G'ville Council wants to annex all the islands

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville City Council Tuesday night voted final approval on annexing 115 'island properties', county parcels surrounded by the city. Now they want to bring in the rest of them.

Council voted four to one to approve the 115 business property annexations, giving them general business zoning, then Mayor Protem Bob Hamrick's motion to begin annexing the remaining 425 islands won a four to one yes vote, with George Wangemann opposed. The remaining islands are mostly residential and Hamrick said they should be brought in as well.

"We annexed the commercial sites and there are other sites that are islands that we did not annex," Hamrick said. "We've been criticized for not annexing all of them so this would start the process of annexing the balance of them."

Hamrick said annexing the residential properties would clear up boundaries and confusion for emergency responders. Plans are to annex the remaining islands into the city by this fall.

"There is confusion among public safety officers as to whether this is in or outside the city," Hamrick added.

City Planning Director Rusty Ligon explained the annexed properties had to meet three criteria.

"Either they were commercial in use, commercially zoned, or they were on a gateway, so these remaining properties did not meet that criteria," Ligon said.

Ligon said the city gains nearly 200 acres of property with the annexations with an estimated annual tax value of $93,000.

"Now we have consistent zoning standards, we have our Gateway Overlay District and improving the look and function of our gateways has been a priority for the last five to 10 years. That will allow us to be more consistent with development of the gateways coming into the city," Ligon added.

A county 'island' property owner asked City Council if they would vote against annexing his property or at least table it until the first of next year. Mike Holland owner of Holland Wrecker on Hilton Drive did not get his wish; Holland was the lone speaker against annexing the islands and had appeared before Council previously.

"We're just going to have to do it," Holland said. "I'm not happy but we go the way they vote. I don't see any benefits at this time, we'll just have to wait and see."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2013/7/263582