OPPONENTS SEE LITTLE CHANCE TO KILL ANNEXATION

JACKSON -- Bob and Gladys Nitsch feel frustrated and helpless. The city of Jackson wants to take their 188-acre farm into the city against their wishes.

At issue is the age-old battle of the rights of the property owner versus the power of the state and municipality to make sure future growth and expansion takes place in an orderly manner.

The Nitschs say the city doesn't need their farmland right now, but the city says it has to have Nitsch's land, and that of 18 other smaller property owners who oppose the annexation. City officials say control over the land is necessary to insure the orderly growth of the city during the next 30 years.

On Tuesday, voters in Jackson, and in the area to be annexed, go to the polls a second time to vote on the issue.

During the first balloting in November, voters in Jackson approved the annexation proposal, 1,945 to 502. But it was defeated in the rural area by a vote of 17-1.

This time, however, the rural ballots will be counted along with the city ballots, and Nitsch says the rural property owners are outgunned.

What makes all of this possible is a state statute called the Sawyer Act. The act allows the city to annex rural property without the consent of the property owners if it follows certain legal guidelines.

To do that, Jackson had to define the area it wanted to annex, then file a plan of intent with the Circuit Court. A public hearing was held in June 1988. The city issued a declaratory statement that said that annexation of the area in question "is reasonable and necessary for the orderly growth of the community."

In July 1990, a circuit judge ruled in favor of the city, and ordered elections held in November and Feb. 5, in case the issue was not approved the first time around.

Despite their day in court, the Nitschs feel they have been deprived of their rights to do with their property as they wish under the Sawyer Act.

"It's unfair because it gives the city too much power, and the judge makes the decision," Bob Nitsch said Saturday. "We're just fighting for our rights to our property, just like the people over in the Persian Gulf are fighting for their rights."

The Nitsch farm is located on the Old Cape-Jackson Road, within eyesight of the four-lane Highway 61. It lies between Highway 61 and the Bainbridge Road, in an area that is projected to have rapid growth in the coming years.

The Nitschs have lived on the farm for 30 years. Nitsch purchased the land in 1960, and built a house on the property after living eight years in Jackson.

He said the house has all of the services, water and sewage, that the city would provide, except for police and fire protection.

The family farms about 100 acres in row crops that are used to feed their herd of Whiteface Hereford cattle. The rest of the land is in pasture.

Nitsch says he is also opposed to the annexation because of the financial uncertainty it will create. He's afraid city taxes on his farmland will be so high that he will be forced to sell off some of the land to survive, or be forced off his land altogether.

He said the money the family would save on its fire insurance premium would be far outweighed by the extra taxes on the land.

"We have put a lifetime of work into the farm," he said. "This is our livelihood. We don't know what the financial impact will be on us if our farm is taken into the city."

Nitsch said city officials have told him he can continue to farm his land after it is taken into the city limits, but he questions what future boards of aldermen or city officials might say. "When I asked them about it, I was told they could not speak for future boards or city officials, so it leaves us pretty well in the dark," Nitsch said.

Nitsch said if the city had only wanted the land on which his house and buildings are located, he would have been willing to agree to annexation. But he said the city wanted all of his land.

The Nitschs admit they have few options left. "I'm still hoping there will be enough opposition in Jackson to defeat it," said Gladys Nitsch, but her husband was not optimistic. "The law is in their (Jackson) favor," he complained.