FINDLAY, Ohio — The city of Findlay wants to proactively annex approximately 400 properties into city limits to prepare for future community development and planning.
The proposed effort is crucial to the city's growth and "over the past few decades, the City of Findlay has not ensured a clean municipal map which has caused a variety of problems specifically related to safety services and development," Hancock County's Regional Planning Director Matt Cordonier said in a press release Monday.
The city said it will contact the owners of the parcels to discuss the annexation process, which includes "properties that are surrounded by city corporation and have not previously been annexed, properties that are contiguous to the City of Findlay corporation limits, and/or properties that have an annexation agreement in place that the City would like to exercise."
The city is "currently not proposing" to annex large residential areas including Hillcrest, Western Meadows, Forrest Lake or Brickstone subdivisions.
By incorporating communities just outside of city limits, people will have to city taxes instead of their existing township taxes. But, school districts will not change, the city said on an FAQ page for annexation on its website.
The annexation will also decrease water and costs. "Properties outside of the City of Findlay pay 'outside rates' which are on average 1.5 times the inside rates. Therefore, your water and sewer bills will decrease accordingly," the city said.
Those who are not on the annexation list but want to be can submit a letter by March 1. Letters of interest submitted after this date will be accepted but may experience a delayed process, the city said.
A public meeting to go over the proposition and answer questions will be held on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Findlay City Council chambers at 318 Dorney Plaza.