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The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) opposes Adel’s plan to expand its eastern boundary by using U.S. Highway 6 as a link to remote properties. And to that, the city might be able to say “so what?”

State annexation law was changed earlier this decade to allow the annexation of public property with or without the consent of the owner or steward of that land. In this case, the DOT has jurisdiction over U.S. Highway 6.

Michael Clayton, planner for the DOT district that includes much of Central Iowa, said his office is consulting with the Secretary of State’s office to determine what, if any, standing the department has in Adel’s proposed annexation.

However, the department’s standing is less murky to the City Development Board, a state board that hears contested annexation cases.

“If they are silent or opposed, I’m not sure that it matters,” said Steve McCann, the board’s administrator.

Clayton noted in a letter mailed last week to Adel Mayor Jim Peters that the DOT’s procedures and policies manual states that it can oppose an annexation if “the city proposes to annex a primary route strictly for a use as an extension to gain access to another area proposed for annexation.”

Adel has obtained letters of approval from 16 landowners, whose properties lie on either the north or south side of U.S. Highway 6, to be annexed into the city. Because the landowners have agreed to a voluntary annexation, the plan does not have to be approved by the City Development Board.

City Administrator Chad Bird said efforts are under way to obtain agreements from other landowners along the route. He noted that some letters simply were not signed by the city’s deadline to accept the letters and schedule a public hearing.

When Waukee was notified of the public hearing, scheduled for Oct. 13, an emergency meeting of its city council was called to determine a response.

For the time being, Waukee is taking a wait-and-see approach, City Administrator Jeff Kooistra said.

Waukee and Adel had held discussions regarding a moratorium on annexation, but those talks broke off about a year ago without an agreement.

The Adel annexation would come within a quarter mile of 200 acres that Waukee owns and wants to annex into the city for a recreation complex. The DOT opposed the plan, which also would have used U.S. Highway 6 to reach the property, and Waukee dropped the proposed annexation.