Enclave annex brings changes and challenges

By Dan MacArthur
Fossil Creek Current

Nothing looked any different in the Southwest Enclave the day after Fort Collins voters, by a nearly 16-point margin, affirmed annexation of the nearly three-square-mile territory.

But changes aplenty are afoot--some now apparent and others lurking just below the surface.

Beginning this month, an additional 3 percent city sales tax will be collected on purchases from businesses bordering South College Avenue within the first phase of annexation.

Property owners in that area will begin receiving monthly bills for the first installment of new stormwater fees to be phased in over five years. They will not, however, be subject to the city's 9.797-mill property tax until next year.

Fort Collins police have taken over law enforcement duties from sheriff's deputies. Poudre Fire Authority still will provide fire protection, although PFA will lose some $270,000 property tax revenues previously collected in the area by the associated rural fire protection district.

The city also has assumed responsibility for maintaining streets currently accepted on the county maintenance system. Publicly dedicated streets not accepted by the county will receive basic maintenance until they can be improved to city standards.

The city utility department has started working with Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association to eventually become the provider of electricity to the former enclave. Water still will be provided by the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District and sewer service by the South Fort Collins Sanitation District.

And at the same time, undeterred opponents are preparing yet another petition drive aimed at preventing any future use of public open space to create an enclave subject to eventual annexation.

The Oct. 31 first-phase annexation was put on hold just before Christmas when opponents petitioned to place a measure to void the annexation on the April 3 ballot. The annexation became effective again three days after voters rejected the proposal to repeal the annexation ordinance. The measure failed by a 58-to-42-percent margin with 11,800 votes cast in opposition and 8,614 in support.

Since then, perhaps the most visible difference is the transfer of law enforcement duties from the Larimer County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Jim Alderden said the swap "hasn't made any difference. It's such a small area that got annexed."

Police Chief Dennis Harrison did not return calls. But Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the city council committed to spend all the sales tax revenues generated from the enclave - estimated to be between $700,000 and $800,000 - to hire six officers to provide protection when the entire enclave is eventually annexed. Hutchinson said he did not know when that would occur.

Scott Goff, president of the local Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police union, however, noted that it will be at least a year until those revenues are available to hire the additional officers. "A plan would have been to have the people in place before the election," he said. But Goff agreed that the already understaffed department has not been affected by taking on the added turf. He said currently one officer typically is assigned to the district that includes the newly annexed area.

In contrast, perhaps the least visible manifestation of the annexation is the measured process of transferring electrical service to the city from the REA, a cooperative serving portions of Larimer, Weld and Boulder counties.

That handoff is a complicated and complex undertaking that REA General Manager Ron Carey said has been compounded by a lack of communication with the city.

"We've never had that conversation with the city, so we don't know what they're thinking," he said. "As far as I know, they never got any information from us."

The problem, according to Carey, is the piecemeal manner in which the city will annex the enclave in four phases over 10 years. He said that could require Fort Collins to build its own parallel system rather than purchasing the REA lines, which would have to remain in place to continue serving those who won't be annexed for several years.

Current planning director Cameron Gloss said the city council has the discretion to modify the annexation schedule if necessary to address such phasing concerns.

Carey said there's also likely to be negotiations about the price the REA sets for its facilities and equipment.

"There's not a whole lot you can do beforehand," said Fort Collins Utilities General Manager Mike Smith. "We put everything on hold until the election. So now it's back to work."

Smith said members of his staff have been in contact with those at the REA to begin preparing for the conversion. "A lot of coordination will have to take place," he said.

The city has estimated the electrical transition cost at $1.6 million and must begin making the transition within two years, Smith said. However, he said no conversions are likely until next year.

"It's not going to happen overnight," Smith said. "We'd like it to. We'd like to have them as customers."

Annexation critic Karen Rose challenges that figure as unrealistic for purchasing or replacing REA assets. Then, she maintains, there will be further hefty costs to purchase the Xcel Energy equipment providing service to residents in subsequent annexations.

Meanwhile, she said, an expanded cadre of opponents of forced annexation is preparing to petition another measure on the November ballot. Although the specifics have yet to be hammered out, she said, the ballot issue would seek to forbid Fort Collins from using open space to create an enclave. While currently focused on Fort Collins only, a companion measure also is being considered to prohibit Larimer County from conveying open space to a municipality to create an enclave, Rose said.

"It's not going to prevent the city or county from annexing," she said. "It only says open space can't be used as a boundary for annexation."

Rose said the original Citizens Against Forced Annexation core has been joined in its effort by property owners along East Mulberry and those northwest and southeast of Fort Collins wary of the city's plans to eventually surround and annex them as it did the Southwest Enclave.