Roads End Annexation

Police Presence

By: PATRICK ALEXANDER
The News Guard

Public safety has become a central topic in arguments concerning Lincoln City’s efforts to bring the Roads End area inside the city limits.

City officials have said Roads End residents benefit from Lincoln City Police Department (LCPD) without contributing toward its costs, adding that the area stands to benefit further from the increased coverage that would come with annexation.

Some Roads End residents have rejected that argument, saying they seldom see Lincoln City officers on their streets and do not require much in the way of law enforcement anyway.

Annexation-consent resolution approved for Roads End

City to begin sending out letters

STAFF REPORT The News Guard

Lincoln City Council has approved a resolution aimed at gathering enough consents from Roads End residents to allow the area to be brought within the city limits.

The resolution, approved unanimously at Council’s Monday, Sept. 13, meeting, comes five weeks after the passage of an ordinance that gives Council the power to designate any area within the urban growth boundary (UGB) an annexation target.

City Manager David Hawker said Roads End is at the top of the City’s list of areas from which it wants to gather consents because the area is the largest developed neighborhood within the UGB but outside the city limits.

He said Roads End already benefits from City services without paying for them, a claim denied by some Roads End residents and examined in detail in the Aug. 18 and Aug. 25 editions of The News Guard.

A recent economic analysis commissioned by the City says annexing the Roads End area would result in a net gain of $606,849 per year for the City once additional revenue in the form of property taxes, franchise fees and state revenue sharing is balanced against the increased costs of extending services such as police protection and road maintenance to the area.

Impact of annexation: Roads End

Roads End tops list for annexation

PATRICK ALEXANDER
The News Guard

Lincoln City’s recent adoption of an ordinance that allows the City to force areas within the urban growth boundary to agree to annexation in exchange for continued water supply has laid the foundations for bringing Roads End within the city limits.

Consisting of some 715 homes to the north of town, Roads End is at the top of the City’s annexation list.

Officials say the area benefits from City services without contributing to the general fund – a claim rejected by some residents and examined in last week’s edition of The News Guard.

This week, The News Guard looks at what annexation would mean for Roads End property owners in terms of additional tax and increased access to City services.

Battle brewing between Lincoln City and Roads End over old problem: who pays for what?

Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 10:02 PM
Lori Tobias, The Oregonian

Five years ago, when Jerry and Barbara Woods bought their house in the Roads End neighborhood just north of Lincoln City, they found a letter in their mailbox from City Hall, and it wasn’t a welcome to the neighborhood.

Rather, the letter gave the Woodses a choice: agree to let the city annex Roads End or do without water and sewer service.

They signed. But they wouldn’t have, said Jerry Woods, “if there hadn’t been a gun to our heads.”

Roger Middleton got the same letter when he tried to change the name on his account to include his wife. He ignored the letter and left the name unchanged.

But in coming months, property owners in Roads End won’t have that option. The City Council in Lincoln City recently adopted an ordinance allowing the council to designate by resolution areas to be annexed. Next comes the resolution and after that the letters, saying in short, agree to annexation or no water and sewer for you.

Roads End residents say it’s blackmail, coercion, bullying.

Lincoln City says it’s only fair.

What’s certain is that it’s the latest example of a small town trying to broaden its tax base to cover city services while residents outside city limits fight to maintain their independence.

End of a long road?

Lincoln City approves ordinance to expedite annexation process

By: Terry Dillman
Newport News Times

Whether it marked the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end depended on one’s viewpoint at Monday night’s Lincoln City Council session.

With very little discussion, council members unanimously approved an ordinance that would require property owners outside the city limits but within the city’s Urban Growth Boundary to sign consents to annex as a condition of receiving ongoing city water service.

The low-key approach to the high-tension decision contrasted sharply with the measured session-opening protest from a group of about 20 property owners from the Roads End development. They showed up to speak against the ordinance in another chapter of a story dating back to at least 1978.

During the council’s July 26 session, when the ordinance was first introduced, City Manager David Hawker said Roads End topped the city’s list of sites for potential annexation, and outlined the reasons, including the cost of providing water and sewer service to Roads End, which has 715 of the 1,240 properties outside the city that receive those services.

Roads End residents took exception to many of Hawker’s assertions and offered rebuttals Monday night.

Roads End faces inclusion

City ordinance would expedite annexation process

Friday, Jul 30th, 2010
By: Terry Dillman
Newport News Times

A proposed ordinance introduced during Monday night’s regular session of the Lincoln City Council would enhance the city’s ability to annex areas outside city limits and within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) by requiring signed consents to annexation as a condition of continued water service.

The city supplies water service to most of its 6,078 accounts from three storage tanks via gravity feed. Booster pumps serve customers at a few higher elevations, including one for the Port Lane area of Roads End. The imminent failure of that aging booster pump station and the price tag to replace it prompted council members to find a way to expedite the annexation of Roads End district, located at the north end of the city.

“It’s been on our agenda for years,” City Manager David Hawker said. “It’s time to move forward.”

City paves way for expansion

Roads End tops list for annexation

PATRICK ALEXANDER
The News Guard

A new law that could boost Lincoln City’s ability to annex adjacent areas, starting with Roads End, received a warm welcome from Lincoln City Council at its Monday, July 26 meeting.

The proposed ordinance would allow Council to designate any area outside its limits but within the urban growth boundary, or UGB, as an annexation target.

The area’s residents would then have 60 days to sign a consent to annex or risk having the City shut off their water supply.