TITLE
An Ordinance of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Maricopa, extending and increasing the corporate limits of the City of Maricopa, Pinal County, State or Arizona, pursuant to the provisions of Title 9, Chapter 4, Article 7 Arizona Revised Statues and Amendments thereto, by annexing thereto certain territory contiguous to the existing city limits of the City of Maricopa, Consisting of 831 acres, more or less, located in a portion of sections 15, 22, 23, and 26 of Township 5 South, Range 4 East of the Gila and Salt River base meridian, Pinal County, Arizona, not currently within the corporate limits of the City of Maricopa, Pinal County, Arizona, known as Annexation Case 13-01. Discussion and Action.
AGENDA ITEM DESCRIPTION
Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statues § 9-471, the Mayor and the City Council will discuss the blank petition for Annexation Case #13-01, a citizens request to annex ±831 acres. This petition was filed by the City with the Pinal County Recorder on October 24, 2013, Docket Fee #2013-084715. The Mayor and City Council will also consider adoption of Ordinance 13-17 (Exhibit A) to incorporate the territory within the City's municipal boundaries.
This memorandum provides the City Council with the background information on Annexation 13-01 and discusses conformance with the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S. § 9-471). Also, a recommendation to move forward with the adoption of the Annexation, by considering approval of Ordinance 13-17, if the Council so desires. The property is generally located in the City of Maricopa's eastern boundary, bounded by Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway to the north, Russell Road to the east, Ak-Chin/State Land & Santa Cruz Wash to the West, and the Teel Road alignment to the south. The total area is approximately 831 acres, which was reduced from approximately 3,358 acres from the initial application, upon the applicant's request. Please refer to the applicants Annexation Request Narrative, Exhibit B, for additional details.
A blank petition for Annexation 13-01 was filed with the Pinal County Recorder's office on October 24, 2013. The blank petition is accompanied by a signed and notarized affidavit, survey map, and legal descriptions of the proposed annexation territory (refer to Exhibit C). The proposed Annexation area includes only one property owner, Anderson Russell, LLC and is managed by the applicant PM Consultants, LLC. The applicant has expressed continued interest to annex the property into Maricopa and was a party to the prior annexation (ANX#11-01) approved by City Council on August 7, 2012.
BACKGROUND
According to A.R.S. § 9-471, any application for annexation must be completed by adoption of Ordinance within one year plus 30-day time from the date of the filing of the original blank petition. One public hearing is required to be held by the City Council not less than 20 days after the recording of the blank petition and prior to 30 days after the date of recording. The required Public Hearing was held by the City Council on Nov. 19, 2013. The Citizen Participation Plan (CPP) implemented for this request exceeds the required notification of A.R.S. § 9-471, and is attached to the General Plan Amendment being processed concurrent to this request.
Conformance to General Plan
Per the City of Maricopa General Plan Chapter II (A), Land Use Element (5) Goals and Objectives, annexation is specifically stated in Goal 6 and Objective a, as follows:
Pursue annexation of unincorporated areas in a logical, systematic and fiscally sound manner.
Objective a: Systematically study costs, benefits and economic opportunities associated with annexations.
A Fiscal Impact Analysis (FIA) of the proposed annexation area was conducted by the Applicant and shows a positive net impact (see Exhibit D). Please note that the FIA identifies two phases of annexation, this request being Phase 1 consisting of 831 acres, the second phase being a future annexation request for 2,330 acres, known as Santa Cruz Ranch. Service and Infrastructure Plans have been provided by respective City departments (Fire, Police, and Development Services) and included as Exhibit F, pursuant to ARS § 9-471 (O). The total area proposed in this annexation equals 3% of the current incorporated area of the City.
Of the 831 acres included in this annexation petition, 177 acres of land are currently included within the City of Maricopa Planning Area and designated in the General Plan Land Use Map as Employment (E), and Open Space (O/S). The remaining 654 acres is located within the Planning Boundary of the City of Casa Grande and is designated as Neighborhoods."
Pre-Annexation Development Agreements
The City Council previously entered into two (2) Pre-Annexation Development Agreements for the land included in this annexation request (refer to Exhibit E). On August 7, the City Council entered into an agreement with the BNC Bank, now owned by Anderson Russell, LLC. This agreement includes provisions that the City shall act on this annexation request and the associated General Plan Land Use Map Amendment by December 31, 2013, among other things.
Public Hearing/ Notifications
The Public outreach and Public Hearing notification has met and exceeded the required notification per A.R.S. § 9-471. In addition to notifying the property owners, utilities, Board of Supervisor Chair, and adjacent jurisdictions (among others), the City also sent public hearing notification letters to all property owners within 300 feet of the annexation area and posted three (3) signs on the site informing area residents of the November 19 and December 19 public hearings. See Exhibit H, the Citizen Participation Plan (CPP), for further details. The required 30-day review period for annexation petitions expired on November 24, 2013, and Council may now take action on the proposed annexation Ordinance 13-17.
Public Comments
The applicant advertised and held a neighborhood meeting on November 14, 2013. The results of the meeting are included in the CPP; there was no public attendance. On November 19, 2013, the Mayor and City Council held the required public hearing to receive public testimony on the proposed annexation area. The City did receive a written protest from the City of Casa Grande, and also from the Pinal County Board of Supervisor Chairman, Stephen Miller. The letters of protest are included with this report in Exhibit F.
Protest Summaries:
City of Casa Grande - A portion of the annexation is located within the City of Casa Grande's planning areas and Designated Management Area for Water and Wastewater Services. The existing Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the City of Casa Grande specifies that:
"b. It is recognized by Casa Grande and Maricopa that any annexations on either side of the Boundary are subject to citizen petitions pursuant to the provisions of ARS § 9-471 et seq. It is further recognized that neither Casa Grande nor Maricopa can prohibit citizens from either side of the Boundary from petitioning one or the other for annexation. However, to the extent the law allows, it is hereby mutually agreed that neither Casa Grande nor Maricopa will seek annexation petitions from citizens on the side of the Boundary opposite each Cities' respective side of the Boundary.
c. The Cities agree that sewer and water infrastructure shall be shared whenever and wherever possible and practical at all places along the designated Boundary."
Staff finds this annexation request, ANX13-01, is compliant with the above provisions and the IGA in its entirety. Staff has responded to Casa Grande's protest in good faith (see response letter with Exhibit F) and will continue a dialogue with Casa Grande to uphold the IGA.
Board of Supervisors Chairman - Chairman Miller was specifically noticed of the Annexation Public Hearing pursuant to statutory requirements. The Chairman provided comments directed toward the timeliness of the developer's intent to develop and the potential impacts to City operations. Staff understands the applicant has communicated with the Board of Supervisors Chairman to address his concerns. However, staff has not received an update as of the time this report was issued. The City has received a completed pre-annexation filing review from Pinal County, identifying no conflicts or issues with the proposed annexation in accordance with County standards and statutory requirements.
Exhibits: A - Ordinance 13-17
B - Annexation Request Narrative from applicant
C - Recorded Blank Petition Doc#2013-084715
D - Fiscal Impact Analysis
E - Pre-Annexation Development Agreements
F - Letters of Opposition and Maricopa's Response to Casa Grande
G - Service and Infrastructure Plan
H - Citizen Participation Plan
This item will be presented by Dana Burkhardt.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Mayor and City Council approve Annexation 13-01 by adopting Ordinance 13-17, to incorporate approximately 831 acres of land within the City of Maricopa's municipal boundary.