Commission flags potential city cost for 344 Jada Drive annexation, recommends moving process forward

Kevin Morrow, a city staff member, presented an annexation request for 344 Jada Drive and said that the property would require a 940-foot low-pressure sewer extension and that the annexation would include 760 feet of the state route and 265 feet of Jada Drive.

Morrow told commissioners that Jada Drive is currently tar-and-chip and about 17.5 feet wide, short of the city's 20-foot requirement; he said drainage ditches and base stone would likely need reworking to meet city standards. He warned that bringing the road up to city standards would likely require significant costs and a multi-year paving schedule.

Commissioners pressed staff on whether it made fiscal sense to proceed if the annexation covered only a single home; one commissioner said, "That's a lot of cost that the city is gonna incur if it's just gonna be that one home." Staff responded that the city is required to take the road in at its current condition but that improvements could be scheduled over a longer timeframe and that the process is nonetheless driven by property-owner requests.

The commission voted to recommend that staff move forward with the annexation procedure, directing staff to send required notices, prepare a plan of services and to include a study of potential road-widening and drainage costs in the plan. The recommendations are procedural; final annexation and any decisions about paying for improvements will be addressed in later steps that include public hearings and staff cost estimates.