Ammon drops bid to expand impact area

By SVEN BERG sberg@postregister.com

Ammon's City Council voted Thursday to withdraw the city's request to enlarge its area of impact, Council President Dana Kirkham said.

The council's decision, arrived at unanimously, appears to put an end to a subject that had become a controversy in recent days. Ammon originally proposed widening its area of impact to include land west of Hitt Road, which had been a recognized dividing line between the cities of Ammon and Idaho Falls.

Kirkham said in a statement that the response by residents of the proposed new area of impact alerted Ammon officials to concerns of which they weren't previously aware.

"The City of Ammon holds the rights of any property owner in the highest regards and fully respects their desires for which jurisdiction their property falls within," Kirkham's statement said.

"County residents testifying at the recent meeting expressed that they have a sincere desire to remain under the jurisdiction of Bonneville County."

As a member of the Eastern Idaho Regional Wastewater Authority, a city-county agency that plans to extend a sewer line from Ammon to a wastewater treatment plant scheduled to be built in Shelley, Ammon proposed expanding its area of impact to include areas west of Hitt Road where residents and businesses could someday hook into the line.

But in a hearing conducted by the Bonneville County Planning and Zoning Commission on Wednesday, Idaho Falls officials balked at Ammon's proposal, saying it would violate a 2001 memorandum of understanding between the cities that designates Hitt Road as the dividing line between them.

Areas of impact project beyond city limits, allowing cities to expand within those areas if growth warrants.

Idaho Falls City Councilwoman Sharon Parry suggested Ammon's proposal could be the first step toward annexation of residents living inside the proposed area of impact, but Ammon officials disputed that claim.

Sven Berg can be reached at 542-6755. Comment on this story on Post Talk at www .postregister.com/posttalk/.