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Annexation gets some attention in Bryant |
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Saturday, 09 August 2008 |
City Council holds brief special meeting
Bryant City Council held a brief special meeting Thursday to approve two revised ordinances related to the annexation proposal that could double the city’s land size.
“We had to call this meeting so that we can get the information to the Election Commission,” said LaVenia Jones, Bryant planning coordinator.
“There was some wording changes we had to make and the council had to approve it before we send it to the Election Commission.”
The first ordinance approved a repeal of a Sept. 9 special election over land south of Northlake Road. Bryant is in a dispute with Benton over the section of land, and the two cities are holding special elections on the issue. Both cities claim territorial jurisdiction of the area.
Jones said that if passed, the annexation would nearly double the size of the city limits. The areas in the proposed annexation include Springhill, Midland, Hill-dale, Northlake, Wilkerson and property surrounding the new Saline County Regional Airport. Jones said there are about 1,200 homes in the proposed annexed areas.
Benton Mayor Rick Holland said both cities had an agreement in 2005 regarding the territorial jurisdictions and that Benton controls the areas of Northlake. A May 2005 map supporting Benton’s position bears the signatures of both cities’ planning commission chairmen that designated land south of Northlake Road for annexation into Benton.
Bryant officials said that Benton broke that agreement when they designed a new planning map in 2006.
“When I actually started working on this annexation [in March], I was going by the 2005 agreed upon map,” Jones said. “We were originally working on that 2005 agreed-upon planning area map, but we discovered that the city of Benton adopted a new one two years ago in 2006.”
Benton originally scheduled the special election for Aug. 12, but recently rescheduled it for Oct. 14. In response, Jones asked the City Council on July 28 to pull their special election and move it to the Nov. 4 general election.
“It generally costs the city $15,000-20,000 to hold a special election,” Jones said. “I suggest we move it to the general election ... We can save taxpayers a lot of money and people also wouldn’t have to go out of their way and vote in a special election.”
The council agreed and not only approved the special election repeal, but also approved the second ordinance that places the annexation proposal on the general election ballot. However, city attorney Nga Mahfouz found some wording that needed to be changed, Jones said, and that’s why it was brought before the council again.
Jones said the wording was minor, but explained that a special meeting was called because of a timing issue with the Election Commission. However, only five councilmen were present at the meeting and could only vote on the first readings of both ordinances. Six members are needed to vote on all three readings and the issue will be brought before the next scheduled council meeting on Aug. 14.
This issue also prompted a resident of the area to speak out. Dee Fiser told the council that he had concerns that Bryant could be trying to become “too big, too fast” and asked if the city is prepared to take care of anyone annexed into the city. He also said the battle with Benton is not being received well with the residents in the proposed annexed areas.
“This looks like kids on the school ground fighting over turf,” Fiser said. “I hope that you don’t have egos entered into this proposal. I really hope that you are thinking clearly about this issue. When you double your size over night, you can’t see every [problem] that is coming. Are you going to be committed to taking care of things in our area if we are brought into the city?” Councilman Ken Green said the issue was something that was well thought out before being proposed. He said that the areas in the proposal will see growth regardless if they are in the city limits and said it was not their intentions to dispute with Benton.
“This movement was not born out of competition,” Green said. “The growth in the areas will come whether it is in the city or not, but this lets us know what we can expect and lets us plan.”
Councilman Robby Young responded to an earlier comment made by Fiser. Fisher said when he moved to Saline County he knew that the area would eventually be annexed into the city.
“You even said yourself that it was imminent that someday you would become part of the city,” Young said. “You may think it might not be the right time for you to become part of the city, but when we looked at it, it is the right time for us.”
Young said he believes that the city can take care of the residents in those areas concerning particular issues, including sewer issues.
Mayor Larry Mitchell closed the discussion telling Fiser that it will be up to the residents in the areas whether they are annexed into the city limits.
“In the end, we don’t make those decisions,” Mitchell said. “The people in those areas will make that decision.”
Details about the proposed annexation areas in Benton and Bryant can be found along with a master street plan at www.cityofbryant.org.
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Razorbacks
