Powell property owners seek deannexation

POWELL (WNE)  — Three property owners have submitted a petition to Park County to be deannexed from the city of Powell.

The petition was brought forward at this Tuesday’s commissioners’ board meeting.  The land lies approximately 1 mile north of downtown Powell.

The board elected to delay decision on the deannexation in order to get input from the landowners who made the request.  The consideration of the petition is estimated to be heard again at the commissioners’ July 15 meeting.

County planning and zoning director Joy Hill said the city of Powell approved the annexation of the properties in 1989; however, it did not record the annexation documentation until this past spring.

“Up to now, the county has only recently acknowledged that these properties were annexed,” Hill said.

Furthermore, the annexation ordinance submitted by the city of Powell notes that all the lands included in the 1989 annexation were owned by the city.  However, research determined that this was not the case, and that private land owned by two individuals was incorrectly claimed by the city in the ordinance.

One complication with the request is how the deannexed property should be zoned should the proposal be approved.  

According to county rules, deannexed properties are zoned as transitional; however, until less than three months ago, the properties were zoned as General Rural Powell.

Hill said it likely makes more sense to zone the properties as GRP,  because two of the properties were never owned by the city and the reason for their original annexation in 1989 is unclear.

“The properties appear to be erroneously included in the annexation ordinance,” Hill said.

This story was published on July 2, 2025.