Derby — The Derby City Council on Nov. 10 adopted a voluntary consent-annexation notification policy designed to make the city’s consent-annexation process more transparent to neighboring property owners.

Development Director Dan Squires described the policy as mirroring state zoning-notification requirements: upon receiving a request for consent annexation, the city will send notices to adjacent property owners within 200 feet in the city and 1,000 feet in the county, post a sign at the site, and place the annexation item on the regular agenda rather than on the consent agenda so it is more visible to the public. "If we extend that it still won't be enough," Squires said in response to a resident's emailed suggestion for broader notice.

The council also discussed signage size and reach for rural parcels. A resident’s emailed comment, read into the record, asked for notification boundaries to extend until at least four adjacent property owners could be reached in each direction and for larger signage because rural lots and farmland can be spaced far apart. Councilmembers noted a tradeoff between broader notice and the cost and administrative delay such notifications can impose on property owners and developers.

Councilmember Molt moved to adopt a resolution establishing a voluntary public-notification process for consent annexations; the motion passed 6-0.