The Camp Verde Town Council voted at its Aug.18 meeting to allow staff to pursue the annexation of Jema Farms and multiple neighboring residential properties.
Mariette Andrews of Jema Farms submitted a request for annexation into the Town Limits in April. Andrews recently purchased multiple properties at the end of Middle Verde Road, some of which is already within town limits while part of it is on Yavapai County land.
Andrews has plans to further develop the farm and, to make the permitting process easier, would like for the entirety of the property to be within city limits so they don’t have to go through two different governments to do so, Camp Verde Community Development Director Melinda Lee said.
“They are requesting that their property be annexed into the town limits just for continuity being able to work their property into proper development permits with one agency rather than split agencies,” she said.
Because the town recently annexed the Alcantara area, the Jema Farms property is now surrounded on three sides by Town of Camp Verde property. Because it is already so close to town limits, community development staff decided to ask the neighbors of Jema Farms if they would be interested in annexation as well.
Three neighboring property owners have expressed a desire to be annexed into the town while two owners did not reply. The Nature Conservancy, which is located just to the west of Jema Farms, chose to remain part of Yavapai County.
Lee said if the council were to vote “yes,” it would allow staff to further investigate the situation to make sure they could annex all of the interested parties. One thing staff has to look into is making sure that if they do annex all of the properties that want to be within town limits that they won’t be creating a “county island” by surrounding county property with town property. If that were to be the case, the council would have the option of just annexing the Jema Farms properties.
Lee said having the Nature Conservancy on the outer side of the area in question will actually help their case.
“It provides for ample area, if you will, connecting to one of these currently Yavapai County jurisdictions on the outside,” she said.
The council voted unanimously to allow staff to continue pursuing the annexation process.
