NEW LAW MAKES SOME ANNEXATIONS TRICKY

PERRYVILLE -- When the Missouri General Assembly approved a tax credit bill in August, it also outlawed annexation pending in Perryville, and no one knew about it until the bill had already taken effect.

About 30 residents of the Oak Lane Subdivision petitioned the city of Perryville months ago to begin the annexation process. Now they'll have to wait on a court decision before the deal is final.

Last week the Missouri Municipal League, the City of Perryville, subdivision residents Calvin Ehlers and Mark Bowles filed a lawsuit against the state challenging the new law that now forbids the annexation of narrow strips of land that follow a highway's corridor. Oral arguments in the suit aren't expected to begin until early spring.

The law in question started as House Bill 414 and went into effect Aug. 28. The proposed annexation in Perryville would have been finalized shortly afterward. The bill deals primarily with economic development not annexation, which is the basis for the case.

"It's a violation on the face of the constitution," said David Beeson, Perryville city attorney. "Nobody knew it was in there except that committee."

One clause, which was added in a conference committee, deletes an exception to state annexation laws. Typically, voluntary annexation is a simple process, but the recent changes in state law make it illegal in certain cases where the area to be annexed is not directly next to city boundaries.

Before August, landowners who wanted city services but whose property didn't border city limits could be annexed if their land was within two miles of the city.

And the Perryville subdivision, two miles north of the city limits along Highway 61, is one of those exceptions to the law.

Subdivision landowners requested annexation so they would receive city sewer services. In 1993, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources told the landowners its sewer system violates Missouri's clean water laws. The department then gave the landowners an eight-month deadline to comply, which essentially meant they would have to build and pay for their own sewer system.

Instead of going to that expense, the landowners asked for help from the city through "friendly annexation." When landowners petition for annexation, it is a "friendly" process. If no one objects, only a petition is required. If the city were to annex an area of land without the owners' consent, it would require an election.

The city and landowners had worked out an agreement that would have given the subdivision city sewer services for a price.

Perryville City Administrator Craig Lindsley could not be reached Friday for a comment.

In November, the city received final petitions for the formal annexation of the Oak Lane Subdivision, but the clause attached to HB 414 prevents such annexation. Because the subdivision doesn't abut the city's boundaries, it isn't "contiguous and compact."

Prior to the passage of HB 414, exceptions were granted for areas of land abutting roads or highways up to two miles from the city boundary -- that exception would have allowed the city to annex the Oak Lane Subdivision.

"They are caught in the middle," said Richard Sheets with the Missouri Municipal League in Jefferson City.

The residents likely will have to start the annexation all over again, he said.

About 50 other Missouri cities, including Sikeston and Cape Girardeau, have joined the lawsuit.