Kings Crest, Edgewater, and Twin Lakes among the annexed communities
The St. Cloud City Council meeting grew heated Tuesday night, with St. Cloud Police officers escorting two speakers out of the chambers, as homeowners pleaded with Council members to deny or postpone planned annexation of their properties.
The area being annexed, which includes Kings Crest, Edgewater, and Twin Lakes, will add nearly 1,000 acres of land to the city limits. Those properties were encumbered by developers when they were built, which allowed the City to provide water and sewer services to them even though they weren’t in the city limits at the time. Once encumbered properties are adjacent to city limits, the City can annex them.
Residents who spoke at the meeting, however, said they were never notified that their properties had encumbrances.
Greg Pikus, a resident of the Twin Lakes 55-plus community, asked the Council to not approve the annexation. “I bought in that community two years ago, and I was never told this,” Pikus said. “[The annexation] adversely impacts people's finances. We're all on fixed incomes out there, and this is a lot more money potentially than a lot of people can afford.”
The additional expenses Pikus referred to include a net increase on the property tax bill of about $800. But city Community Development Director Melissa Dunklin highlighted some of the benefits residents will get for that cost. Among the benefits, she said, are faster emergency response, improved disaster recovery, convenient local services, and potential home insurance savings.
Adam Bailey used his allotted three minutes during the public comment period to implore the council members to deny the annexation.
“We can't do anything,” Bailey said. “We can tell you what we feel like, what we believe in, but you guys are the ones deciding it.” A frustrated Bailey and another citizen were escorted out of the meeting chambers later as they continued to speak out of turn, disrupting the meeting.
In making his motion to approve the annexation, Councilmember Kolby Urban said, “I empathize with the taxes going up. I understand, especially people who are retired on fixed income. In my role here, I have to be responsible for the city's fiscal responsibility, public safety, consolidation, making sure that we are a safe city and that we're doing the right thing for all of our 60-70,000 residents.”
The motion passed 4-1, with Deputy Mayor Shawn Fletcher dissenting.
“It's tough up here,” Mayor Chris Robertson said, noting St. Cloud’s population has grown from 6,700 to 68,000 in his lifetime. “We all share your concerns with the traffic and everything else we have going here. But we have to try and find a way to catch back up,” he said. “There's a lot of emotions running wild in here. But we're all members of the same community. We’re all neighbors.”
In other action, the Council approved two other annexations: 28.6-acres at US 192 and Nova Road; and annexation of the new Marlowe Apartments at US 192 and Nova Road.
