Rochester City Council approved an ordinance to annex land southwest of U.S. 31 and Indiana 25 Tuesday. Here's a map of the affected area.
Photo provided
Rochester City Council approved the annexation of land southwest of town during Tuesday night’s city council meeting.
They also approved a resolution adopting a fiscal plan for the annexation of certain territory. The actual fiscal plan, however, was not actually included as an attachment in what was provided to The Sentinel.
It's 12 pages, Mayor Trent Odell said Wednesday and "includes all of the legal responsibilities of the city that come with the annexation. It has the area description, non-capital services, capital improvements, fiscal impact, etc. It just doesn’t have any committed developments at this time since we have nothing committed."
Mayor Trent Odell told council attendees there's not yet a solid plans for what the city will provide to the annexed area. Indiana law requires a municipality, when annexing land into its boundaries, provide a minimum number of city services.
What is known is that the city is building a water tower and extending water and sewer utilities to the area. The water tower will be behind the truck stop and is meant to meet growing demand on the south end of town.
The annexed land is comprised of approximately 114.16 acres of land. The land is southwest of U.S. 31 and Indiana 25.
The properties are along County Road 50 East, County Road 75 East and Indiana 25. It's all south of U.S. 31. The boundaries cuts through farmland and around Paradise Estates, so it is not included.
Some of the land is planned for new industrial development adjacent to Mashiana Paradise Plaza truck stop.
“A lot of this stuff is guesswork. We have no idea what’s going to go out there,” said Rochester City Mayor Trent Odell. “There’s no housing units being brought in. Only business present out there is Mashiana Truck Stop and they signed the petition for annexation. They were good with that.”
Any other private development other than a a horse trailer dealership proposed by Neil Shepherd is not known.
A councilman questioned whether horses would be in city limits. The land is zoned highway commercial, which allows for that that. People can have a kennel. There would be an area for horses to accommodate someone who might need to offload their horses overnight.
“We don’t know what’s going to come in anywhere else, so it’s hard to come up with a fiscal plan that’s very accurate. We’re kind of guessing,” said Odell.
This is a super voluntary annexation, which means 100% of the property owners in the proposed property have signed the petition.
The ordinance was drafted by Scott Frissel of Krieg DeVault LLP, Carmel.
Annexation is the legal process by which municipalities grow. Voluntary annexation is when a property owner(s) submits a petition to the City requesting that their property be made a part of the City’s corporate limits. The City then extends its services, laws, and voting privileges to meet the needs of residents living in the newly annexed area, a Huntington website explains. State law provides for two types of voluntary annexation. The first type is when the petition contains 100 percent of the signatures of the land owners residing in the territory proposed to be annexed. This type of annexation is often referred to as “super voluntary” annexation and can be completed on an abbreviated time schedule. The second type is when the petition is signed by at least 51 percent of the property owners or the owners of 75 percent of the non-exempt assessed value in the annexation territory.
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