Annexation increases Smithfield by 56 acres

By Lisa Christensen

March 28, 2008 | SMITHFIELD -- Smithfield city will now be nearly 56 acres bigger after the City Council voted to annex a piece of property in their meeting Wednesday.

The property, located at the north end of 600 East and owned by Ted Meikle and Connie Peterson, is 55.97 acres and there are no immediate plans to develop it. However, 11 of those acres belong to Ken and Bessie Tuveson, who protested the forced annexation of their land into the city.

"I still object to my land being annexed," Bessie Tuveson said, who had raised concerns in the Feb. 20 Smithfield Planning and Zoning meeting where the matter was previously discussed.

Because of the arrangement of the Tuveson land with the other acres to be brought in, it cannot be separated. Evelyn Meikle, representing Ted Meikle and Peterson, apologized to the Tuvesons for their land being included in the annexation.

"I hate to see it developed but it will never be farmed again," she said, citing a lack of time, money and energy to invest into the property.

The council voted unanimously to annex the property. "I wouldn't vote for this if I thought it would hurt you," said Councilwoman Kris Monson, "but I really think it will work out better in the end."

Other topics discussed in the meeting included raising some city fees. Dean Clegg, city recorder, requested a $5 notary fee be charged for nonresidents, the same fee he said the bank across the street charges.

James P. Gass, city manager, proposed the annexation fee be raised from $1,000 to $1,500. "Frankly, that just covers our cost," he said. The fee covers time and legal fees associated with filing the paperwork to annex property.

The fees and increases for 2008 were passed unanimously.

Donavan Aller and Brian Anderson of Alliance Acquisitions requested a rezone of a lot at approximately 245 N. Main from Single Family Residential to a Residential Multiple Family. The rezone was necessary to begin the process of changing the lot from a trailer park to building four duplex condos.

"We have no ordinance to deal with this," Gass said.

There was some concern among the council because of the planned density of people on the property. Current density laws allow 10 dwellings per acre. The new plan would have nine dwellings on approximately .85 acres as there is an existing house on the property which would stay.

"It makes me nervous to put so much density there," Monson said. "I won't vote to raise [the density] because I've fought too hard to lower it."

Gass said that allowing a rezone wouldn't necessarily guarantee the project would go through as there were more steps developmenters would have to follow. The motion was passed.

A substantial number of survey cards regarding a bond not passed in November's election were returned, prompting a report on the results on the cards. Approximately 19 percent were returned, about 11 percent of which had comments on them. Usually mailed surveys, such as this one, yield an average return of 3 percent, said Councilman Dennis Watkins.

According to the results of the survey, the largest portion, 33 percent, of residents who voted against the bond, which would fund the building or improvement of a new library and city building, felt that the tax increase associated with funding the bond, was not acceptable, said Councilman Michael Oliversen. Of those who indicated the tax increase as the reason for voting against the bond, most said that they were on a fixed income and couldn't afford to have taxes raised any more, he said.

Councilman William "Dee" Wood said that complaints about Smithfield's taxation was without cause. Property tax in Smithfield is the third lowest in the state, he said.

"We do not pay our fair share in Smithfield city," he said.

Monson said she thought the biggest reason the bond didn't go through was because the public wasn't made aware of it early or thoroughly enough, and that was because the council didn't have enough time to prepare the information beforehand.

"I just think the next time we present something, we need to have all our bases covered," she said.

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