MOUNT VERNON — City officials received a petition on Monday afternoon asking that two properties on Martinsburg Road be annexed into the city.
Owners Philip and Renee Greene and Stephen and Justine Styer want to have two parcels totaling 105.64 acres annexed under an Expedited Type 2 annexation.
The property owners filed their petition with the Knox County commissioners on April 3; the commissioners reviewed it on Tuesday, April 4.
City Law Director Rob Broeren explained at Monday night’s council meeting that filing with the commissioners starts a time clock. The Ohio Revised Code requires city council to file notice of municipal services and incompatible land uses within 20 days of the petition filing. The 20 days expires on April 23.
City council does not meet again until April 24.
Additionally, council must consent or object to the annexation within 25 days of the petition’s filing with the county. The 25 days expire on April 28.
In his research, Broeren discovered that the petitioners are required to notify the city of their request within five days of filing.
“We did not receive it within five days, so I’m going to have to do some research into what, if anything, their failure to provide the notice as required by the revised code does to their petition,” he told council.
Broeren said there is likely to be annexation-related legislation at the April 24 council meeting
“As I go through and do the research on the timing, both their requirements and our requirements, I’ll be sharing that with council so that we’ll have an idea where we might be at the next meeting,” he said.
At this point, council is not accepting the annexation. That comes later in the process and carries a different set of criteria and timeline.
In January, council accepted the annexation of a half-acre parcel just south of 8732 Martinsburg Road that abuts the 105 acres. State law stipulates that the parcel to be annexed must be contiguous to a parcel already in the city.
Additionally, there are requirements relating to how many acres can be annexed based on the amount of contiguous feet. The property owners had to annex the half acre first to gain enough contiguous feet to annex the 105 acres.
In accepting the half acre, the city agreed to provide stormwater and fire and EMS to the parcel. Council did not agree to provide water or sewer.
Legal counsel for the Greenes previously said the Greenes do not want to act as developers for the 105 acres. However, they feel that being annexed into the city will make it more attractive to a developer.
