09-95 Resolution
RECORD OF RESOLUTIONS
Dayton legal Blank Co, Form No, 30045
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~eSOllltiOI1 No. 09-95 Passed 19 n~+=_
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i A RESOLUTION CLARIFYING THE LANGUAGE I
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i OF THE ADOPTED INTERIM ANNEXATION POLICY, i
AND DECLARING AN EMERGENCY i
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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
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- ~Tt of Council, Oublm, OhIO
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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.
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Date of last revision: 4/3/95
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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).
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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
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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,
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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,
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