Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-95 Resolution RECORD OF RESOLUTIONS Dayton legal Blank Co, Form No, 30045 Ii i :1 i ~eSOllltiOI1 No. 09-95 Passed 19 n~+=_ n i i A RESOLUTION CLARIFYING THE LANGUAGE I I I i OF THE ADOPTED INTERIM ANNEXATION POLICY, i AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY i i WHEREAS, city Council has requested that staff modify certain \ language within the Interim Annexation policy adopted on June I 20, 1994 in order to: (1) eliminate that language which I reflects the policy as a staff recommendation; and (2) modify the language so that it establishes the official, adopted policy of City Council. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Dublin, state of Ohio, ~ of the elected members concurring: Section 1. That the Interim Annexation Policy, dated 4/3/95 and attached as Exhibit "A" is hereby adopted as the official, adopted policy of City Council, setting guidelines under which proposed annexations are reviewed by staff for recommendation to city Council. section 2. That this Resolution is declared to be an emergency measure for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health or welfare of the residents of this city, and for the further reason that it is the intent of Council to provide clear policy direction to future applicants for annexation to the City of Dublin. I Passed this ~ 44, ~- I day of , 1995. MaYOr~~ Officer ATTEST: ~C!-~ Clerk of Council , O<"t' '" ,'t!0<olutio!1 were posled in the ;', 'hot ron"es 01 !lO",.." .." . d I h!)~v'()'l t.l ." '+1,' 731 25 of the \)hio ReVIsed Co e, City tlf {lublin in accordance Wl.., Sect.on . I I ~e~ I - ~Tt of Council, Oublm, OhIO - ., ~~ h,' bJ:t ~'AII INTERIM ANNEXATION POLICY As Adopted by Dublin City Council on June 20, 1994 BACKGROUND In recent years, the City has increasingly struggled with issues related to the acceptance of proposed annexations, Until recently, the City's policy had consistently been one of rather aggressive acceptance of virtually all proposed annexations. This policy perhaps became heightened during the periods of great uncertainty which had existed prior to the negotiation of new sewer and water contracts with Columbus and during the township merger proposal of 1989, As both Dublin and Columbus have taken a closer look at the relative costs of growth and development, both the zeal and certainty with which previous annexations were pursued has significantly lessened, At this point, both the Dublin City Council and the administration are re-defining the City's policy with regard to those annexation proposals which lack a clear fiscal benefit to the City, This document reflects the current annexation policy of the City of Dublin, PURPOSE Although it is expected that the City's annexation policy may be redefined by the land use plans, facility plans, fiscal impact analysis, etc" done as part of the Community Plan update (now underway), Council requested that the administration recommend, as best as possible with current information, an "Interim Policy" to guide annexation decisions until the update of the Community Plan is completed, The following policy reflects the adopted interim policy of Dublin City Council, until amended or replaced, The policy statements are divided into four geographical areas where potential annexations to Dublin can reasonably be expected to occur, This is done because both the current level of information and the policy considerations vary by geographical area, Essentially, policy is provided for those annexations which would continue the westward expansion of Dublin in the southwest quadrant (generally south of US 33, and west of 1-270); a western expansion of Dublin north of US 33 into Union County; the northern expansion of Dublin, just north of Muirfield into Delaware County; and, finally the annexation of so-called "islands", where pockets of unincorporated areas exist, surrounded by the City of Dublin (see Attachment 6). 1. SOUTHWEST AREA In July of 1993, Dublin City Council formally adopted the Southwest Area Plan (SWAP), The plan in essence assumed that all areas which could reasonably be provided with urban services (primarily urban sewer and water) would eventually, at some point in the future develop in an urban fashion, As such, the planning effort looked at how the area should ultimately develop, regardless of the rate at which that development might take place, As part of its action to adopt the plan, however, City Council stipulated an additional policy directive. -1- Date of last revision: 4/3/95 - Council determined that as a matter of general policy, the City should not pursue annexations within the southwest area which would not clearly provide a net fiscal benefit to the City until such time as the Community Plan Update (and its associated fiscal analyses) and the Economic Development Strategy were completed, This action was taken because the South West Area Plan determined that the great majority of future annexable land within the quadrant was largely residential in nature, The plan also identified the vast amounts of infrastructure which would be needed to support that residential development. Examples of such infra-structure included: 1) significant widening of Avery Road and its US 33 overpass, 2) the need for additional water towers with almost any development proceeding west of Avery Road, 3) the Coffman Road extension, 4) the Tuttle Road to Avery Road extension, 5) numerous upgrades to the sub-standard, rural roadway network, 6) and perhaps some significant challenges with storm water management. Since the City had no way of determining whether or not such a level of infra-structure could be afforded without great financial hardship to the remainder of the City, the extremely cautious interim annexation policy, specifically for the southwest area, was adopted, It should be noted that a determination was not being made that these properties should not ever be annexed to the City, but rather, that annexations should not be pursued until the City had the "Citywide" information needed to determine the desirability and affordability of the recommended growth patterns included in the Southwest Area Plan, The annexable portion of the Southwest Area is defined as "Exclusive Dublin Expansion Area" within the recently executed Dublin/Columbus Sewer and Water Contract. The area consists of approximately 2350 acres of property, most of which is projected as likely residential development (see Attachment 1), This policy statement does not vary the policy adopted by Council as part of the SWAP, However, it should be noted that this is a statement of general policy, and there may be circumstances where Council may wish to consider and accept an annexation in the southwest quadrant because of other attributable public benefits from the proposed development beyond the simple, direct fiscal impacts, For example, an extremely large-scale commercial/industrial development within or adjacent to this area would create tremendous new demands for land acquisition and development in the area, The development pressures may be such that Dublin would want to annex the surrounding properties to ensure that development took place in a quality, compatible fashion with proper and adequate infra-structure being installed as part of the development. Another example could include a proposed annexation accompanied by the installation or completion of a needed or desirable public improvement such as a major road widening, etc, Another issue within this potential annexation area which needs to be addressed is the issue of non-coterminous school district boundaries, Much of the area into which Dublin could conceivably annex in the southwest quadrant would be located within the Hilliard School District. At this time, the City is still evaluating the issues associated with such a pattern of development; however, any time the level of jurisdictional fragmentation is increased, providing inter-governmental coordination and developing a sense of community is made more difficult (see Attachment 2). -2- I ; 2. AREA WEST OF DUBLIN. NORTH OF US33. EAST OF HYLAND-CROY ROAD (UNION COUNTY ANNEXATIONS) This area differs significantly from the potential annexation areas in the southwest quadrant because little to no planning has been done for this area. The area was not included within the 1988 Community Plan because it was not a part of any existing or proposed sewer and water service contract with the City of Columbus and was therefore not viewed as part of Dublin's logical growth area. In the sewer and water contract entered into between Dublin and Columbus in 1992, the area of Union County west of the City's current corporate limit along the Franklin County border, north of US33 and east of Hyland-Croy Road, was added to what is now identified as Dublin's "Exclusive Expansion Area" (see Attachment 1). Although no planning had been done for these properties, the City projects that the majority of this area likely lends itself to low-density, single-family residential development. Based upon the best information available today, there are clearly portions of this area which have significant questions regarding Dublin's ability to provide sewer and water service, The properties in the northernmost end of this proposed growth area cannot be provided with adequate water service with the City's current distribution system, and any improvements are projected to be quite expensive, Similarly, the administration has recently conducted a capacity analysis of the North Fork Indian Run sanitary sewer which currently terminates just north of Dublinshire Road, east of Muirfield Drive, This would be the sewer which would need to be extended to serve the majority of this growth area, Although the sewer appears to have capacity to serve a portion on this area, at this time, preliminary calculations indicate it may lack the capacity to serve the entire area, Annexations into the northern portion of this growth area would be provided with electric service by Ohio Edison Company (see Attachment 3), Similarly, a significant portion of this growth area would be provided with phone service from General Telephone and would therefore likely result in some continued level of dissatisfaction among future Dublin residents if the issue of long-distance calling to Columbus was not resolved (see Attachment 4), Also, unlike growth into the southwest quadrant which is entirely within Washington Township, growth within this area would be within Jerome Township of Union County, As such, upon its initial annexation, the area would be served by Jerome Township for fire protection and emergency medical services, It is the policy of Dublin City Council to provide a uniform level of fire protection and emergency medical services to all of the City's residents. The City will take action to include this growth area within Washington Township, if annexed to the City of Dublin. Obviously, since this increases the service area of Washington Township, the fiscal impacts of such an expansion should be analyzed, At this point in time, Dublin will consider accepting annexations within this area where single parcels of land are currently located both in the City of Dublin and in unincorporated Union County, Under such a scenario, the parcels annexed would be brought under single jurisdiction with minimal impacts on the City, Of course, the City would also need to determine on a case- by-case basis the adequacy of available sewer and water service, Additional large-scale -3- . annexations into this area, however, should be postponed until the City completes the update of its Community Plan, Again, the City should be in a position to consider exceptions to this policy if either major development proposals in or near the area create new opportunities, or unique developments are proposed within the area which meet some other important public purpose or objective, 3. AREA NORTH OF MUIRFIELD There appears to be a limited amount of property north of Muirfield which could be served by the Dublin sanitary sewer system (see Attachment 5), The only recommended land uses which would likely be appropriate for this area would be low-density, single-family housing, This area includes approximately 340 acres. The administration has determined, however, that the City would not be able to provide this property with adequate water service without the addition of expensive improvements such as additional storage facilities and booster stations, Given the small amount of area to be served, the administration would not recommend such expensive improvements in order to serve this area, at this time, The area is not currently located in the Dublin Expansion Area as identified within the City's sewer and water contracts with Columbus, However, in previous discussions with Columbus, they have indicated that if a small amount of acreage north of Dublin could be reasonably served by extensions of Dublin's sewer and water systems, Columbus would not have any objection to adding this area to our service contracts, Another complicating factor is that at least a portion of the area is currently provided with water service by the Deleo Water System. It is the City's understanding that because this water system is funded, in part, with federal loans, that the customer base within the served area belongs to Deleo, since that customer base was designated to help repay the federal loans, The City has serious questions regarding the ability of the Deleo Water System to meet Dublin's minimum fire-flow requirements in the long term, Initial investigation of this issue by representatives from R,D, Zande & Associates indicates that the system today is adequate to serve a portion of the area which could be provided with Dublin sanitary sewer service, The City is far less certain at this time, however, that these minimal fire-flow standards can be met into the future as the southern Delaware County area continues to develop, Also, this area is located in Concord Township and in accordance with City Council's policy to provide a uniform level of fire protection and emergency medical services to all City residences, ultimately, an adjustment of township boundaries would be necessary, This is the same policy as described earlier for any Jerome Township annexation, and is consistent with previous Council action in this area, Electric service to this area is provided by Union R,E,C.I., and phone service is provided by Ohio Bell (Ameritech). The City recognizes that the Dublin School District has expressed a desire to pursue the development of an additional elementary school within this area, if at all possible, The school administration is fully aware, however, of the issues that need to be overcome, -4- . Obviously, annexations in this area would be contingent upon a whole series of issues being resolved including formal modification of our Dublin/Columbus sewer and water contracts, a formal determination of adequate long-term water service, an adjustment of township boundaries, and, of course, approval of those annexations by Delaware County. Annexations from this area, therefore, are not expected until several of these critical issues are resolved, 4. ISLANDS OF UNINCORPORATED AREA WITHIN THE CITY There are a number of "islands" of unincorporated area located within the current city limits (see Attachment 1), It is the current policy of the City of Dublin that the City cooperate with and encourage the annexation of these unincorporated pockets to the City of Dublin, Such isolated pockets provide for the inefficient delivery of service by the township who often has to cross relatively large areas of incorporated Dublin to provide services to these isolated areas. Additionally, it is believed that such isolated islands lead to unnecessary confusion regarding the issue of jurisdictional responsibility which may lead to an unacceptable level of service being provided to these unincorporated islands or to the areas located immediately adjacent thereto, -5-