January 21, 2008
Dear Editor,
We have heard unofficially that the City of Waukee plans to contact property owners with the intention of annexing land West to R16 and two and one-half miles North and two miles South of Highway 6. This is an aggressive plan as the proposed annexation area is nearly two times the size of both Adel and Dallas Center combined. Included are 960 acres of the ADM School District and 1,690 acres of the DCG school district and comes to within one mile of Dallas Center’s city limits.
Representatives of Adel, Dallas Center and Waukee have been meeting over the past year discussing annexation moratoriums but had not reached an agreement. The intention of these meetings was to agree on future city boundaries by considering things such as school district boundaries, natural drainage patterns, rural mailing addresses and plans that each city had submitted for consideration.
Our last meeting, on September 20th, indicated several common areas that our three cities had included in their respective annexation territories. We were scheduled to meet again two weeks ago, on January 10th, to discuss these common areas and had hoped to reach agreement, but Waukee asked to cancel because of a conflict. It now appears that these areas, and more, are included in Waukee’s aggressive annexation plan.
When we learn the specifics of their plan we intend to respond more formally, but in the interest of being proactive and informing our citizens, it is our position, and we will strongly request, that Waukee respect the current school boundaries and not encroach them as part of the their annexation plan. It seems fair for now to respect these long established boundaries.
In line with the adage that good fences make good neighbors, we believe that the current school boundaries would make good neighbors.
Jim Peters, Mayor, Adel
Mitch Hambleton, Mayor, Dallas Center