Annexation opponents protest city rejection of petition

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Opponents seeking to overturn annexation of the southwest enclave are crying foul following a hearing on Fort Collins' rejection of petition signatures that would have forced a vote on the issue.

Citizens Against Forced Annexation members Joann Malera and Karen Rose contended that the city placed an excessive burden on the group to prove that the city improperly invalidated enough petition signatures to prevent them from placing the issue on the April 3 municipal ballot.

The Nov. 27 hearing was conducted in response to the protest Malera filed after the city clerk's office determined the group fell 34 signatures shy of the 3,150 required. Petition circulators gathered 4,093 signatures, but hundreds were invalidated, principally because the signers didn't live in Fort Collins or weren't registered as voters there.

Malera entered into the record 14 legal-sized sheets bearing the dozens of names of signers the group contended that the city had wrongly invalidated. City Clerk Wanda Krajicek said her office would review those contested signatures and determine whether any should be counted by Dec. 6, when the hearing continues.

In the meantime, the protestors must substantiate their challenges. They hope to accomplish that in part by reconciling their list with that of voters who have recently registered address changes to locations within Fort Collins.

They also must produce witnesses whose signatures were rejected to testify to their validity.

"The burden of proof to prove these signatures is with you," said Krajicek.

Rose insisted that was far too big a burden. She said the protestors have neither access to the address changes at the county clerk's office nor any assurance when they will be available. And, Rose said, it is unreasonable to demand that petitioners appear in person to defend the validity of their signatures.

"This is an undue burden on people who sign a petition," she insisted, maintaining that the city should accept notarized statements instead.

Krajicek refused Malera's request to extend the hearing beyond the Dec. 10 deadline saying, "Our charter is hard and fast that the hearing must be completed within 30 days." She said a ruling also must be issued no more than 10 days later.

The petition drive was launched after the city council approved the ordinance setting the annexation into motion. The city plans to annex the unincorporated enclave in four phases over eight years. The first-phase annexation of the South College Avenue commercial strip took effect Nov. 1.

If unsuccessful in their efforts to bring the issue to a vote, annexation opponents have pledged to file a lawsuit challenging the legality of the way the city created the enclave using a road right-of-way as the foundation for encircling the area.

Located generally south and east of the intersection of Harmony and Taft Hill Roads, the 2.75-square-mile enclave is the home to some 3,100 residents and 100 businesses.