Lincoln City Council approves annexation over acreage owners objections

Delaying the annexation will allow the Southeast Rural Fire District — which currently provides fire protection to the acreages on the 445 acres bounded by 70th and 84th streets, Pine Lake and Yankee Hill roads — to collect all the property taxes for 2023, said Councilman Richard Meginnis, who introduced the amendment.

The rural fire district will lose the property tax revenue from those acreages once the city annexes them, which amounts to about $8,000 of the district's $133,000 annual budget, according to Chief John Wiese.

That will make it harder to provide service to other property in the district, rural firefighters told the council at a public hearing last week.

Acreage owners also worried they wouldn't have adequate fire protection if they are annexed because there are no fire hydrants for Lincoln Fire and Rescue to use. Unlike the rural district, LFR does not have tankers that carry large amounts of water to an area.

But Meginnis and other council members said they were confident Lincoln firefighters could protect the acreages.

“I believe Lincoln Fire and Rescue does a fantastic job,” said Councilwoman Sändra Washington.

Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Engler has said the fire station at 66th Street and Pine Lake Road — very near the acreages — will allow a response within 1 to 2 minutes and the ability to contain most fires using the water on its rigs.

If a fire is larger before firefighters arrive, they’ll likely have to call on the Southeast Rural Fire Department for mutual aid.

Washington said buying tankers for Lincoln Fire and Rescue would be her top priority, something Engler said the department has considered for some time but has not yet included in the budget.

Typically, the city annexes property after developers request it as part of housing or commercial projects on the outskirts of town. In this case, the city requested the annexation because the land in question is essentially surrounded by city property.

Property owners appealed to the city to hold off until the city annexes land farther south, which it is likely to do eventually.

Council members acknowledged the change won’t be easy for property owners, who have lived on those acreages outside city limits for years, but said it was time to make them a part of the city

“I think delaying it until we annex all the area wouldn’t be right because we don’t know how the city will grow,” Meginnis said.

Along with acreage owners' concerns about inadequate fire protection is the cost of hooking up to city sewer and water, which they said would make it unlikely for residents to do it, and that means the city couldn’t put fire hydrants in the area.

As long as homeowners aren’t close enough to a city water line that hooking up is required, they can decide whether to do so by requesting a special assessment and paying the cost — which can be thousands of dollars — over 20 years.

They’ll also have to pay the city wheel tax, will likely see their property taxes rise and will have to comply with city animal ordinances and pay pet licensing fees.

Several homeowners, who own everything from alpacas and horses to chickens and goats, expressed concerns over that, though city officials said they’d work with homeowners.

The council passed both the annexation and the amendment to delay implementation unanimously.