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Florence council directs staff to advance annexation policy work and outreach after general-plan briefing
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Summary
Following a presentation tying annexation strategy to the town'022 general plan, council asked staff to draft an annexation ordinance, to conduct due diligence and targeted outreach (including addressing 'grandfathering' of animals) and to return with more detailed analysis for future meetings.
Town Director AJ Munro briefed the council on annexation strategy during the March 30 work session, framing annexation as an implementation step of the town's 2022 general plan. Munro reminded the council that the general plan was adopted by voters and that annexation evaluations should consider continuity, consent, fiscal sustainability, infrastructure capacity and service impacts.
Munro said the annexation policy included in the packet establishes standards and guiding principles the town would use to evaluate annexation prospects and that the staff role would include preparing analyses of fiscal and service impacts, public outreach, and standard operating procedures for internal coordination. He told the council that annexation can raise questions about zoning compatibility and the treatment of existing uses.
Several council members asked specifically about protections for property owners in areas such as Wild Horse Estates where keeping animals is a core use of the property. Council member Bucellato recalled prior concern that some residents feared they would be required to remove animals after annexation. Munro and town staff said the policy would evaluate whether those existing uses could be "brought in as is" through a compatible municipal zoning district, and that staff would review the town's zoning ordinance to identify a district that preserves lot-size and animal allowances for those properties.
Town legal counsel and staff emphasized that if the town chooses to initiate annexation, it requires careful planning and significant outreach because success depends on property-owner consent in many cases. Council directed staff to draft the annexation ordinance/policy for an upcoming packet (staff indicated the April packet timing and clerk deadlines) and to perform due diligence and community engagement before initiating any large annexation initiatives.
What happens next: Staff will draft an annexation ordinance/policy language for council review in a future packet, perform due diligence on candidate areas (including zoning and animal-use questions), and plan targeted outreach to property owners before initiating formal annexation actions.
