2023 Iowa Code › Title IX - LOCAL GOVERNMENT › Chapter 368 - CITY DEVELOPMENT › Section 368.11 - Petition for involuntary city development action.

368.11 Petition for involuntary city development action.
1. A petition for incorporation, discontinuance, or boundary adjustment may be filed with the board by a city council, a county board of supervisors, a regional planning authority, or five percent of the registered voters of a city or territory involved in the proposal. Notice of the filing, including a copy of the petition, must be served upon the council of each city for which a discontinuance or boundary adjustment is proposed, the board of supervisors for each county which contains a portion of a city to be discontinued or territory to be incorporated, annexed or severed, the council of a city if an incorporation includes territory within the city’s urbanized area, and any regional planning authority for the area involved.
2. Within ninety days of receipt of a petition, the board shall initiate appropriate proceedings or dismiss the petition. The board may combine for consideration petitions or plans which concern the same territory or city or which provide for a boundary adjustment or incorporation affecting common territory. The combined petitions may be submitted for consideration by a special local committee pursuant to section 368.14A.
3. The petition must include substantially the following information as applicable:
a. A general statement of the proposal.
b. A map of the territory, city or cities involved.
c. Assessed valuation of platted and unplatted land.
d. Names of property owners.
e. Population density.
f. Description of topography.
g. Plans for disposal of assets and assumption of liabilities.
h. Description of existing municipal services, including but not limited to water supply, sewage disposal, and fire and police protection.
i. Plans for agreements with any existing special service districts.
j. In a case of annexation or incorporation, the petition must state that none of the territory is within a city.
k. In a case of incorporation or consolidation, the petition must state the name of the proposed city.
l. Plans shall include a formal agreement between affected municipal corporations and counties for the maintenance, improvement, and traffic control of any shared roads involved in an incorporation or boundary adjustment.
m. (1) In the discretion of a city council, a provision for a transition for the imposition of city taxes against property within an annexation area. The provision shall allow for an exemption from taxation of the following percentages of assessed valuation according to the following schedule:
(a) For the first and second years, seventy-five percent.
(b) For the third and fourth years, sixty percent.
(c) For the fifth and sixth years, forty-five percent.
(d) For the seventh and eighth years, thirty percent.
(e) For the ninth and tenth years, fifteen percent.
(2) An alternative schedule may be adopted by the city council. However, an alternative schedule shall not allow a greater exemption than that provided in this paragraph. The exemption shall be applied in the levy and collection of taxes. The provision may also allow for the partial provision of city services during the time in which the exemption from taxation is in effect. If the city council provides for a transition for the imposition of city taxes against property in an annexation area, all property owners included in the annexation area must receive the transition upon completion of the annexation.
n. In the case of an annexation, a plan for extending municipal services to be provided by the annexing city to the annexed territory within three years of July 1 of the fiscal year in which city taxes are collected against property in the annexed territory.
4. At least fourteen business days before a petition for involuntary annexation is filed as provided in this section, the petitioner shall make its intention known by sending a letter of intent by certified mail to the council of each city whose urbanized area contains a portion of the territory, the board of supervisors of each county which contains a portion of the territory, the regional planning authority of the territory involved, each affected public utility, and to each property owner listed in the petition. The written notification shall include notice that the petitioners shall hold a public meeting on the petition for involuntary annexation prior to the filing of the petition.
5. Before a petition for involuntary annexation may be filed, the petitioner shall hold a public meeting on the petition. Notice of the meeting shall be published in an official county newspaper in each county which contains a part of the territory at least five days before the date of the public meeting. The mayor of the city proposing to annex the territory, or that person’s designee, shall serve as chairperson of the public meeting. The city clerk of the same city or the city clerk’s designee shall record the proceedings of the public meeting. Any person attending the meeting may submit written comments and may be heard on the petition. The minutes of the public meeting and all documents submitted at the public meeting shall be forwarded to the county board of supervisors of each county where the territory is located and to the board by the chairperson of the meeting.
6. Within thirty days after receiving notice that a petition for involuntary annexation has been filed with the board, the board of supervisors of each county that contains all or a portion of the territory to be annexed shall, by resolution, state whether or not it supports the petition or whether it takes no position in support of or against the petition. If there is a comprehensive plan for the county, the board shall take the plan into account when considering its resolution. A copy of the resolution shall be immediately filed with the annexing city and with the city development board. Failure of a board of supervisors to adopt a resolution shall not delay the proceedings on the petition nor shall such failure be considered a deficiency either in the petition or in the annexing city’s proceedings.
[R60, §1031, 1038, 1043; C73, §421, 426, 430, 431, 447, 448; C97, §599, 604, 610, 611, 615, 617, 621; S13, §615; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §5588, 5598, 5612 – 5614, 5616; C46, 50, §362.1, 362.11, 362.26, 362.28, 362.29, 362.31; C54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, §362.1, 362.11, 362.26, 362.31; C75, 77, 79, 81, §368.11]
89 Acts, ch 299, §3; 91 Acts, ch 250, §6; 92 Acts, ch 1174, §4; 93 Acts, ch 152, §9; 2001 Acts, ch 56, §31; 2002 Acts, ch 1132, §9, 11; 2003 Acts, ch 108, §126, 132; 2003 Acts, ch 148, §4 – 6, 9; 2005 Acts, ch 111, §4, 5; 2006 Acts, ch 1158, §5; 2010 Acts, ch 1061, §180
Referred to in §331.304, 368.3, 368.7, 368.20, 368.25, 368.25A