Uncommon municipality types and names

[Bruce]

The borough discussion in the Ambiguous City Names thread brings up something I like to talk about: weird municipality types.

The Consolidated Borough of Quil Ceda Village was created in 2001 by the Tulalip Tribes to incorporate part of their reservation for commercial use. It is a unique tribal municipality that had to be approved by the BIA and IRS, and was the first to be created under a tribal taxing act passed in 1982. Technically, Quil Ceda Village is one of only two federal municipalities, the other being the District of Columbia.

[Max Rockatansky]

Tusayan a Town in Arizona is below the legislative mandated population to incorporate but was given an exemption since it is right next to Grand Canyon National Park. 

[Roadrunner75]

I submit Tavistock, NJ - population 5 and located in a dense suburban area of South Jersey that is basically just a golf course.  The town was created to allow golf club members to play on Sundays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tavistock,_New_Jersey

In the same county, there's also the similar golf course borough of Pine Valley, population 12.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Valley,_New_Jersey

In New Jersey, our goal is that someday each resident has their own municipality. 

[Roadsguy]

Bloomsburg is a town in Pennsylvania. The only thing special about that is that it's technically the only town in Pennsylvania. All other incorporated towns are actually incorporated as boroughs or townships, though there's not much difference other than the name.

[US 89]

Utah has three types of municipalities: cities, towns, and metro townships. Cities and towns are basically the exact same thing except for population - cities have over 1000 people, towns do not. Metro townships lack most taxing powers and have to contract with counties or other cities to provide services to their residents. While they do have some limited self-government, they're mostly a way for previously-unincorporated areas of a county to resist being annexed by neighboring cities without their permission.

Five metro townships exist, all in Salt Lake County: Magna, Kearns, Copperton, Emigration Canyon, and White City.

[kurumi]

Connecticut has 9 boroughs: incorporated sections of towns, that provide some services but are subordinate to the containing town's government.

Some former boroughs like Winsted and Willimantic are more well-known than the towns they belong to (Winchester and Windham... yes, Connecticut likes names starting with W). The smallest borough is Fenwick, population 43, in Old Saybrook.

Counties were disbanded in all but name in 1960, but some boroughs survived beyond that. Colchester's borough was disbanded in 1990.

Mystic was never a borough nor a town; it's a census-designated place (CDP) and village with parts in the towns of Groton and Stonington. It's not the only CDP overlapping a town line; Georgetown is located in the area where the towns of Wilton, Redding, Ridgefield, and Weston meet.

[Scott5114]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is an entity created to give the Disney Corporation regulatory control over Disney World. The building codes at Disney World are enforced by a government who is elected solely by Disney employees. Seems legit.

[KEVIN_224]

Connecticut has 9 boroughs: incorporated sections of towns, that provide some services but are subordinate to the containing town's government.

Some former boroughs like Winsted and Willimantic are more well-known than the towns they belong to (Winchester and Windham... yes, Connecticut likes names starting with W). The smallest borough is Fenwick, population 43, in Old Saybrook.

Counties were disbanded in all but name in 1960, but some boroughs survived beyond that. Colchester's borough was disbanded in 1990.

Mystic was never a borough nor a town; it's a census-designated place (CDP) and village with parts in the towns of Groton and Stonington. It's not the only CDP overlapping a town line; Georgetown is located in the area where the towns of Wilton, Redding, Ridgefield, and Weston meet.

It makes me wonder why East Berlin, CT has a separate zip code from the rest of Berlin (06023 while the rest of the municipality is 06037). The Kensington section of town, by far, should be the section with its own zip code. Neighboring New Britain is a city of roughly 73,000. However, it has no villages within it.

[wxfree]

It's an unofficial type, but I know of two alcohol cities in Texas.  Impact incorporated back when west Texas was dry and people would drive for hours to buy alcohol.  As a city, they held a local option election and then opened liquor stores.  At the time it was outside of Abilene.  It's now surrounded by Abilene, where you can now buy alcohol, but they have no interest in being absorbed by it.  According to Google Maps, it doesn't look like there are any liquor stores there now.

Carl's Corner, between Hillsboro and Waxahachie, I've been told was started for a similar purpose.  It was an unpopulated area, and state law requires a certain population to hold an incorporation election.  As I understand it, Carl (I don't know his last name) moved a bunch of RVs into the area and moved people into them.  Those people then met the population requirement and voted to incorporate a city, then moved away.  The new city is where Carl's convenience store, Carl's Corner, is located, and after a local option election he could sell alcohol there.  Willie Nelson's biodiesel was also sold at Carl's Corner.  Local lore holds that Willie's drug runners go through there, although that may have changed now that everybody knows.  Willie is a well known end user, but according to rumor was also involved in the supply chain.

[zzcarp]

I can think of two unusual municipalities in Colorado.

The first is Lakeside, population 8, which is the least populated incorporated municipality in Colorado. It contains an amusement park, a lake, a Walmart, and is most known as a speed trap patrolling the southbound lanes of Sheridan Boulevard/CO 95.

Then there's Highlands Ranch, population north of 96k. Most people think it's a suburb city of Denver. It's really just one giant metro district/private quasi-government in unincorporated Douglas County.

[jeffandnicole]

It makes me wonder why East Berlin, CT has a separate zip code from the rest of Berlin (06023 while the rest of the municipality is 06037). The Kensington section of town, by far, should be the section with its own zip code.

Zip codes are a product of the postal service to aid in mail delivery.  Technically, they have nothing to do with individual municipalities, even though most post offices serve just the town they are in.  This can screw people up when looking for certain school districts in certain towns.   To use an zip code near me, 08080, you could be in Mantua, Washington Twp, or Deptford, all of which are unique towns and have unique school districts.  However, the zip code isn't solely unique to each town, as each of those towns have other zip codes (and thus, other post offices that serve them).

If you desired to go to a Mantua Twp school and show up to register your kids, you're gonna get a smirk and instructions to go to a different school when they hear your address is actually in a different school district, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

[kphoger]

It makes me wonder why East Berlin, CT has a separate zip code from the rest of Berlin (06023 while the rest of the municipality is 06037). The Kensington section of town, by far, should be the section with its own zip code.

Zip codes are a product of the postal service to aid in mail delivery.  Technically, they have nothing to do with individual municipalities, even though most post offices serve just the town they are in.  This can screw people up when looking for certain school districts in certain towns.   To use an zip code near me, 08080, you could be in Mantua, Washington Twp, or Deptford, all of which are unique towns and have unique school districts.  However, the zip code isn't solely unique to each town, as each of those towns have other zip codes (and thus, other post offices that serve them).

If you desired to go to a Mantua Twp school and show up to register your kids, you're gonna get a smirk and instructions to go to a different school when they hear your address is actually in a different school district, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

Growing up in farm country, I had a friend whose farm was in town's school district, another town's telephone exchange, and yet another town's ZIP code.

[Brandon]

Illinois has three types of municipalities, cities, towns, and villages.  Unlike many other states, these are not merited by size, but by governmental structure.

Cities: Have a council with council members or aldermen representing wards or districts within the city.  Some may be elected "at-large" across the city.  Has a mayor, and sometimes a city manager.  Ranges in size from Chicago (2.7 million) to Nason (236).

Towns: Similar to cities, organized from a civil township.  None have been incorporated since the 1880s.  Ranges in size from Cicero (83,891) to Bentley (35).  There are only 19 of them.

Villages: Have a board of trustees, all of which are elected at large.  Also has a village president who performs the same functions as a mayor, but whose position is stronger than that of a mayor.  Ranges in size from Arlington Heights (75,101 - largest municipality called a "village" in the world) to Valley City (13).

[vdeane]

I just posted this link explaining the types of municipalities (it also includes counties, though I don't really think of them when I think of municipal government), but it's worth mentioning here too: https://www.dos.ny.gov/lg/localgovs.html

A few interesting examples:
-The Town/Village of East Rochester and Town/Village of Green Island exist simultaneously as villages and as towns, with the respective town and village borders being one and same and government services being split.  I'm not sure exactly what the story is with these, but it's worth noting that towns didn't used to be able to provide as many services as cities and villages did (this is no longer the case; it was changed around the time it became hard for cities to annex land), so the village may have been grafted on to provide additional services.
-The City of Saratoga Springs, City of Rome, and City of Oneida all have inner and outer districts.  In the case of Saratoga Springs, the Town of Saratoga Springs and Village of Saratoga Springs decided to incorporate as a city, with the village becoming the inner district.  In the case of Rome, the city annexed the former Town of Rome to form the outer district.  Not sure what happened with Oneida.
-The City of New York includes five different counties, which were subsumed and became boroughs.
-The Village of Kiryas Joel was/is a de facto theocracy.  Due to constant clashes with the rest of the Town of Monroe fueled by development and demographics, it split off to form the Town of Palm Tree.
-The Village of Tuxedo Park is essentially a private gated community.  There are no public roads in the Village and all entrances are gated, with the most prominent one being guarded by the village police.

[GenExpwy]

-The Town/Village of East Rochester and Town/Village of Green Island exist simultaneously as villages and as towns, with the respective town and village borders being one and same and government services being split.  I'm not sure exactly what the story is with these, but it's worth noting that towns didn't used to be able to provide as many services as cities and villages did (this is no longer the case; it was changed around the time it became hard for cities to annex land), so the village may have been grafted on to provide additional services.

Three additional examples, all in Westchester County: Harrison, Mount Kisco, Scarsdale.

In the case of East Rochester, at least, the village was founded in 1897 (as Despatch, renamed E.R. in 1906), divided between the towns of Pittsford and Perinton. Eventually the village got tired of dealing with two town boards, so in 1982 there was a vote to create a new town. There are nominal elections for a town board, which simply meets every year (2 years?) for a pro forma resolution to pass all of its powers to the village board.

[RobbieL2415]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is an entity created to give the Disney Corporation regulatory control over Disney World. The building codes at Disney World are enforced by a government who is elected solely by Disney employees. Seems legit.

So then here's my questions: is Disney World then public property?  Or, does the RCID lease all the land within the district back to Disney making it private property?

[roadman65]

In Hunderton County, NJ Lambertville is the only city within it as the rest are boroughs or townships. Other NJ counties have at least more than one city incorporated unless Gloucester has only one near Camden.

[Roadrunner75]

In Hunderton County, NJ Lambertville is the only city within it as the rest are boroughs or townships. Other NJ counties have at least more than one city incorporated unless Gloucester has only one near Camden.

Woodbury is indeed the only city in Gloucester County.

[roadman65]

Chugwater, WY is uncommon.
Atlantic City, NJ is not duplicated anyplace else.
Intercourse, PA I hope is not duplicated 
Yeehaw Junction, FL- Too odd to be used again.
Ybor City, FL,though not really incorporated, seems very unique.

[Scott5114]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is an entity created to give the Disney Corporation regulatory control over Disney World. The building codes at Disney World are enforced by a government who is elected solely by Disney employees. Seems legit.

So then here's my questions: is Disney World then public property?  Or, does the RCID lease all the land within the district back to Disney making it private property?

RCID is a government entity, and thus, is theoretically independent of Disney. However, the only people who own land in the RCID's jurisdiction are the Disney Corporation itself, or individual members of Disney upper management. These members of management are the only people who are allowed to vote for RCID's board members.

It would be like if a factory declared the lot it was on and four houses nearby to be a city. The four houses are owned by the company president and each of the factory's shift managers. They all elect the company president to be Mayor.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is an entity created to give the Disney Corporation regulatory control over Disney World. The building codes at Disney World are enforced by a government who is elected solely by Disney employees. Seems legit.

So then here's my questions: is Disney World then public property?  Or, does the RCID lease all the land within the district back to Disney making it private property?

RCID is a government entity, and thus, is theoretically independent of Disney. However, the only people who own land in the RCID's jurisdiction are the Disney Corporation itself, or individual members of Disney upper management. These members of management are the only people who are allowed to vote for RCID's board members.

It would be like if a factory declared the lot it was on and four houses nearby to be a city. The four houses are owned by the company president and each of the factory's shift managers. They all elect the company president to be Mayor.

The kind of thing isn't exclusive to Disney down in Florida.  Weeki Wachee is similarly incorporated around a State Park.   

[RobbieL2415]

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is an entity created to give the Disney Corporation regulatory control over Disney World. The building codes at Disney World are enforced by a government who is elected solely by Disney employees. Seems legit.

So then here's my questions: is Disney World then public property?  Or, does the RCID lease all the land within the district back to Disney making it private property?

RCID is a government entity, and thus, is theoretically independent of Disney. However, the only people who own land in the RCID's jurisdiction are the Disney Corporation itself, or individual members of Disney upper management. These members of management are the only people who are allowed to vote for RCID's board members.

It would be like if a factory declared the lot it was on and four houses nearby to be a city. The four houses are owned by the company president and each of the factory's shift managers. They all elect the company president to be Mayor.

Going by the boundary maps, it seems that the major roads in the RCID are property of the District itself and not of Disney.  Any feeder roads to and from the parks/hotels/etc. are directly owned by Disney.

Here's a map:
https://www.rcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RCID_City_Owner2019.pdf

Based on this it would appear to me that Disney cannot legally restrict traffic from ALL roads, just the ones that are not under District control.  This being because the RCID is an incoporated municipality.

[TravelingBethelite]

S.N.P.J., Pennsylvania, in Lawrence County comes to mind. It was incorporated by a Slovene fraternal society to get a liquor license for their recreation center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.N.P.J.,_Pennsylvania

[frankenroad]

In Ohio, an incorporated municipality of 5,000 or more is a city, under 5,000, it is a village.  Both usually have a mayor and council, who are elected, and a city or village manager, who is appointed.  Any unincorporated area is a township.

After either the 1990 or 2000 census, I forget which, Indian Hill's population exceeded 5,000, so it became a city.   The people of Indian Hill were not happy about that so they renamed the city "The Village of Indian Hill", but it's still a city.

A couple of villages in Clermont County voted to disband last year, and be absorbed into their surrounding townships.