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City Council voted
unanimously Tuesday night to start a process that could fold 3,100 people
southwest of Fort Collins
into the city limits.
The action came as
questions surfaced about the land deals that created the enclave.
Opponents,
who accused the city of "entrapping" the enclave with open-space
purchases, vowed to challenge what's shaping up to be council approval of
the annexation, which would bring 1,000-plus homes and 100 businesses into
the city, later this year.
The
plan would annex a region, described by Mayor Doug Hutchinson as
"spidery octopus with tentacles inside the city," located
primarily northwest of South College Avenue and East Trilby Road with
fingers east of South College. Fort
Collins and city natural areas surround the
so-called Southwest Annexation.
City
staff has proposed annexing the area in four phases beginning with the
commercial strip on South
College. Public
comment and first reading of a measure to annex the area is scheduled for
Sept. 5.
The
7-0 council vote followed a meeting that lured dozens of critics wearing
orange pins reading "Stop Forced Annexation" and tea bags to
symbolize the no-taxation-without-representation theme of the 1773 Boston
Tea Party.
"You are
disenfranchising us," said Karen Rose, who lives in the area proposed for annexation.
Residents
in the area have been vehement in their disgust for the plan. While no one
from the public spoke in favor of the annexation, 11 people told the
council they opposed the move during a meeting that was at times
contentious.
During
one exchange, some in the audience audibly scoffed at council member Kelly Ohlson's claim that the city did not purposely buy open
space to create the enclave. The response irked Ohlson,
who told the group they weren't helping their cause.
"I was a no vote on
the annexation vote until about 30 seconds ago," Ohlson
said.
Still,
Ohlson asked city staff to look into questions
about two small strips of land the city acquired in 1999 that connected
large swaths of open space to the area proposed for annexation. The acquisitions
came after the city had purchased the Cathy Fromme
Prairie and Coyote Ridge natural areas and closed small gaps between the
city and the properties.
Closing that gap, opponents
say, officially created the enclave the city is in the process of annexing.
Council
members maintained Tuesday that the annexation offers few benefits for the
city, but that an intergovernmental agreement between Fort
Collins and Larimer
County says the city
will take in such enclaves. Council member Ben Manvel said the annexation
was going to be a "burden" for the city.
"The city,
financially, doesn't want you folks, and neither does the county,"
Manvel said.
City
officials said adding the enclave to Fort
Collins will benefit residents in the form of cheaper
and better electric service, though one business owner questioned that
Tuesday night, saying his business could see average monthly electric bill
increases of $1,600.
The
council also passed a measure that will create an annexation transition
committee by Aug. 15. State legislators passed a bill earlier this year to
establish such committees, though it doesn't take effect until Sept. 1.
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