to receive the engineers report and to hold the public hearing on the engineers report and classification at a later, undetermined date once the classification work is complete. The board asked staff to contact the landowner, identified in the report as Richard Stark, to determine whether he would be willing to cover engineering costs and the crossing cost; Hagen said he routinely asks voluntary-annexation requestors to pay a portion of engineering costs.

Webster County trustees (on the conference call) indicated they would likely expect the landowner to cover the crossing cost in a voluntary annexation. Wright County supervisors noted county policy differs by county and directed staff to seek clarity from legal counsel and the landowner before scheduling a combined public hearing.

Direct quotes recorded in the meeting include Jacob Hagen saying, "I recommend that the board appoint 2 disinterested land owners, 1 from Webster and 1 from Wright, to join the benefit commission," and Hagen's technical summary that adding the 14 acres "would add about 0.3 CFS to the ditch," while noting the ditch's capacity is roughly "81 CFS."

Next steps: trustees voted to receive the engineers report; they will (1) attempt to identify disinterested commissioners for the classification commission at a future meeting, (2) have staff contact the landowner to gauge willingness to pay costs (engineering and the road boring), and (3) consult legal counsel about policy on road crossings and cost allocation prior to scheduling the public hearing on the engineers report and the classification schedule. The trustees tabled setting the public hearing date until classification work and cost discussions are complete.