STAR, Idaho — The City of Star's plan to annex nearly 1,500 acres of BLM land has sparked questions and concerns about misinformation in the community, as Mayor Trevor Chadwick works to clarify his vision for preserving open space.
Watch to learn more about the City of Star's plan to annex BLM Land.
The proposed annexation would cover federally owned land north of Star, with the goal of maintaining public recreational access while adding oversight and improvements to the area.
"Our whole goal and desire is to keep this open as public space for everybody to enjoy," Mayor Trevor Chadwick said during a tour of the rugged terrain.
The annexation proposal has been part of Star's comprehensive plan for about five to six years, according to Chadwick. He emphasized that annexation would not transfer ownership of the land from the federal government to the city.
"This is federal land. So BLM land, regardless if it's in the county or in the city, will always be federal land. That means all of us own it as citizens of the country own the land," Chadwick said.
"Annexing it does not mean that it becomes part of the cities. It still stays as BLM land. But we put a zoning designation on it of public space so it can't be developed," Chadwick said.
The mayor said the current county designation of "rural residential" would allow up to 140 houses to be built on the land if it were sold or traded to a developer by the BLM.
"People thought that we were taking over the land as a city and we're gonna give it to developers to develop, which is not true," Chadwick said.
Currently, people use the land for various recreational activities.
"Shoot, hike, walk, drive. They do all sorts of stuff out here," Chadwick said. "But it's a great open space, great area. And if it's us, it could be a great amenity out here for everybody."
However, the land faces maintenance challenges without proper oversight.
"Some of the challenges you have is people dump trash, and that's what we want to try to prevent," Chadwick said. "Right now, there's nobody that comes out here. Nobody."
Local residents who regularly use the land have expressed strong support for the mayor's vision. Sawyer Skerl, a Star resident and Army infantry veteran, was using the area during a recent visit and shared his perspective on the proposal.
"I just wanted a more simple way of life, to move out here with my girlfriend, get a dog, and something where we can really protect the things that we still have the right to have," Skerl said.
"I'm a big advocate on the 2nd Amendment and having the amount of public space for recreational activities. We all come out here because we like to hunt, fish, ride dirt bikes, go shooting, do whatever... go hiking, go camping, that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to make a living, live a simple life, and just basically have the freedom to do the things that we enjoy doing," Skerl said.
Skerl has been coming to the BLM land regularly and sees it as a valuable community resource.
"I think this is a huge privilege that the city of Star is going to have and what we've been having," Skerl said.
"Being able to come out here, whether it's just to shoot with your friends and have a good time or sighting your rifle for deer and elk season. I think just how convenient it is to have it here, and we don't have to drive an hour away just to go shoot a rifle. As long as we're doing it safely and picking up after ourselves, I don't see any harm in having this out here," Skerl said.
Skerl expressed support for the mayor's annexation plan.
"I like what the mayor has had to say about annexing this land and keeping it public, to the people out here in Star, making it a convenient location to shoot, have fun with friends and family, and get ready for the hunting seasons," Skerl said.
The city's plan includes creating trails for equestrian use and biking, establishing safe shooting zones, and environmental improvements. Safety is a key concern, particularly regarding shooting activities near residential areas.
"We want to create the trails for equestrian people, bike trails. We need to create safe shooting zones up here so people can shoot correctly. Sometimes you get people up here shooting that shoot in the direction of those homes that are over here, and these people are paying the price for that with fear," Chadwick said. "We're a big 2nd Amendment city, but we also understand you've got to be shooting safely and enjoy those sports, and so we have different ways that we can do that up here to create those safe shooting lanes."
The mayor noted specific safety concerns from residents.
"Some of these residents up here in Hillsdale get stray bullets that hit their homes. I got a letter here not too long ago from a resident up here that that happened to, and that should never happen. You got to be a safe shooter. We're all about shooting and the Second Amendment here, but you got to be responsible and safe about that," Chadwick said.
Environmental improvements would include replacing invasive cheatgrass with native vegetation to reduce wildfire risk.
"You see there's a lot of cheat grass and stuff that's growing up here and this stuff burns fast and dries out quick and what we wanna do is we wanna work on get all the native grasses back in here and the native plants and brush and stuff like that for wildlife and for fire protection because the native grasses don't burn as quick and as hot as the cheat grass does up here," Chadwick said.
The city also plans to create firebreaks to protect nearby residential areas.
"We also want to put a fire break up through this area to protect the residents of Hillsdale and protect the residents of Willowbrook up there, for if you do get a fire in here that runs rolling through here, it doesn't hammer those homes. And what that firebreak looks like, it could be anything, and we're looking at all sorts of different options from putting water lines up through here, right along the edge, creating a firebreak up there that's just managed and maintained all the time," Chadwick said.
The annexation would also address maintenance issues currently affecting the land.
"You have issues out here with people driving up here and dumping illegally. And there's nobody managing that right now, even though it's in the county, the county doesn't have enough people to come out here to manage that," Chadwick said. "Being in the city, we will have some different patrols and stuff that will come up here and try to stop that illegal dumping. It could provide some opportunities for our citizens to come up here and do some cleanup days and things like that to make sure that this stays clean and pristine up here in our community."
The mayor noted that federal discussions about selling chunks of federal land make the annexation more urgent.
"The reality is the federal government has been talking for a couple of months about selling off chunks of federal lands. This would be one of those lands, in my opinion, that would sell because it's 1,400 acres right next to cities that they could sell the developers that could develop it and we don't want to see it develop," Chadwick said.
He emphasized the protective aspect of city annexation.
"Right now in the county, it's zoned as rural residential, which allows 1 unit to 10 acres. In the city, we have it designated as public space, meaning it could never be built on. And so part of it is let's protect it, bring it in the city, make sure that it can never be built on with our public space designation. So then it doesn't become desirable to be purchased by a developer through the BLM or do a land swap through the BLM," Chadwick said.
Future development in the area will include infrastructure improvements.
"There will be a northern highway that will come through this, going over to Interstate 84 and connect to that Willowbrook subdivision, but it allows us to create areas, different pockets for equestrian trails, pedestrian trails, bicycle trails, things like that," Chadwick said.
The city council has paused action on the annexation for now. A planned city council meeting was delayed so officials could meet more directly with residents and address misinformation.
"We sent them a letter letting them know to try to stop the misinformation that's being spread out there and show what kind of benefit it is for coming into the city of Star versus staying in the county," Chadwick said.
The pause is also due to the federal government situation affecting BLM operations.
"Right now with the BLM being furloughed with the government shutdown, there's not a lot that you can do because there's nobody to talk to at the BLM with some of the different questions that might arise," Chadwick said. "As soon as that opens up, you'll probably start seeing us move forward a little bit more and get those meetings scheduled with folks, and then we'll have a public hearing on that to annex it into the city."
The mayor emphasized the difference between federal oversight and local management.
"BLM is not going to do anything. The federal government will never come up here and clean it up or do anything on it. It's just part of federal government land, but the county is not going to do anything on it. But as a city, we can do a lot more with it with volunteers and putting cleanup days and things like that to make sure everything stays nice and clean up here," Chadwick said.
For Chadwick, preserving public access is the ultimate goal.
"Open space is very important for all of us. If everything is built up, this is public lands. The difference between public and private lands, the private landowner has a right to do what they want to do with it. Public lands is all of our land. We want to maintain that public land aspect so we can all enjoy it," Chadwick said. "If we can do things to keep it as public space versus potential futures sold space to development, it's a win-win for all of us."
