Gentry City Council approves annexation petition
Posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2008
GENTRY - Not wishing to have portions of their land annexed into Siloam Springs, a number of property owners along Taylor Orchard Road petitioned to be annexed into Gentry.
An annexation petition was filed July 22 in the County Court of Benton County by Oak Run Development, William Taylor, Kathie Taylor, Robert Lopez, Roberto Reyes, Lindy Chamberlain, Robert J. Krein, Jena Krein, John M. Parish and Joyce M. Parish. On Aug. 28, County Judge Gary Black approved the petition. The petition was approved by resolution of the Gentry City Council at its meeting Monday night.
The land all lies within Gentry's planning area, and Gentry already has city water service in place there.
"This does not violate our agreement with the city of Siloam Springs," said Gentry Mayor Wes Hogue, though it is unknown how the annexation will affect the ballot measure of Siloam Springs to annex in a large territory, including a 330-foot-wide strip of land along the north side of Taylor Orchard Road that was annexed into Gentry on Monday night.
The annexation does not include William Taylor's orchard and another portion of land just south of Marion Lee Road - though the lands are now bordered by Gentry on all sides.
The measure was approved Monday so that the new Gentry residents can vote on city issues in the upcoming November election.
Plans to annex an area to the north of the east-west portion of Taylor Orchard Road - in Gentry's planning jurisdiction - was a portion of Siloam Springs' proposed annexation area, which could have complicated matters between Gentry and Siloam Springs because it extended into Gentry's water service area, and Gentry already had water lines in place and was serving water to customers there. The measure was to be on the November ballot for Siloam Springs residents and residents in the affected areas.
The cities of Gentry and Siloam Springs had, a number of years ago, agreed upon a boundary line between the two cities for future planning and growth. The line extends east and west along a line that is Shady Grove Road between Arkansas Highway 59 and the Kansas City Southern Railroad, extends north along the railroad to an east-west line that is Van Fleet Road in the west and the east-west portion of Taylor Orchard Road.
David Williams, community development director for Siloam Springs, said the only reason Siloam Springs was crossing the center of Taylor Orchard Road 330 feet in its annexation measure is to have control of both sides of the road and avoid confusion over matters of addressing, police and fire protection, animal control and the like. Williams said he knew of no intention of Siloam Springs to annex farther into Gentry's planning jurisdiction.
The reason for the major annexation proposal, Williams said, is the request of the Dawn Hill community to be part of Siloam Springs. The Dawn Hill community, according to Williams, has been requesting the annexation for several years - in part because of lengthy power outages during recent ice storms. Siloam Springs operates a municipal electric department that serves residents inside the city limits. State law allows cities to buy areas from rural electric companies when an annexation occurs.
Gentry does not operate an electric department.
Gentry has, in most cases, only annexed into the city territories in which the land owners petitioned to be annexed. That was the case in this latest annexation and in the recent annexation that included properties belonging to the Gentry Seventh-day Adventist Church and Ozark Adventist Academy.
"About 90 percent of Gentry's annexations have been by petition of the landowners," Hogue said, adding that he would rather take a conservative approach and let the landowners decide when it is time to be incorporated into the city and not force it upon them in a ballot measure.
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