Land annexed into DD #131

On Monday, the county supervisors sat as drainage trustees at an annexation hearing set to discuss the addition of 70 acres of land to Drainage District #131. The annexation was approved, but not before extensive discussion.

            Luke Huggins of McClure Engineering presented information about the land surveyed, including elevation and tiling patterns in nearby land. Though some tiling overlaps the annexed land along the northeast, it has very little effect on the land’s drainage due to elevation differences.

“The surface drainage goes to the district, is what we’ve seen,” Huggins said.

There is also a pipe that runs along the south side of the annexed land that drains directly into DD#131. Engineers were not able to determine how far this tile extended into the acreage because they did not want to disturb crops.

Dave Johnson, legal advisor to the trustees, explained that if the land is benefitting from DD#131’s drainage system, the land should be taxed as part of that district. “The law says if someone hooks into a district, they will be taxed,” Johnson said.

The acreage, which is comprised of three parcels of land owned by Beyer Family Trust, is located just north of DD#131. Evidence suggests that the annexed property may have been contributing to the deteriorating condition of DD#131’s main since the 1970s. Since the county has no official record of when the pipe was laid, it is unclear when the annexed land began to benefit from the district’s drainage system. However, Maynard Beyer, the owner of the annexed property, told the board that he had a letter from the 1970s drainage trustees saying that they would help sort the situation, which was never followed up on.