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It's all about timing. We reported last week that an area businessman was denied his request to detach from Wyoming and annex into Chisago City, in an effort to get all of his operations inside of one jurisdiction. The border of Wyoming and Chisago City runs through the center of the Peterson Companies main offices on Wyoming Trail. A building recently burned and the proposed new structure would have the border between the two cities right beneath it.

Had a piece of legislation that made it through the Minnesota House on Monday, May 2 already been in effect; the request to bring the business parcel into Chisago City would have required just one city's okay. Wyoming would not have even had the opportunity to deny Peterson's request to detach.

A bill allowing property owners on municipal borders to detach their land and annex from one city to another-- requiring only one city to sign off on the deal-- passed the House May 2 on a vote 79-51.

The bill deletes reference to having both affected cities approve the detach-annex request. With the support of one city council resolution, the landowner could take the annexation to an administrative law judge who would have the authority to grant the boundary switch.

The Senate version is authored by local Senator Sean Nienow, but our messages left with his office for comment have not been responded to. The adopted House version HF753 was sponsored b Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker.

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