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• Whether the retaining the area within the city limits would result in an adverse impact to <br />the city, including adverse fiscal impacts; <br />• Whether disannexation would present an opportunity for incorporation of the area into a <br />new municipality or for an existing municipality to annex the area; <br />• Whether the area is populated with residential development; and <br />• Whether the area is proposed for long-term development. <br />See Exhibit B, pp. 15-16 for the full text of the policy.2 Each of these criteria also contains a <br />requirement relating to the provision of city services. <br />In this instance, the Council may consider the property for disannexation because (a) the area <br />proposed to be disannexed comprises more that an individual parcel (although the fact that it is <br />only four parcels makes this point arguable given the language of the policy); (2) the area is not <br />populated with residential development (criteria #6); and (3) disannexation of the area will not <br />create any keyholes or islands. <br />Nexus does not argue that the city has failed to provide services to the area; rather it argues that <br />by disannexing the area, the city will be absolved from providing services, and that will be a benefit <br />to the city. In reality, the area will continue to receive both fire and EMS services under existing <br />agreements between the city and Lamar County, and in any event, given the nature of solar farms, <br />the Paris Fire Department would be dispatched to any fire calls at the Project because it is the <br />regional provider of hazmat services in this part of the state. <br />The primary issue with disannexation of the proposed area as far as the city is concerned is that of <br />lost potential property tax revenue. Nexus has estimated taxes on the parcels for the next 30 years <br />in an amount between $307,267.00 (using the 400 foot setback) and $768,167.00 (using the 50 <br />foot setback) based on the 2023-2024 tax rate and taking into account depreciation of the assets. <br />In discussions and meetings with staff, Nexus has proposed entering into an agreement3 with the <br />City whereby the city would disannex the property, and Nexus would pay an agreed upon sum in <br />three installments beginning 30 days after disannexation and ending 30 days after beginning of <br />operations, anticipated to be in December of 2025. In addition to, or in lieu of a portion of the <br />agreed upon taxes, Nexus is also open to developing the portion of the proposed extension of the <br />Trail de Paris that runs through the property. Terms of any such agreement would be negotiable <br />and determined and approved by Council after discussions in executive session. <br />In any event, it must be remembered that regardless of any up front payment of "taxes," once <br />disannexed, given current annexation law, it would be nearly impossible to reannex the property, <br />and the city would be giving up all future property taxes forever. This is not insignificant given <br />that Nexus has estimated the 2026 taxable value of the parcels (after installation of the Project) at <br />$15,800,000.00 and depreciating to $3,713,000.00 by year ten. <br />On the other hand, should Council decide against disannexation, staff can investigate the <br />possibility of a waiver of the 400 foot setback requirement and/or other requirements of the solar <br />2 The policy for disannexation is simply the inverse of the policy for annexation. Other than the prohibitions against <br />keyholes and islands, the policy on disannexation is sparse. Likewise, state law regarding disannexation is simply that <br />the procedures used in disannexing property must not conflict with the procedures for annexing property. <br />3 The agreement could take the form of a development agreement, a disannexation agreement, or a Chapter 380 <br />agreement. The type of agreement would be determined in the negotiation process. <br />