After the Idaho Legislature made sweeping changes to the area of impact law in 2024, cities went back to the drawing board to create new visions of what their future growth would look like. 

An area of impact is land claimed by a city outside its own limits, which the city can plan to annex and zone for future expansion. The changes were made to ensure that it does not extend the city’s jurisdiction without the process of annexation, according to Priest River Planning Administrator Jake Gabell. 

“Under the previous state law, we could have established some of the city ordinances within the area of impact, so that was removed,” Gabell said. “McCall, with their county, have done that. And then that really spurred the legislators a couple years ago to say, ‘We don't like what happened there.’ The cities are trying to have greater reach than what the legislators think they should.” 

The changes made a year ago shrunk the timeline for cities, limiting the allowed AOI to only be land that “is likely to be annexed” in the next five years and requiring that the area be reevaluated every five years. This forced cities across the state to look at a planning tool that some, like Priest River, hadn’t touched in nearly 50 years. 

“The area of impact is there to at least give an idea,” Gabell said. “This is what I told people in that hearing. This is where we expect to grow in the next five years; we're actively annexing and de-annexing properties. We want to kind of see things shift here and there.” 

Gabell said that the AOI only has real power when it comes to annexation, which is hardly ever brought on by cities in Idaho. He said that Priest River has the capacity in its sewer and water systems to expand its services and that he has around five conversations a week with people who are interested in joining the city. 

Despite a shrinking of nearly 1,700 acres, Gabell said that the changes to AOI weren’t too major for Priest River because of the city isn’t look to forcibly annex property. He described the AOI as a “tool without a lot of teeth” and said it was much more geared toward smaller cities, like Clark Fork, who might need to plan for growth. 

“That's just a little bit of indicating the legislators [are] saying, ‘Hey, we want you guys to think you need to grow,’” Gabell said. "Part of it, is also managing expectations for property owners on the edge of city limits, just to let them know, like, ‘Hey, by the way, you're now in the area of impact, and we expect to grow that way eventually.’” 

While Gabell said the changes were nominal for Priest River, the changes were a death sentence for the city of Sandpoint’s AOI. At least that’s the way it was described by Planning and Community Development Director Jason Welker back in July 2025. 

"Are we very likely to annex any of these properties within the next five years? The answer really is no,” Welker said on Aug. 6, 2025.  

After attempting to pass a 70% reduction of its AOI by the Bonner County commissioners early last year and being rejected, Sandpoint voted to eliminate its AOI later in 2025. Welker told the City Council that the city will still be able to provide feedback on projects near city limits. 

Prior to joining Priest River, Gabell worked for Bonner County in the planning department and wrote a code that would force subdivision projects bordering city limits or in the AOI to first seek annexation before county approval. That’s part of why Gabell said he was frustrated by the county commissioners setting the limit for Priest River’s AOI at Bodie Canyon Road. 

“I kept telling the commissioners is we see ourselves going across Bodie Canyon Road and continuing that direction,” Gabell said. "The stuff we had included on the outside was really only so that when property owners want to divide and they're touching a city limit, they need to come and talk to us first, and if we have availability of services, we're going to say, ‘Hey, you should annex.’” 

Gabell said he likes that the new legislation forces cities to reevaluate its AOI every five years. He said he plans to continue to fight to expand Priest River’s AOI to keep the city’s vision for growth aligned with the comprehensive plan they are drafting. 

 “We're a city that is not necessarily like going out and looking for people to annex and looking for people to grow, but we are definitely willing to entertain it when someone is interested,” Gabell said. “We understand that growth is going to happen... [the city council] does want to see more smart growth when people want to.”