At Monday's City Commission Meeting, Commissioners Consider an application filed by Stan Byquist requesting the annexation of a 16 acre tract of land located on the east side of South Ohio Street between Magnolia Road and the Stone Lake Addition.
BACKGROUND: The subject property was formerly the site of what is commonly referred to as the Knox Sandpit. It contains a 57 acre lake. Lakeview Estates, Inc. purchased this property from the Mildred Miller Revocable Trust in July of 2001, less two tracts in the southwest corner of the property which both contain houses. Because this transaction was the second split off from an unplatted tract, Saline County's Subdivision Regulations required that this 150 acre tract be platted prior to any additional development occurring.
In 2002, Stan Byquist, the President of Lakeview Estates, Inc. met with County and City staff and expressed a desire to construct a personal residence on the east side of the sandpit lake.
To accomplish this, applications were filed with the Saline County Planning Department to rezone the 3.1 acre home site from AG (Agricultural) to RA-PUD (Residential Agricultural/Planned Unit Development) and to subdivide this property into two (2) lots - a proposed residential building site-(Lot 2) and a large holding lot (Lot 1) on which no development was proposed, at that time. Because this property was contiguous to the existing city limits, a plat application was also filed with the City Planning Department. Pursuant to the City's current Interlocal Agreement with Saline County, this proposed subdivision plat had to be reviewed and approved by both the City and County Planning Commissions.
At the time, Mr. Byquist indicated that his long term plan was residential development surrounding the sandpit lake with higher density residential development adjacent to Ohio Street. In October 2001, the Saline County Planning Commission approved a Conditional Use Permit to allow a Construction & Demolition (CD) landfill for "clean rubble" materials on the front portion of the property between the sandpit and Ohio Street. The purpose of the CD landfill was to allow fill material to be brought in to raise the elevation of the front portion of the property in order to get future home sites removed from the 100 year flood plain. On the new flood plain maps for Saline County this property is no longer shown as being in a 100 year flood plain. The remapping significantly lowered the Base Flood Elevation in this area.
On May 28, 2002, the Saline County Commission approved the applicant's request for RA-PUD zoning for Lot 2 subject to completion of platting. The front portion (Lot 1) retained its AG (Agricultural) zoning. On September 2, 2003, the City Planning Commission approved the final plat of the Lakeview Estates Addition subject to the following condition:
- No replatting of Lot 1 shall occur without annexation into the city.
The front 34 acres of this property between South Ohio Street and the Knox Sandpit were annexed into the city and platted as Lakeview Estates Addition No. 2 in 2021. This property is the site of the Cedarhurst Assisted Living facility which is under construction on the east side of South Ohio Street.
Current Request Stan Byquist, the property owner, now wishes to develop the area east of Lakeview Estates Addition No. 2 and south of the sandpit lake as a residential housing area. He has filed an application requesting annexation of a 16 acre strip of ground located south of the Knox Sandpit in order to connect the property to City utilities and obtain full municipal services for his proposed residential development. Companion applications have been filed requesting rezoning and preliminary plat approval for the 16.37 acre development site. The City's policy is to require annexation before any residential or commercial development can connect to City utilities.
The annexation request area is bounded by Lakeview Estates Addition No. 2 on the west, The Knox Sandpit lake on the north, the Stone Lake Addition and the former Johnson Sand sandpit lake on the south, and Mr. Byquist's home site on the east. This property is contiguous to the existing city limits on the west and south.
Availability of Water & Sewer The annexation request area can be served by the city's existing utility system. A major water line construction project on Ohio Street that brought water service to this portion of the Ohio Street corridor was completed in 2005.
- Improvements to the City's Water Distribution System
The installation if a new 12" water line connection to the existing 16" line near the intersection of Magnolia Road and Ohio Street, the extension of a new 12" water line along the west side of Ohio Street south to Schilling Road, the extension of a new 12" water line west along the north side of Schilling Road to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and connection to the existing system on the west side of the Union Pacific Railroad was constructed in 2005. This looped water system is now in place and operational which allows for urban development to occur on the Mr. Byquist's Lakeview Estates property. Benefiting properties along Ohio Street and Schilling Road were charged their proportionate share of the equivalent cost of a 6" water line. A "benefit area" was established and the proportionate share of each benefiting landowner was calculated based on the acreage of the benefiting property that can be served by this line. This fee was intended to be collected at the time of completion of public improvements for residential lots but could be collected at the time a building permit is issued for large commercial lots. In Quail Meadows Estates this fee was collected in phases based on the phasing of public improvements.
Owners of property located within the "benefit area" who seek to develop their property and connect to the Ohio water line are required to pay a charge of $.016 per square foot ($696/acre), plus interest at the compound rate of 3.41111637 per cent per annum (which equals the average rate of interest paid by the City under its general obligation bond issue in July, 2004) calculated from the effective date of the cost recovery ordinance until the date the charge is paid (the "Capital Cost Recovery Charge"). The cost recovery ordinance was adopted on November 8, 2004. The amount of the Capital Cost Recovery Charge shall be based upon the developable square footage of the legally described parcel being developed. The West 34 acres of this 150 acre parcel was located within the identified "benefit area" and is subject to this cost recovery charge. Although the area south of the Knox Sandpit lake also benefits from this water line project, it was not included in the Cost Recovery Area because it was considered unlikely to develop.
2. Improvements to the City's Sanitary Sewer System
The City of Salina has adequate capacity in its existing sanitary sewer system to accommodate development of the 150 acre Lakeview Estates property. The city's interceptor sewer line runs in an "L" shape, first east-west then north - south through the portion of this property west of the sandpit and is adequate in depth and capacity to serve the annexation area. There is no impact fee or cost recovery fee associated with this sewer line.
Drainage Run off from this site will drain directly into the Knox Sandpit. In 1999, the City of Salina purchased the detention storage rights in the sandpit to allow it to serve as a regional storm water collection area for south Salina. The 16.37 acre annexation area would be subject to a drainage impact fee to "purchase" detention storage in the sandpit in lieu of providing its own storm water detention.
Street Access and Improvements
South Ohio Street was improved and widened to four (4) lanes as part of a KDOT project in 2007. The project included a hike/bike trail on the east side of the street. The South Ohio Street right-of-way was annexed into the city at that time and the section of the roadway adjacent to the annexation request is owned and maintained by the City.
The applicant will be responsible for extending public streets from Ohio Street and Evening Bay Drive into the site to serve individual building lots. The future street layout will be determined during the platting process.
Other Utilities This 16.37 acre tract is within Evergy's service territory for electric service and is not part of any rural water district so there are no franchise issues or district boundaries that would need to be adjusted as a result of annexing this property into the city. There is a natural gas line along Ohio Street that extends as far south as Schilling Road.
Adjacent Properties The First Southern Baptist Church site at the southeast corner of Ohio and Magnolia was annexed into the city in 1987. The Eastview Estates area to the east was annexed in 1999. The Stone Lake Addition to the south was annexed in 2010. The front 34 acres of Lakeview Estates along Ohio Street was annexed in 2021. This would be an extension of that area. The only property on the east side of Ohio Street that is not in the city limits is Mr. Byquist's property and the two isolated houses on Ohio Street.
Emergency Services Annexation of this property would mean that the City of Salina Fire Department would be responsible for providing EMS service and fire protection to the subdivision. Emergency response would be from Station #3 on Belmont Boulevard. This property is contiguous to areas that are within the existing city limits and already receive City police and fire protection.
Costs/Benefits of Annexation The primary cost to the owners associated with annexation would be that this property and improvements would be subject to the City's property tax mill levy, City sales tax, and franchise taxes.
Potential benefits to the owners include access to City water and sewer for their proposed development, enhanced police and fire protection and reduced fire insurance premiums.
Comprehensive Plan When the current Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2010 the property between the sandpit and Ohio Street was designated as future Suburban Residential indicating a desire to see the property used for low density residential development, typically single-family housing. The Suburban Residential land use allows for a low density residential development, typically in the range of 4 to 8 units per acre in forms such as single family homes, duplexes and townhomes.
The Comprehensive Plan does not have a Polices Section or contain specific annexation policies but it does contain guidance language on extension of City utilities and annexation. On Page 2-33 the Plan states:
- Infrastructure should not be used to support leapfrog development nor should it facilitate scattered or disorganized development. Development that is proposed at the outer edges of the growth areas should wait until development and infrastructure has reached that area.
- Infrastructure will be provided to contiguous uses that are within the city of Salina or in the process of being annexed into the city. In no case shall municipal infrastructure be extended to support development that is not within the city limits at the time of development. Extension of infrastructure to serve development outside the city, or not willing to become part of the city, is not an effective use of resources for the future of the community.
- The extension of infrastructure for a specific user or site would indicate that growth in the area has not been coordinated or planned with future infrastructure improvements. Also, the site would not pay its fair share of taxes or fees to cover the cost of the extension, service and maintenance of the infrastructure and it becomes a long-term cost burden to the City.
This property is located in the City's Primary Service Area on the Urban Service Area map and public utilities have already been extended to the 34 acres to the west and the Stone Lake Addition to the south. Annexation of this 16.37 acre site would be consistent with the policies in the City's Comprehensive Plan.
Planning Commission Recommendation The Salina City Planning Commission considered Stan Byquist's petition for voluntary annexation at their June 6, 2023 meeting. Following presentation of the staff report, comments from Mr. Byquist and comments and questions from Commission members, the Planning Commission voted 7-0 to recommend that this 16 acre tract be annexed into the city limits in order to be able to connect to the City's water and sanitary sewer system.
FISCAL NOTE: If annexed into the city this property would be subject to the City's property tax mill levy. The City of Salina already has maintenance responsibility for South Ohio Street abutting the Lakeview Estates property.
The motion was approved 5-0.