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+ Ability to Provide Services and Facilities <br />Properties or an area should be annexed only to a municipality willing and able to provide fire <br />and police protection and refuse collection immediately and sanitary sewer and water service <br />within a reasonable period of time. Provision of sewer and water service should, however, not <br />be at the expense of areas already within the municipality that still do not have these services. <br />Simplification of Municipal Boundaries <br />Annexations should be encouraged and enhanced that have the effect of consolidating a <br />community's corporate area and reducing the irregularities that previous annexations may have <br />added to the corporate limits. "Squaring off" the municipal limits to create an easily recog- <br />nizable shape can enhance the image that residents have of their municipality and create a <br />more logical shape for administering services. Also, more logical and easily definable <br />configurations of annexed property also provide the development community with <br />opportunities oftentimes to create developments that are more efficient and aesthetically <br />pleasing. Annexation lines should be drawn so as to avoid ribbons or odd pieces of <br />unincorporated land between communities. It is preferable for municipalities to abut and have <br />a common boundary rather than be separated by a small unincorporated area. <br />e Cost - Revenue Analysis <br />The deficit of income to be realized from the annexed area against the expenses to the <br />municipality in serving it should be reasonable. Cost- revenue analysis, a topic in itself and <br />beyond the scope of this report, can compare the annexation area's potential revenue base with <br />the costs of furnishing necessary services. For example, consideration should be given to a <br />situation whereby a city annexes a residential subdivision that was not built to that city's <br />subdivision standards. In the long -run, therefore, the current citizens within the annexing <br />municipality may have to pay for upgrading said potentially annexed subdivision. <br />Economic Development <br />In conjunction with cost - benefit analysis, Paris can use annexation, where appropriate, as a tool <br />to stimulate local and regional economic growth and implement sound, long -range capital <br />improvement programming. A sub -tool for this kind of economic development could be, for <br />example, public- private partnerships and investments. <br />Comprehensive Plans and Zoning District Maps <br />Texas does not allow zoning of unincorporated areas. Therefore, if property is annexed, it <br />should be zoned as soon as possible to be in conformance with the annexing municipalities' <br />future land use plan within its comprehensive plan. If such zoning does not occur in a timely <br />manner, the municipality runs the risk of having its recently annexed area developed with land <br />uses that may be Incompatible with that city's land use plans, growth- goals, and policies. <br />Parks, Recreation. and open Space <br />Oftentimes, parks, recreation, and open space plans can be more fully implemented if linkages <br />can be made to other parks elements, to increase citizen use, city design, and aesthetic features. <br />In certain instances, therefore, it could be an important factor to annex areas outside of Paris <br />that could enhance trail systems, as well as use environmental resources that are presumably <br />outside the city (e.g., flood plan and /or other environmentally sensitive, archeological and /or <br />historical sites or interesting areas). <br />11 <br />