Staff recommends the City Council hold a public hearing. Upon completion of the hearing, staff recommends the City annex the petitioned property with the staff recommended conditions of approval. 

Keith Grant of KB Rentals LLC submitted a petition to annex land using the provisions of Section 7-2-4600, MCA. The property is located south of the South Frontage Road and east of East Lane. The property is described as Lot 4A of QFC Subdivision, First Filing. The land is legally described as Tracts of Land situated in the SW 1/4 of Section 18, T.1S., R.26E, P.M.M., Yellowstone County, Montana, more particularly described as follows: Lot 4A, of Amended Plat of Lots 2, 3, 4, and 5 of, QFC Subdivision, First Filing, recorded September 09, 2020, under Document No. 3937860, on file and of record in the Records of Yellowstone County. Including all adjacent rights-of-way of South Frontage Road, Interstate 90 and B.N. / Montana Rail Link Railroad. Said annexation containing 16.584 gross and 8.785 net acres, more or less. The property is zoned CX Heavy Commercial. This is a zone recognized by both Yellowstone County and the City of Billings therefore no zone change is associated with this annexation. The property owner intends to establish an RV sales business at this location, an allowable use in the CX zone.

It is the City’s custom to have staff prepare a brief analysis of predicted impacts to services and facilities. Staff finds the proposed annexation complies with the adopted Annexation Policy criteria as follows:

1. The area is located within the City's Annexation Petition Area on its Limits of Annexation Map.
2. The City is able to provide adequate city services within a time period mutually agreed to by the property owners requesting annexation and the city.
3. Existing or proposed public improvements within the area to be annexed will meet City standards.
4. All property owners within the area to be annexed must sign a Waiver of Right to Protest future Special Improvement Districts
5. If annexed, any proposed land use will comply with the zoning. 

Departmental Response: City and County Departments were given the opportunity to comment on this annexation. City departments responded favorably and detailed responses are provided below. The County Public Works Department did not respond to this annexation request. 

• Water and Sanitary Sewer: Public water is available off of a 12” water main located in South Frontage Road. At present, public sanitary sewer is not available. However, a private contract will be submitted soon in which the plan is to extend a public sanitary sewer main along the south property lines of Lots 5A, 4A, and 3A, QFC Subdivision.
• Storm water: There is currently no city infrastructure in the vicinity to serve stormwater, therefore at the time of development the stormwater plan will be required to meet the standards set forth in the adopted Stormwater Management Manual. 
• Transportation: The subject property is adjacent to The South Frontage Road, a Montana Department of Transportation maintained road. Language related to if and when a traffic study is required is provided for in the accompanying Development Agreement.
• Fire Stations: The subject property is currently served by the Billings Fire Department through the Billings Urban Fire Service Area and the Billings Fire Department will continue to serve the property upon annexation. The Billings Fire Department stated that as this and other annexations are built out, additional fire department resources will be needed. This property will be served by Fire Station 5. The subject property is approximately 5 minutes away from Fire Station 5 or 2.35 miles.
• Parks: As a commercial development there are no parkland requirements. 
• School facilities: As a commercial development the schools should be minimally impacted.

General City Services: These are the City services that are provided to all residents and businesses in the City, such as police and fire protection, street and storm drain maintenance, and garbage collection and disposal. The service providers that responded did not object to the annexation of this property, however emergency services in its comments above did note its concerns as additional property is annexed into the City. Those concerns did not warrant a recommendation of denial.

• Transit: The property is approximately 0.8 miles from the nearest bus route, 13-West End, accessed via Mullowney Ln. Service will continue on this route for the foreseeable future. Service will most likely not be expanded to directly service the proposed annexation property.
• Police: This property is close to existing city limits and poses no ingress/egress problems. Currently, it will not require adjustments of deployed units. 
• Public Utilities: The Public Works-- Distribution and Collection Division had no concerns with the annexation request. 
• Public Works -Street and Traffic Division: The Street and Traffic Division stated that it has no concerns with serving the property.
• Public Works-Solid Waste: The Solid Waste Division had no concerns with annexing the property.
• Ambulance Service: The City does not provide ambulance service, however it does dictate the level of service provided by American Medical Response (AMR). By City ordinance, 90% of ambulance calls must be answered within 8 minutes. This property may be within the area of acceptable response time.
• Legal and Finance: General Fund services, such as the Legal and Finance Departments should not be negatively impacted by this annexation.

Other Departments: City/County services including Library, Planning, and Environmental Health are only slightly affected by the annexation since they will continue to serve the property whether it is in the City or the County. The Planning Division staff supports the annexation because staff find the annexation policy criteria have been met. Further, the Subdivision Improvement Agreement for QFC subdivision requires annexation to the City of Billings in order for the lots to be built upon. Since subdivision approval, the City has anticipated this annexation since 2018. All departments were consulted and there was no opposition.

Annexation by petition does not require notification of adjoining landowners; however, it does require that the City Council conduct a public hearing, advertise the hearing, and post the property with information on the annexation petition and public hearing. Notice of the public hearing was posted on the property on November 23, 2021. The hearing was legally advertised in both the Yellowstone County News and Billings Gazette.

The City Council may approve or deny the petition for annexation. Denial of the petition will mean the City Council cannot consider any other associated items with this annexation.

• On October 1, 2021, the annexation petition was submitted to the Planning Division by the owner's agent. 
• On December 13, 2021, the City Council is scheduled to take action on the petition and Development Agreement.

This application has no impact on the Planning Division Budget.