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More annexation approved in Fairburn

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Fairburn City Council took care of what was termed housekeeping issues July 11 by approving the annexation and rezoning of two tracts of land totaling more than 11 acres at the request of the Safeguard Landfill.

City Administrator Jim Williams told council members annexation of the 10.69-acre tract now owned by Safeguard was not annexed earlier due to ownership problems. The one-acre Johnson tract, he said, should have been annexed when previous annexation activities were being conducted in the area. He said the city was treating the annexation of the Johnson’s tract as a housekeeping issue because the city’s prior oversight caused the creation of a one-acre island surrounded by the municipality. This is something, he said, that is not supposed to happen and something that needed to be addressed.

Williams said the annexation request by Safeguard was appropriate under the 60 percent method of annexation because the company owns more than 60 percent of the adjacent to both tracts.

Present at the meeting, property owners Van and Ernestine Johnson told council members they had received no current notification by the city to rezone and annex their property. Their notification came through a notice they saw in the newspaper. Both said they believed they should have been personally notified of the city’s intentions to annex their property. After the discussion, Johnson was asked if he opposed the annexation. He said he did not.

The Johnson tract is positioned adjacent to the Safeguard Landfill property. Safeguard representatives told Johnson the area near his property would be used as a buffer area only and not for the disposal of construction and demolition materials.

The action to annex and rezone both tracts was adopted by a 5-1 vote. In his opposition to the motion, council member Mario Avery said, “I cannot in my right mind support this.”

Contacted Tuesday, Williams said the Johnsons’ were notified by registered mail during the previous annexation activity. On this occasion, the city believes it was complying with the law by advertising the annexation and posting a sign on the property, he said.

“We inadvertently created an island and we’re attempting to remedy the situation,” Williams said. “This is something we had to fix and we wanted to do it right.”