Recently, the Yuma County Board of Supervisors granted the City of Yuma the ability to use eminent domain to secure property outside the city limits. Although the number of parcels actually impacted is relatively small, county residents had best take notice of the actions of the BOS. The strategy of the City of Yuma in dealing with county residents, and the Yuma County BOS endorsement of these actions should serve as a wake up call to all county landowners.
Many developers wanted to have the advantages of city services for their projects, so they worked to have their land annexed into the city limits. Nearby landowners did not want to be within the city. As annexing requires that a majority of property owners agree to the annexation, these properties were not included in the annexations. This created many “county islands” or the “checkerboard effect” on the outskirts of the city.
The City of Yuma wants to improve infrastructure to the properties outside the contiguous city limits, but to do so it must acquire intervening properties not within the city limits. This means that it would have to negotiate in good faith with the property owners in order to buy the needed properties, as the City of Yuma has no power of condemnation outside the city limits. Unfortunately that is not the way the City of Yuma wants to do business.
Supervisor Russell McCloud naively said there is no reason to believe the city will not negotiate in good faith, this despite effected property owners advising the BOS otherwise. So along with supervisors Tony Reyes and Gregory F. Ferguson he voted to extend the counties power of eminent domain to the City of Yuma. So now the City of Yuma has the power to seize the properties that it wants, thanks to these 3 supervisors. Residents outside the city limits who thought they were protected from the actions of the City of Yuma have now found out otherwise.