(Okoboji)– A public hearing on a proposal to voluntarily annex 13.3 acres of land between the Bay Rym Condominiums and Pikes Point State Park into the city of Okoboji drew little fanfare at a public hearing Tuesday evening.
There was little comment and no one spoke in opposition to the proposal. However reference was made to atleast one letter the city has received from a property owner that’s opposed to the proposal.
Don Hemphill, an attorney representing the city on the matter, says property owners in the area that would be affected now have three days, or through the end of the business day on Friday, in which they could change their mind and have their name removed from the petition requesting the annexation.
Once that period passes and if atleast 80 percent of the property owners in that area are still in favor, Hemphill says the matter would then go before the City Development Board in Des Moines. He says that would likely happen sometime in September. That board would have the final say as to whether or not the annexation would be allowed to proceed. It does rule in favor of the annexation, Hemphill says it would still be another year and-a-half or so before the newly annexed area would show up on the city’s tax role.
Following the hearing, the Okoboji city council unanimously adopted a resolution which Hemphill says addressed the various issues the City Development Board will consider.
The Dickinson county board of supervisors have gone on record opposing the proposed annexation. No one from the county was present at Tuesday evening’s hearing.
