January 7th, first official step for the Tebo annexation
Don't panic, read on
THIS IS NOT THE ANNEXATION DON’T WORRY!
If you’ve been reading my newsletters for the last month or so you should know about the potential development at the southwest corner of 287 and Arapahoe called the Lafayette Marketplace. If you’ve missed any you can catch up here.
I am in the process of writing Karensplainers about the long and bumpy relationship between Lafayette and Erie and an agreement to work together to share revenue at the Nine Mile Corner retail center and the currently undeveloped Tebo property across 287.
I’m working on a post about the details of revenue-sharing in the agreement and am setting that aside momentarily for two reasons. One is to let you know about this council action on January 7th. The other is because I discovered I was missing some important financial information and City Administrator Doelling is putting that together for me. I expect that will happen early next week. Stay tuned.
THE FIRST STEP
Here is the title of this action on the council’s agenda for Tuesday
“Resolution No. 2025-06 / Finding the Annexation Petition for Property Located at 10538 Arapahoe Road to be in Substantial Compliance with State Statutes and Setting a Public Hearing on the Petition in Accordance with the Municipal Annexation Act of 1965”
WHEN DOES THE ANNEXATION HAPPEN?
To bring it down to the simplest terms it would be crazy for the city to annex land before knowing the plans. Once it’s annexed that’s saying ok we expect something here. The city wants to know what’s expected before the annexation so the council can say yes or no with knowledge of the outcome. The development review process moves forward including public hearings at the planning commission and the city council. Then the annexation vote happens. In the end, the council can say no thanks this isn’t what we want.
I will go out on a limb here and say I expect to see an executive session or two (where council meets in private) to discuss possible incentives for the developer. That happened the last time Kensington brought their project forward. We don’t know what was discussed. As I explained in a previous post, developers and large retail stores tend to ask for a deal of some sort to save them money. I’ll let you know if I see this on a future agenda.
Here’s a chart from the city website showing the development process.
WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
The staff memo explains what’s happening. State law governs how local governments must handle annexations. It seems complex and kinda weird but the staff wrote a detailed explanation of the procedure so I am copying and pasting it below.
“Background Information
An annexation petition was submitted to the City for the subject property on Dec. 20, 2024.
The property is currently vacant/unimproved and zoned Agricultural in unincorporated Boulder County.
Annexation Process
There are three steps required in the annexation process. The following summarizes the three steps:
Substantial Compliance–The City must determine if the annexation petition is in the prescribed form and contains the necessary statutory allegations. In addition, a finding must be made that the petitioners constitute more than 50% of all the landowners and that the petitioners own more than 50% of the total area of the property, excluding certain public ownership. The City must also set a date, time, and place for an eligibility hearing 30 to 60 days after the finding of substantial compliance.
Eligibility Hearing and Determination After four consecutive weeks of public notice in a newspaper of general circulation, the City will determine if the assertions in the annexation petition are supportable and if the property is eligible for annexation under the Act. The eligibility hearing must occur between 30 and 60 days after the substantial compliance resolution is approved by Council. If Resolution No. 2025-06 is approved, the Eligibility Hearing for the Kensington Annexation will be scheduled for Feb. 18, 2025.
Annexation, Zoning, and Subdivision Review and Approvals–If the proposed territory is determined to be eligible for annexation, the City may then proceed with development review and hearings on the annexation and development applications (zoning and subdivision) before the Planning Commission and City Council. The findings of substantial compliance and eligibility determine whether the parcel can be annexed; the development review process that follows will help the City Council determine whether the territory should be annexed.”
“Next Steps
If City Council approves Resolution No. 2025-06 finding substantial compliance of the Kensington Annexation Petition, a public hearing on eligibility will be set for Feb. 18, 2025.
Following the eligibility hearing, the applicant may proceed with the City’s zoning, planned unit development, and subdivision processes. There are no dates set for public hearings on annexation, zoning, and subdivision at this time.”
THE DOCUMENTS IN THE COUNCIL MEETING PACKET
For those who want to read all the associated documents including the petition filed with the city.
PROVIDING INPUT
This is not a public hearing but as with any topic, residents can share their input with the city council in a variety of ways.
You can contact them individually or as a group via email. Or phone. This method will not be a part of the public record for the meeting.
Options for Participating in the Meeting
• Attend the meeting in person at City Hall Council Chambers, 1290 S. Public Road.
• Submit written comments for Public Input to City Council
If your written comments are received by 1pm on the day of the meeting they will be added to the meeting packet for that night. Written comments submitted for Public Input will not be read aloud during the meeting.
• Participate by telephone. Call 1-877-853-5247 (toll free). Once connected, you will be asked for the meeting number. The meeting number is 869 1163 2580. Press # after entering the number. To request to speak, press *9 during Public Input to raise your hand. When it is your turn, we will unmute your microphone.
• To request interpreter services, please submit a request at least two (2) days prior to the meeting
Want to offer more support? Awesome!
Thanks for your updates. I don’t fully understand the annexation process but appreciate the information and your efforts to help our community .
Unless the project is relatively unique and something the city really wants and it could go elsewhere, I don’t understand the need to sweeten the pot for the developer. They’re going to make money anyway. In this case I suspect the location is its own reward.