WATERLOO - Phyllis Morgan lives out in the county, and she wants to stay there.

When she first heard about plans for a 750-megawatt, coal-fired power plant locating near her home, several concerns came to mind. Among them was the possibility of being annexed into the city of Waterloo.

"I am fighting every bit in saying no to being annexed," Morgan said.

When LS Power announced plans to build the plant, located east of Waterloo along Newell Street, company officials said the project would be annexed into the city of Waterloo. Robert Colozza, project manager with LS Power, said nothing will happen until the company buys the 400 acres it has under option.

"We'll voluntarily annex into the city at that time," Colozza said.

The catch for Waterloo is that none of LS Power's land touches city limits. This brings two more elements into the equation: involuntary annexation or island annexation.

Under Iowa code, no city can annex land not bordering the city. Unless LS Power acquires land touching city limits, the city will have to annex additional county land to bring the site into Waterloo.

Morgan's land lies between the city and the power plant site. Since she objects to annexation, her case would go in front of the state's City Development Board.

"If there are any nonconsenting owners included, it comes to our board for approval," said Steve McCann, the board's executive director.

City officials have indicated such a scenario doesn't interest them.

"If they don't want to be in, that's what we'll do," said Don Temeyer, Waterloo's Community Planning and Development Director.

Colozza, with LS Power, agreed. "Our highly prefered option is to not have any impacts on our neighbors," he said.

Other options would let the city avoid involuntary annexation. The city could annex land along the railroad that passes through Morgan's land and onto the LS Power site. McCann said such a connection must be a 50 feet wide.

Newell Street also provides a connection that meets Iowa code, but the city cannot annex all of it without creating an island.

The land for the project now surround Black Hawk County resident Mike Oberhauser's property on three sides. The south end of his property borders Newell Street. Annexing Newell Street up to the end of the power plant site would surround Oberhauser's land with city land and create an island separate from remaining Black Hawk County land. Such a move is prohibited by Iowa code.

If the city wanted all of Newell Street along the project site, it would have to annex Oberhauser's land as well. Oberhauser does not want to be annexed into the city, so the City Development Board would get involved.

McCann said a possibility would be to annex Newell Street along the power plant site and to leave the section of the street in front of Oberhauser's property to the county.

Temeyer said the city won't take any action until LS Power submits a request for annexation.

"It's probably too soon to say how we'll do it," Temeyer said.

Click here for more information

Contact RC Balaban at (319) 291-1418 or rc.balaban@wcfcourier.com.