Staff recommends approval to annex a contiguous and compact area of land consisting of the right-of-way of Old Lexington Road totaling approximately 0.77 acres.

The City of Independence seeks to annex this property into the corporate limits of the City so the roadway can eventually be vacated later by separate action and absorbed into the adjoining properties.  Currently, this right-of-way is essentially an abandoned dead-end street in poor condition.  The property is adjacent to the city limits on its north and south sides.

As this annexation involves a street right-of-way held in the public domain, there is no petition requesting annexation signed by property owners of record.  The Council holds a public hearing open to any interested person after notice has been published in a newspaper of general circulation within the City.

If no objection to the proposed annexation is filed within fourteen days after the public hearing, the Council may annex the territory by ordinance without further action. The ordinance contains an emergency clause that will allow it to become effective immediately following the second reading. The City then must send three certified copies of the ordinance to be filed with the County Clerk and one certified copy to be filed with the election authority.

Currently, this right-of-way is essentially an abandoned dead-end street in poor condition.  The property is adjacent to the city limits on both the north and south sides.

If annexed into the city, this right-of-way will be zoned the current zoning of the land adjoining on the north and south sides.  The property owner to the north has made application to vacate the entire right-of-way once it has been annexed into the city. If vacated, the north half of the former right-of-way will be added into the now vacant property north with the south half added to the QuikTrip site to the south.

In conjunction with this annexation, the property owner to the north is seeking to rezone their property to R-12/PUD and is requesting approval of a preliminary development plan for a planned duplex development.  These applications are being reviewed concurrently by the City Council. 

As this small right-of-way segment will vacated after annexed into the city, and no municipal services are involved, it will generate only a minimal increase of real estate tax revenues for the city.