Lesson 2.1 – Issue Orientation

Issue Orientation:

Welcome issue champion! 

Before your municipality can implement a policy plan related to annexations, a discussion needs to take place among your community’s elected policymakers (council members). They need to be able to easily compare what is currently enacted in your community’s code against CiviclinQ’s guidance document (best practice recommendations) in order to identify gaps within the existing code and understand their policy options. 

In order to do this, you will need to be able to guide the discussion and answer basic questions.  We recommend the following following key points be taken into consideration:

• Consider in conjunction with the municipality’s general plan, the need over the next twenty years for additional land suitable for residential, commercial, and industrial development.
• Consider current and projected costs of infrastructure, urban services, and public facilities necessary to facilitate full development of the area within the municipality, and to expand the infrastructure, services, and facilities into the area being considered for inclusion to the expansion area.
• Consider the population growth projections for the municipality and adjoining area for the next twenty years.
• Consider the reasons for including agricultural lands, forests, recreational areas, and wildlife management areas in the municipality.
• The character of the community also needs to be addressed and discussed. Knowing what is expected of future development and annexations can help ease this process.

Action Items:

1. Spend a minute getting familiar with CiviclinQ. Note the “materials” tab located towards the top of the page. This tab contains all of the documents you need to complete this course module.

Move on to Lesson 2.2.