Council considers way to make annexation stick
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
GREENLAND - The City Council is holding its breath until May 22. That's when the 30-day waiting period is over for eight landowners just west of Interstate 540 who petitioned Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton to allow them to annex into the city.
City Attorney Danny Wright said that during that time Bart Hester, the owner of 36 acres in the middle of the property owned by the petitioning landowners, can still appeal Hunton's April 22 decision allowing the surrounding owners to selfannex into Greenland.
According to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, for Hester to be involuntarily annexed, the property owners surrounding him need to represent 50 percent or more of the total property to be annexed, which Hunton confirmed is the case.
The Greenland council was planning on annexing all the land at its regular meeting Monday night, but Wright advised that it either wait for any appeals or set up an annexation election for Greenland voters to guarantee the procedure despite appeals.
"It'd basically be an end run around all of (the potential appeals )," he told the council.
Alderman Lisa Thornton said if there are appeals of Hunton's decision, a public vote would be the best way to keep Northwest Arkansas Auto Auction out of the city's planning area.
"It'd carry a lot more weight," she said.
In the past, Mayor John Gray has said that an auto auction moving into that specific area would affect the city negatively and possibly lower property values.
The council will look at the issue again at 7 p.m. May 27 at a special meeting. The group will also use that meeting to work on amending its commercial moratorium. The amendment would allow existing businesses with existing licenses to upgrade their buildings or, in the case of a Mexican restaurant off U. S. 71 that was destroyed by a fire, rebuild.
The council also revisited its sewer issue Monday. Fayetteville Sewer Director Dave Jurgens told the group that the Fayetteville City Council is getting closer to allocating $ 200, 000 for the rehabilitation of the sewer lines in Greenland. He said the money Fayetteville gives can only be used for fixing the pipes that already exist, but if the city wanted to upgrade or extend its lines it could partner with Fayetteville to get it done.
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