Hayden fields another annexation request

Hayden City Council members encouraged a property owner near the Hayden Canyon development, who approached the city with a proposal to annex a chunk of rural acreage south of Lancaster Road, to proceed with the proposal.

Cora Marks, who owns 54 acres of agriculture and forested land southeast of Hayden Canyon, asked the city to annex her property and requested the city zone the land as residential property, which would allow two homes per acre to be built on the land.

The property is a half mile east of Government Way and south of Lancaster Road.

The City Council approved the initial request last week, but laid out a series of conditions before annexation will be formally considered by the city.

“Before an official annexation request can be submitted the owner has to meet all the conditions,” said Melissa Cleveland, Hayden’s development director. “They are conditions we need to know about before we take an annexation request seriously.”

Conditions include providing the city with a traffic impact analysis, a letter from the school district, a sewer study and a wetlands determination — likely done by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Most of the properties around Marks’ land are already part of the city, and surrounding land outside city limits is part of the city of Hayden’s impact area.

Cleveland said the owner plans a neighborhood development on the land.

The latest residential development proposed in the area, at Hayden Canyon, has been hotly contested by neighbors who say they wanted to stem growth in the area.

Hayden Canyon, which is part of the city and lies across the road and to the north of Marks’ land, is a mixed use development on 612 acres that, once it is built out over several years, could see 1,823 residential units, a school, park and community center.

The conditions the city has asked Marks to comply with will ensure city requirements are met.

“We know what the issues are with developments out in that area,” Cleveland said.

Once an official request is submitted, she said, “There will be public hearings and notices, and plenty of opportunity to speak about it.”