Paradise
will reconsider annexation petition
By Jen Beasley
September 8, 2005 | PARADISE -- The Town Council agreed
Wednesday to allow an annexation petition filed by Cache
Valley resident Brenda Summers to be withdrawn until
she can provide a more precise map of her property.
Summers filed the petition in order to obtain a denial
of the petition and a letter of agreement from the council
stating that they would not annex her property, or that
of neighboring property owner Pat Trostle, so Cache
County would agree to allow the property to remain under
county jurisdiction. Cache County law requires the denial
of an annexation request by a town board before the
county will allow use of county services.
Kristi Summers, niece of Brenda Summers who is in
the process of purchasing the property from her aunt,
says if the property were annexed to Paradise it would
be cost-prohibitive for her family to build on it.
"We'd love to be on city water and we'd love to have
natural gas, but if we do we're going to live in a one-room
shack at the bottom of the hill," said Kristi Summers.
Mayor Lee Atwood said that denying the petition was
not feasible with the map provided by Brenda Summers,
because it includes the property belonging to Trostle,
who also opposes annexation, and contained no reason
for the council to deny the petition for annexation.
The council drafted a plan for future annexations in
2003, which cost $5,000.
"I'm looking at the whole area, because that's what's
in front of us," said Atwood."Long term planning for
us, this (annexation) fits. If we give letters to everyone
who doesn't want to be annexed, there was no point in
us taking time to make the annexation plan."
Trostle, who also attended the meeting, said she does
not want her property to be annexed because she does
not want roads built on it. She said River Heights built
a road through her property there, which is what spurred
her to buy her new land.
"If that ever happens to us again," said Trostle,
"that would be really awful. I would never want to go
through that again."
Brenda Summers asked that her petition be withdrawn
until the two parties could obtain separate, more specific
maps, which could qualify Summers' property as an "island,"
or a piece of property with no connection to current
Paradise town boundaries. That, according to Atwood,
would be a proper reason to deny the petition for annexation,
but until then, the council would probably approve a
petition for annexation because it's the best thing
for the community.
"We supply the roads, the structure, the parks, the
hub for the community," said Atwood. "We want to bring
them into the community.
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