Category Archives: Lakeside

City to begin sending out letters

STAFF REPORT The News Guard

Lincoln City Council has approved a resolution aimed at gathering enough consents from Roads End residents to allow the area to be brought within the city limits.

The resolution, approved unanimously at Council’s Monday, Sept. 13, meeting, comes five weeks after the passage of an ordinance that gives Council the power to designate any area within the urban growth boundary (UGB) an annexation target.

City Manager David Hawker said Roads End is at the top of the City’s list of areas from which it wants to gather consents because the area is the largest developed neighborhood within the UGB but outside the city limits.

He said Roads End already benefits from City services without paying for them, a claim denied by some Roads End residents and examined in detail in the Aug. 18 and Aug. 25 editions of The News Guard.

A recent economic analysis commissioned by the City says annexing the Roads End area would result in a net gain of $606,849 per year for the City once additional revenue in the form of property taxes, franchise fees and state revenue sharing is balanced against the increased costs of extending services such as police protection and road maintenance to the area. Continue reading →

Roads End tops list for annexation

PATRICK ALEXANDER
The News Guard

Lincoln City’s recent adoption of an ordinance that allows the City to force areas within the urban growth boundary to agree to annexation in exchange for continued water supply has laid the foundations for bringing Roads End within the city limits.

Consisting of some 715 homes to the north of town, Roads End is at the top of the City’s annexation list.

Officials say the area benefits from City services without contributing to the general fund – a claim rejected by some residents and examined in last week’s edition of The News Guard.

This week, The News Guard looks at what annexation would mean for Roads End property owners in terms of additional tax and increased access to City services. Continue reading →

Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 10:02 PM
Lori Tobias, The Oregonian

Five years ago, when Jerry and Barbara Woods bought their house in the Roads End neighborhood just north of Lincoln City, they found a letter in their mailbox from City Hall, and it wasn’t a welcome to the neighborhood.

Rather, the letter gave the Woodses a choice: agree to let the city annex Roads End or do without water and sewer service.

They signed. But they wouldn’t have, said Jerry Woods, “if there hadn’t been a gun to our heads.”

Roger Middleton got the same letter when he tried to change the name on his account to include his wife. He ignored the letter and left the name unchanged.

But in coming months, property owners in Roads End won’t have that option. The City Council in Lincoln City recently adopted an ordinance allowing the council to designate by resolution areas to be annexed. Next comes the resolution and after that the letters, saying in short, agree to annexation or no water and sewer for you.

Roads End residents say it’s blackmail, coercion, bullying.

Lincoln City says it’s only fair.

What’s certain is that it’s the latest example of a small town trying to broaden its tax base to cover city services while residents outside city limits fight to maintain their independence. Continue reading →