Black: Current City of Amarillo ETJ Boundary; Pink: 4 Miles; Yellow: 3 miles; Green: 2 miles; Orange: 1 mile; Blue: Half mile/Map via City of Amarillo
Amarillo City Council is expected to consider reducing the size of its extraterritorial jurisdiction during an upcoming city council meeting.
The expected change came after a discussion item about the city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) earlier this month. The city currently has a five-mile ETJ, within which the city may exercise some planning and regulatory authority outside of its city limits.
According to Interim City Manager Andrew Freeman, ETJs have historically been used to create a continuity between planning inside and outside city limits in anticipation of future annexations. However, as Freeman also noted, the state legislature has limited the annexation power of municipalities in recent years, putting an end to unilateral annexation.
Freeman listed being able to focus resources, reducing administrative burden, improving city planning, and having better relationships with Potter and Randall Counties as pros to reducing the size of the ETJ. He also noted that this might be a positive for local developers, as it would free up city resources to review submitted projects. However, he also noted that there are possible drawbacks, including the city having less control over adjacent development, a potential negative impact on long-term growth, and potential economic implications.
Councilman Scherlen, who had requested the discussion item in September, expressed that he felt the pros of reducing the ETJ outweighed the cons. He also noted that many people have built outside of the city limits “because they didn’t want to pay city taxes.” However, Scherlen noted that, because of the ETJ, the city still sends “out employees to regulate things these people are not going to vote for.”
Criticism of the city’s current ETJ also came from former City Councilman and billboard company owner Randy Burkett. During public comment, Burkett criticized the city for what he saw as unequal enforcement of regulations in the ETJ. “The only thing being enforced in the ETJ is billboards,” said Burkett. “If you’re not going to regulate all the building and everything going on in your ETJ, I would ask that you just do away with regulating anything in your ETJ.”
As of writing, no item has been placed on a published rolling agenda planner regarding shrinking the ETJ. However, Mayor Cole Stanley requested that staff place an action item related to reducing the ETJ to one mile on a future agenda. The next regular meeting of Amarillo City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, January 9th.