New Town moves closer to annexation
By Jerry W. Kram
New Town moved closer to expanding its borders after a public hearing on the annexation 1,260 acres of land into the city. The proposal would increase the area of New Town by more than 150 percent.
The New Town City Council held a public hearing on the proposal on Monday. The objective of the hearing was to get input from the landowners affected by the proposal and other members of the public. Currently, New Town covers approximately 820 acres. The proposed annexation would increase that area to 2,080 acres.
The largest portion being annexed is on the west side of North Dakota Highway 1804. The proposal would extend the cities borders north a mile and a half from the golf course, or about two-thirds of a mile north of the new bypass. A smaller portion that would still include about 300 acres, would fill in the area east of Highway 1804 between the current city limits and the bypass plus a smaller area east of 1804 and north of the bypass. A final portion of the annexation proposal includes 40 acres south of the Elbowoods Clinic and about 60 acres northeast of the current hotel development off of Highway 23.
Not all of the property in the proposal will be annexed into the city, said City Attorney Bill Woods. The annexation cannot be approved if landowners holding more than 25 percent of the property under consideration protest the annexation. Woods said landowners owning about 28 percent of the property objected at the hearing, and their protest will be honored even though none filed a formal written statement.
