Mayor: County’s objection to annex proposal invalid

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele says the Fayette County Board of Commissioners don’t actually have a “bona fide objection” to a plan submitted to the city for the proposed annexation of a 108-acre tract off Redwine Road at the intersection of Hawn Road.

That’s because the proposal of having 96 homes on the site, along with an 8-acre city park and a significant amount of greenspace, doesn’t represent a dramatic increase in density or intensity of the land use, Steele said Friday morning.

In a letter Steele has sent to commission Chairman Greg Dunn, Steele objected to some of the commissioners’ objections about the potential annexation.

Steele says the city has an ordinance on the books to address such developments, which was one of the commission’s chief complaints in its official letter objecting to the proposed annexation.

The Fayetteville City Council has not yet voted on whether it will annex the property.

Steele said Friday morning the annexation, if approved, would come with a special development agreement between the developer and the city that would provide improvements that aren’t required by city ordinances.

Those could possibly include aligning the subdivision entrance with the entrance to the Lakemont subdivision to create a four-way stop on Redwine Road, helping Lakemont residents who have said they have trouble turning left onto Redwine in the early mornings due to traffic congestion, Steele said.

Turn lanes into and out of the subdivision are another possibility so vehicles going into the subdivision don’t impede other traffic on Redwine Road, the mayor added.

The council could also determine that 96 homes isn’t the right number for the property, Steele noted.

The council will not annex any property unless it provides a benefit to the city and, at worst, is “neutral to the county,” Steele said.

The mayor estimated the city gets roughly two annexation requests a week, and while he will listen to the proposals, they often aren’t anything that would fit into Fayetteville’s plans.

“There's no impetus for us to annex anything,” Steele said.