Though the owner of a storage facility on Powell’s eastern edge wants to move his property out of city limits and into rural Park County, some members of the Powell City Council aren’t so sure they want to let him go.

Dash Storage owner Mike Birdsley is seeking to deannex his two lots on East Seventh Street as a way to save money. For Birdsley’s business, a move into the county would mean no longer paying city property taxes or paying city fees and following the city’s building requirements on future developments.

Last month, council members voted 5-1 to advance an ordinance that would take Dash Enterprises’ lots out of the city. However, when the ordinance came up for the second of three readings on Monday night, the council had second thoughts: They voted to table the measure.

“To me, it’s going backwards,” said Councilman Steve Lensegrav, who had cast the lone dissenting vote against the deannexation last month.

In lengthy remarks, Lensegrav said he was concerned that allowing Dash’s parcels to exit the city could set the wrong precedent and lead to other landowners leaving.

“Why are we willing to let that [property] out? It’s part of our city,” Lensegrav asked his colleagues. “Why are we OK with saying, ‘Yeah, go ahead, we’re going to deannex you …,’ because we get nothing from that.”

A couple other council members indicated that they, too, were unconvinced about the wisdom of deannexation.

Councilman Troy Bray differed, saying he believed the decision should be left up to Birdsley, who wasn’t present at Monday’s meeting.

“To me, it comes down to personal choice. It’s his property,” Bray said, adding, “I don’t see where we have the right to tell him not to.”

“But it’s our city, though,” Lensegrav responded, saying it was “just like us telling the lady she can’t have a goat on her property. That’s the city.”

(The councilman was referring to the council’s contested July decision to deny an exotic pet permit for a resident’s goat.)

At Monday’s meeting, the council decided to reach back out to Birdsley and see if the city could address at least one of his concerns.

When the council first visited with the business owner on Nov. 17, much of the discussion centered around the city’s requirement that each parcel be fronted with curb and gutter. Birdsley said installing that infrastructure on the western lot cost about $35,000, and he would avoid that requirement and expense in the county.

Although he said he might voluntarily add curb to the eastern lot in the future, “for right now, I’d like to use that money to pay for chain link fence and everything else that I’m doing,” Birdsley said last month.

On Monday, Councilman Zane Logan suggested they could perhaps offer a compromise, by allowing Birdsley to wait on installing the curb and gutter while keeping the land in the city.

Like Lensegrav, Logan expressed concern that allowing Dash Enterprises’ lots out of the city would make it hard to say no to future deannexation requests.

Speaking to the Tribune after the meeting, Birdsley said he’s willing to continue the discussion with the city.

Birdsley had wanted the land out of the city before he started developing the western lot. However, it was not possible to deannex at that time, because the parcel was bordered by another in-town parcel to the east; removing just the western lot from city limits would have created a rural “island.”

However, Birdsley acquired the lot to the east last year and is now seeking to deannex both pieces of property. No islands would be created; the city’s eastern border would simply shrink.

Birdsley says he was previously told by city staff that it wouldn’t be a problem to deannex — though City Administrator Zack Thorington said he doesn’t recall anyone at the city ever saying that.

Birdsley and his engineer have also noted that, unlike basically every other property within the city, there’s no existing sewer or water service to the East Seventh Street lots. That makes it a unique situation, he said.

“I don’t want to have a piece of property that’s kind of got an asterisk by it,” Birdsley told the Tribune.

City officials noted on Monday that Birdsley could get sewer service if he paid for the cost of installing a lift station. While that would come at an additional expense, installing infrastructure is “what contractors do,” Lensegrav said.

He suggested the council vote down the ordinance “and say that we’re not going to deannex.” Then, Lensegrav said, they could discuss options like a potential delay on the curb and gutter.

However, City Attorney Scott Kolpitcke recommended tabling the measure instead, as it would leave all of the council’s options open. The council then unanimously voted to put the ordinance on the table.

The topic could resurface at the council next meeting on Dec. 15, which Birdsley is planning to attend.