Four private properties around the St. Ignatius Airport were asked if they would be willing to annex into the city limits of St. Ignatius at the city council meeting on Aug. 5. 

Rick Newman, the Lake County Joint Airport Board chairman and St. Ignatius representative, was asked to speak at the city council meeting as the representative for the three other property owners and himself. The 16 acres around the airport used to be airport land but Newman explained that after a land trade about 20 years ago, it is now private property.  

“I went and talked to the other individuals out there and nobody wants to do an annex,” Newman said in the meeting. “I understand the big picture about helping out with stuff in town but the other side of it is, too, if something happens in town and we are annexed in, we’re away from town.”  

Newman explained that he and the other two property owners next to him spent a lot of time and money obtaining permits, working with Lake County and putting in sewer. Newman said that he and adjacent landowners are concerned about the cost of the city forcing them into its septic system in the future.  

“Nothing else would change, you guys would just get the taxes off of the county. That wouldn’t be the issue,” Newman said to the council. “It’s all the other stuff that could happen if it got annexed into town and not being private property like it is right now.”  

Newman also spoke with another neighbor whose property is behind his that would be included in this annex and the family had no interest, Newman said at the meeting.  

St. Ignatius Mayor Daren Incashola, told Newman that they are just in the early stages of discussing the annexation but wanted to get the landowners involved from the beginning.  

The council was unsure at the meeting what percentage of landowner consent they needed to move forward. Incashola later explained the council will “more than likely” seek guidance from the town attorney if they continue this discussion. 

“The town has not grown at all in the last 40-plus years,” Incashola stated in an email. “We have a sewer system that totally needs replaced and that comes with a multimillion-dollar price tag.”  

Incashola stated in the email that a town with a population under 1,000 does not support that kind of price and while they have hired a grant writer and engineer, it’s not enough to address the problems.  

“It makes sense to bring that in officially and then have a little extra income from property taxes that we get for the properties as well,” Incashola said in an interview on Aug 8.  

When asked if Incashola and the city council would continue to push for properties to be annexed, he said “that’s a discussion the council is going to need to have.”  

“It's very early on in the process here, so we just wanted to start getting feedback from the people that it would affect out there and see where they stood and then I'm sure we'll have many more discussions before anything official,” Incashola said.  

    Mike Kuefler, Tom and Sherry Hanson and Rick Newman’s hangars and homes sit beside the airport property. These are three of the four properties that the St. Ignatius Town Council hopes to annex into the city limits. (Emily Messer/Leader)