Kukulski/Resolution of IntentionCity of Kalispell
Post Office Box 1997 - Kalispell. Montana 59903-1997 - Telephone (406 758-7700 • FAX (406) 758-7758
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council .J A� WY
FROM: Chris A. Kukulski, City Manager f
SUBJECT: Resolution of Intention to Annex Village Greens !�
MEETING DATE: August 25, 2000
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BACK GROUND: Over the past twelve months, the City Council has held two work sessions
discussing the annexation of developed areas surrounding the City. The first and simplest of such
areas is Village Greens, In 1982, the City entered into a Sewer District Connection Agreement with
the North Village Sewer District (Village Greens Development). Paragraph eleven ofthe Agreement
is as follows:
11. The District by this agreement waives the right to protest annexation to the City of
Kalispell, on all or any part of the District, provided, however, that the City shall not initiate
annexation procedures under Section 7-2-4312 until development within the portion to be
annexed reaches 80% of the approved plan development of the area to be annexed.
Section 7-2-4312. Reads as follows:
Section 7-2-4312. Resolution ofintent by city ortown —notice. When, in thejudgmentofany
city or town council, expressed by a resolution that is passed and adopted, it is in the best
interest of the city or town and the inhabitants of any contiguous platted tracts or parcels
of land or unplatted land for which a certificate of survey has been f led that the boundaries
of the city or town be extended to include the platted tracts or parcels of land or unplatted
land within the corporate limits of the city or town, the city or town clerk shall:
(1) immediately notify, in writing, all registered voters in the territory to be embraced, -
and
(2) cause a notice to be published in the newspaper published nearest the platted tracts
or parcels of land or unplatted land for which certificate ofsurvey has been filed, at least
once a week for 2 successive weeks.
Furthermore, paragraph eighteen of the Agreement states the following:
18. No owner of any parcel of land within the District shall be allowed to hook-up to, or to
contribute to the flow of the sewer main connected to the City's Sewage Treatment System
unless and until said owner has furnished to the City a waiver of right to protest annexation
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In Addition to the Agreement, each of the 276 parcel owners have been aware of their "waiver of
right to protest annexation" in two ways. First, 274 of the property owners were notified through
the Covenants that are attached to their deed. Second, Consents to Annex and/or Petitions to Annex
have been signed on phases 1,11, IIIA, IV, VII, IX, and X of the development. For some unknown
reason phases III, 111B, V and VIII (88 of 276 total lots did not sign petitions) Therefor, it is
conclusive that the property owners were sufficiently aware of the City's intention to annex Village
Greens. This opinion is further strengthened by the recent ruling in the Whitefish annexation case.
What is the impact to the City in providing services to Village Greens? Currently, Village Greens
has 276 residential lots, plus an eighteen hole golf course that would be annexed into the City. Of
the 276 lots approximately 225 have single family homes or condominiums. The Dept. of
Commerce estimates that there are 2.7 occupants per household within the US, however, because
of the demographic make-up of Village Greens we would suggest that it is closer to 2.0 per house
hold. This gives us a range of 450 to 600 residents within the development. See attached location
map and plat map of the development.
The following is a description of services the City of Kalispell will provide the residents of the
Village Greens development upon annexation.
Police Coverage - In preparing the plan we examined the call -lead ratio for the region, the
demographic features, the population base and the inherent architectural features related to
safety.
We analyzed the call -load ratio for the area from our records and those of the Flathead
County Sheriffs Office to help determine a calls -for -service need.. This area is in our zone
number 4 which generally runs north of US-2 and east ofMain Street. Zone 4 is the lowest calls -
for -service area in the city with approximately 1400 calls per year. The Flathead County Sheriffs
Office indicated the calls -for -service in the area was very low.
The subdivision is flanked on the east by Stillwater River and on the west by steep ridges.
The area has only two access roads on the south side of the property with fencing between the
ridges and the river. The area receives very little transient traffic that is not connected to the golf
operation because there are no through avenues. The subdivision is well lit and the homes are
in close proximity to each other. These features suggest that there will be a very low law
enforcement caseload. There is some floodplain concern that would require law enforcement
services if a flood required an evacuation of the area.
In conclusion, the low calls -far -service ratio of the area, along with the absence of a
significant call load in the subdivision, suggests that the demand on our services will be low. The
demographic profile of the area, that of adult middle income families, is generally one with a low
calls -for -service profile.
The population numbers suggest that the area will require approximately .8 officers based
on the low population estimate of 450 residents. That figure is based on the "Law Enforcement
in Montana" survey which rates law enforcement ratios in cities of our size in the state at 1.8
officers per 1000 residents. (x/450 residents = 1.8/1000 residents). We must also anticipate
some impact on our dispatch services that will require that we budget additional money for part-
time staff: We also anticipate a very small caseload on our animal warden services.
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It is our opinion that we can extend services to this area without the addition of any
employees through increased efficiency and zone response. We feel we can generally provide
excellent service to the area because of its proximity to existing service areas and the inherent
low calls -for -service overall profile of the area. We must stress that the cumulative affect of
annexations such as these will result in a need for additional full-time staff and proportional
funding for support staff.
Fire/Ambulance Coverage - The Kalispell Fire/Ambulance Department made an inspection
of Village Greens Subdivision in order to determine the impact annexation would have on the
fire department. Our present manpower to population ration is 1 fireman per 800 population.
Consequently, this annexation would cause the fire department to require 0.56 fireman based on
the 450 estimated residents.
The distance from our station to the last house in this subdivision is 3.8 miles. We estimate
our response time at six to seven minutes. There are currently 23 fire hydrants for the Evergreen
Water Department in this subdivision- We are charged $60 per year rent on these hydrants, so
that would be a cost to our budget of S 1380 per year. We have served this subdivision since ifs
beginning with our E. M.S. System.
It is our opinion, that since we already serve this area with E. M. S., and since it is a new
subdivision built to current building and fire codes, the run volume for fire should be quite low.
We would like to point out, however, that this subdivision is on the Northeast edge if our city
limits, where a substation is a consideration at this time. We would not propose hiring additional
manpower as a result of this annexation, however, the cumulative effect of growth and
annexation will create a demand for additional manpower in the future.
Public Works - Streets are in generally good condition and appear to meet the City's standard
cross section with curb and gutter. The first phase portion of Nicklaus Drive is the exception. It
is constructed to the City's alternate cross section design that does not include curb and gutter.
The other exception is that sidewalks have not been installed in the development. The condition
of the streets appears to be good with no obvious deficient areas. It is our opinion that overlay
is not needed, but that the streets should be placed into the regular maintenance program to be
chip -sealed as soon as possible in order to maintain their good condition for as long as possible.
We would further recommend improving Nicklaus Drive (phase I) to add curb and gutter to
match the rest of the development and improve drainage. It is my understanding, per my
conversation with the homeowners association president, that the developers have a
responsibility to upgrade Phase I. At the time of the memo I was not able to verify this
obligation.
Storm drainage facilities have been installed and there are no obvious deficiencies. Potential
catch basin and piping improvements may be needed if curb and gutter is added to Nicklaus
Drive in order to ensure proper function of the system.
Evergreen Drive from Whitefish Stage Road to the Whitefish River is a County maintained
road. It appears to be in generally good condition and appears to meet County standards. There
are no obvious immediate improvements needed for this section of Evergreen Drive that would
place a burden on City resources. Because our sewer line is not within the Evergreen Drive
right-of-way I am not advocating that we annex any portion of Evergreen Drive at this time.
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It is difficult to determine the personnel requirements to serve this area. Routine snow
plowing is the greatest obligation. This would add about six man-hours of workload per event.
Sweeping would impose a somewhat smaller burden of approximately four man-hours per event.
Other road maintenance would be fitted into the current schedule as necessary. Water
maintenance is done by Evergreen. There would be no changes in sewer system maintenance
because this is being done at present by the City. Storm drainage maintenance is estimated to be
nominal and not of significant impact.
We were able to identify a statistic that identified the need for 2.5 public works employees
for every 1,000 residents in order to perform ALL public work responsibilities (streets, water,
sewer, solid waste, storm sewer, support staff etc.) Utilizing this figure, you would estimate the
need in public works to be approx. 1.1 employees, however, as 1 mentioned above we already
provide sanitary sewer, water is Evergreen's, solid waste is a minimum of five years out and so
we are estimating an overall impact of 0.5 employee.
Sewer Service - Sewer system facilities are reasonably new and were installed to Montana
standards. They are currently the property of North Village County Sewer District. We have a
contractual arrangement with North Village to operate and maintain the facilities and will
b=me owner of the facilities when bonds for construction have been paid. There are no
apparent infrastructure needs for this system and annexation will involve no changes to City
operations.
As a result of the annexation, sewer users will no longer have to pay the out -of -city sewer
rate which is 25% higher than the in -city rate. This will save each user approx. $50 per year and
cost the sewer fund approx- $11,250.
Water Service - Water system facilities are reasonably new and were installed to Montana
standards and are the property of the Evergreen district. There would be no obligation on the City
to operate or maintain this system. This is identical to the situation in Buffalo Stage where the
development is in the City but water is provided from Evergreen facilities.
Solid Waste (Garbage Collection) - The City will not provide solid waste disposal services to
the annexed area for a mirnmum of five years, consistent with the provision of 7-2-4736, M.C.A.
Parks - There are no publicly owned parks within the Village Greens development. The
developers chose to meet their parkland requirements by designated their park areas as
homeowners association parks, green space and open areas. Therefor, the City will have no
additional service commitment as a result of the annexation.
Recreation - Residents within Village Greens are currently eligible to participate in any of the
City's recreational programs. Therefor, the only impact pertaining to recreation is that the
participating residents will no longer have to pay the higher "out of city" fee. This is expected
to have an extremely minimal effect on recreation fees.
Urban Forestry - Public right-of-ways are 60 feet within the development. This offers ample
space for boulevard trees. Village Greens will be prioritized with all other neighborhoods within
the City for both the planting of new trees and the maintenance of their current boulevard trees.
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What tax revenue will be derived by the annexaticm? The Village Greens development will generate
$66,147 in general tax revenue based on 1999 asp: ssment numbers (Dept. Of Revenue spreadsheet).
Of the 276 Iots within the development the majority are 65' x 100 equating to 6,500 sq. ft. There are
a number of lots that are smaller and larger but for purposes of estimating, I utilized the average size
of 6,500. In addition to the millage revenue generated, property owners will be subject to three
assessments. The Street Maintenance assessment will generate an est. $8,073; Stone. Sewer
assessment will generate an est. $4,926; and the Urban Forestry assessment will generate an est.
$1,209. Therefor the total revenue generated from Village Greens is estimated at $80,355 per year.
This breaks down to approx. $291 in city taxes for each lot within Village Greens.
Can the City provide services to the Village greens development without raising taxes? Yes. See
the following chart which is derived from the narrative above.
Department Manpower Total Cost
Police Officer 0.8 $36,57
Fire Personnel 0.5 $21,2 I4
Hydrant Rental $ 1,3St0
Public Works 0.5 $18,1013
$77,244¢
Administration (3%) 2,317
$79,561
Revenue Generated
$80,353
After analyzing all of the information pertainin- to this annexation, I recommend we exercise our
option under paragraph eleven of our agreement with North Village Sewer District and our authority
under state law pertaining to annexation of contiguous lands. In doing so we need to approve a
Resolution of Intent to Annex tract # 5 and Ville Greens Phases 1, II, III, IIIA, IIIB, IV, V, VII,
VIII, IX, X and the tracts associated with the go -UP course.
RECOMMENDATION: The City Council direct the City Manager and City Attorney to place
a Resolution of Intent to Annex on the September 5 agenda.
FISCAL EFFECTS:
ALTERNATIVES:
Respectfully submitted,
Chris A. Kukulski
City Manager
See Above
As suggested by the Council.
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Report compiled August 25, 2000
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