Area of Impact Maps Get Updated
Nate Estes, Publisher
Some local residents near Council received a letter recently from the Adams County Commissioners regarding an updated Area of Impact map for the city of Council. The image included above was printed with the letter. It is also printed as a legal notice in this week’s issue. We added the highlighting to help identify Highway 95 on the map.
Cambridge has also recently updated their Area of Impact and it is considerably smaller than their previous version. New Meadows will be updating their map soon. We didn’t have room to print these maps this week but they are readily available from your city hall.
What is an Area of Impact? According to state code (Section 67-6526) it is where growth is expected to occur outside of current city boundaries. The ‘when’ is not well defined other than at some point in the near future. It is not a set plan and timetable for city expansion.
Adams County Commissioner Viki Purdy stated that with this proposed Area of Impact “(Automatic) Annexation is not the case, it is just an impact area for future planning. If the city wants to annex your property, or if you want your property to be annexed, I would hope that the city offers you services in return for your new taxes.”
Meredith Fisher, the Adams County Planning & Zoning Administrator, explained much of this in an email and was helpful in making this less opaque. According to Fisher, and state code, these Areas of Impact are approved under the authority of the county, while the city in question develops it with input from local citizens.
Parcels and acreage outside of city limits can and do get annexed into local cities from time to time. The state lays out a process and requirements for this in Idaho Code Section 50-222. In general, the requirements for parcels to be annexed from the county into a local city are: the parcel(s) in question need to be contiguous (touching) to current city limits, landowners are notified, legal notices are published, plans are written, public hearings are held and most importantly, landowners representing sixty percent (60%) of the parcels and at least fifty percent (50%) of the area proposed for annexation give voluntary consent.
According to Ashley Scott, Council City Clerk, Council has annexed three times since 2010. 1.9 acres in 2023, 2.04 acres in 2019 and 18.63 acres in 2014. This last annexation was the sewer lagoons and a well site, which was already city property.
So, why now? Fisher tells me that the requirement for having an Area of Impact is not new but the legislature clarified the language in the code in 2024 and set some new requirements, namely that they be reviewed every 5 years. The legislature also stated that these areas need to be limited to what the city could annex within the next five years.
If you own property outside of city limits, but within the current or proposed impact area you can read up on Idaho Code at https://legislature.idaho.gov/. The relevant code sections are section 67-6526 and section 50-222.
Fisher encourages anyone with questions to reach out as she is happy to answer questions. She can be reached at mfisher@co.adams.id.us.
The Adams County Commissioners will be holding a public hearing on November 24 at 1:30 to consider Council’s proposed impact area. A meeting for New Meadows’ Impact Area should be scheduled in the near future.
