Annexation requested for 911 center
The city of McMinnville is growing as more of Newtown disappears.
More than 31 acres of the area has been willingly annexed into McMinnville. Property owners in that area are drawn by the attraction to city water and sewer.
In the last few months, several properties in Newtown have requested to be included in the annexation in hopes of tapping into city water and sewer. The process must be complete before TDOT cruises through the area and puts a halt to any other work with hot asphalt. After that, water and sewer will be possible but at a higher cost.
The latest property asking to be annexed is the Warren County 911 center. Warren County Emergency Communication District made the request for the 911 center, located at 902 Bridge Builders Road, as well as the adjacent lot located along the east side of this property to be annexed into the city limits.
The request came in a letter to the city:
‘The board believes that the inclusion of the 911 center and adjacent lot into the city of McMinnville would beneficial to the district and to the community at large. Specifically, the board wishes to obtain services offered by the city of McMinnville and available infrastructure. The board wishes this process could be expedited, if possible, due to the construction under way on and near the property owned by the district. The district stands ready to participate in this process at your request.’
However, there is one snag.
There is a gap of land between where the 911 center property begins and the current city limits ends. According to Planning and Zoning members, the properties between the two are the old Bridge Builders Road building and Jerry Williamson Construction.
Allowing the gap isn’t illegal but it is a bad planning practice. In order to get to the center’s property, the Planning and Zoning members will make contact with the two property owners located between the center and the city. The situation will be explained to them to see if they would be interested in annexation.
If the response is negative, another option is possible. Along with being a bad planning practice, this option is discouraged by the state. The city can annex the highway’s right of way along the highway in order to get to a property as it did with Warren County High School.
Annexing pieces of highway is called strip annexation. Rather than taking strips at a time, the state prefers a city to annex contiguous areas, which means that the territory to be annexed must have a substantial common boundary with the property to be annexed.
During the discussion, Alderman Patti Nunley disclosed that she sits as a member of the 911 board, despite the fact the city will gain nothing financially from the annexation of the property and neither will she. According to state ethics codes, all voting members of the city board must disclose personal interests that could affect their decisions.
The board agreed to send the request to the Planning Commission. The commission’s recommendation will be made to the board.