Annexation hearing tomorrow
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bvwv/News/6302/
A motion for summary judgment could be handed down May 8 in an annexation lawsuit filed last year against the city.
The suit — filed by several affected residents and two businesses — requests the annexation be voided and claims the 12 county pockets of land absorbed into the city on July 23, 2007, do not comply with Ark. Code 14-40-302, which details five use requirements for annexing land completely encircled by an incorporated area.
Benton County Circuit Judge David Clinger will hear facts from both sides, including attorneys from the Arkansas Municipal League and Jason Kelley, the attorney hired to perform legal services for the city. Bella Vista is a member of the AML and the league’s Legal Defense Fund.
If the motion is approved by Clinger, the annexation will be voided, but a denial would mean the case would more than likely go to trial, Kelley said.
Proper legal notice for a public hearing held two months before the annexation was not given, and the legal description of the annexed areas attached to the ordinance was inadequate, the suit claims.
A complaint response filed Sept. 17 by the city claims it met state laws and that the suit filed to overturn the annexations should be dismissed. The plaintiffs failed to state the facts in their complaint, and their rights were not violated when the city annexed the land, the response states.
Based on state law, unincorporated county land completely encircled by a municipality must meet one of five statutory requirements in order to be annexed, including land:
• Platted for sale;
• Held as suburban property;
• Comprising a densely-settled community or growth beyond legal boundary;
• Needed for proper purposes, such as the extension of police regulation; or
• Deemed valuable for prospective municipal uses.
The city’s decision to annex the land was a much-scrutinized process since the ordinance’s introduction in March 2007. Many property owners in the affected areas attended the public hearing, with the majority voicing their position against being taken into the city.
At its May 29 meeting last year, the City Council voted to table the annexation ordinance for six months after hearing more disdain from property owners during the open forum.
The council then approved the ordinance two months later after learning the roughly 360 residents, if added to the population count, could fetch the city $ 8, 000 a month, or $ 96, 000 annually, in turnback funds. City officials originally estimated those turnback funds would be nominal.