Battle lines are being drawn as the city of Mandan attempts to annex properties north and east of the new junior high to facilitate transportation and infrastructure needs in the rapidly developing area.

At Tuesday's meeting, the city commission approved publication of the proposed annexation. Once the legal notice appears in the Mandan News, residents in the area will have until Nov. 6 to file written protests with the city.

The area in question is west of the Tesoro Refinery, from Highway 1806 to just east of the junior high property and north of Old Red Trail. It includes an area just north of the junior high property. It includes property in Vogel's 1st Addition, Zachmeier's 1st and 3rd, Hatzenbeler Estates, Del's Estate's, the Pioneer Industrial Park, and Auditor's subdivisions.

City engineer Tom Little said it will take a protest by 25 percent of the property owners to derail the annexation. If there is sufficient protest, the city can then take the issue to the attorney general's office, where the board of arbitration will be asked to determine the need for annexation. Little said the process could take up to two years.

"We pretty well know more than 25 percent will protest,"commissioner Tim Helbling said. He made the motion to move forward with the annexation which was unanimously approved by the commission.

Little said that with the construction of the new educational facility along with the infrastructure to serve it, the surrounding land will likely become a primary growth area for Mandan.

In the resolution proposing the annexation it states that the annex will, among other things:

3 "Recognize the present uses and planned future uses or development of the area;

3 "Recognize that the area is part of the community of said city;

3 "Acknowledge the existing governmental services and facilities of said city presently available and which can be made available to the area; and

3 "Give recognition to the economic, physical and social relationship and interdependence of the inhabitants, businesses, or industries of the area to said city and to the school districts and other political subdivisions affected."

At the Nov. 7 meeting of the city commission a hearing on the annexation will be held and a determination on whether there is sufficient protest.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)