For statutory contiguity to be met where a narrow corridor is used to gain access to discontiguous tracts of land, the corridor itself must have a tangible municipal value or purpose at the time of annexation. The contiguity requirement is not satisfied by means of a territorial appendage that connects several remote tracts of land to the annexing municipality, but has little relationship to a beneficial municipal purpose.... We note that courts are generally loath to find one territory to be contiguous to another where the only link between the two is forged by a narrow corridor. Id., ¶ 22, 102 P.3d at 130-31 (emphasis added and footnotes omitted). Once an objecting party has shown an unreasonably narrow connecting strip, the burden of production (but not of persuasion) shifts to the municipality to show there was due compliance with the law, i.e., that the annexed property was contiguous. Id., ¶ 24, 102 P.3d at 131 n. 51. To meet this burden, the municipality must show that the narrow corridor will confer a beneficial use beyond just connecting the remote property. Id., ¶ 24, 102 P.3d at 131
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 16:27:25 +0000
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