Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991 TAG: 9102090159
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Ted McCormack, assistant director for the state Commission on Local Government - which makes decisions on annexation suits - said Friday that his organization had been alerted to expect the request.
Oscar Padgett of Bedford confirmed Friday that he and his partner intend to file a request next week to have about four acres taken into the city.
The land, behind Otterburn Homes Inc. on U.S. 460, would be used for apartments for the elderly, Padgett said. Because of a city moratorium on utility extensions, annexation appears to be the only way new developments just outside the city limits can get access to public water or sewer.
In June 1989, Bedford City Council decided to stop adding water and sewer connections to homes and businesses in the county. That action came after county officials objected to the city's proposal for water rates that would have charged some county customers significantly more than city customers.
When the owners of Carriage Hill nursing home - including Padgett - decided to expand and asked for water and sewer extensions from the city, they were turned down. So, in January 1990, those owners filed a request with the Commission on Local Government in Richmond asking that they be annexed into the city.
The city agreed to supply the utilities so long as Carriage Hill pursued its annexation request.
With that, county officials filed suit against the city, alleging that the city had encouraged the annexation request.
A three-judge panel threw out the county's suit in October, but the county has carried it forward to the Court of Appeals. Each locality has spent about $70,000 on legal fees.
The Carriage Hill request remains in the hands of the Commission on Local Government, which expects to hold hearings on it May 30.
An attorney representing the nursing home told commission members that he hopes the next annexation request - for the apartments - can be heard at that time as well, McCormack said.
Bedford Mayor Mike Shelton said Friday that he had heard talk of a second annexation request, but that the City Council has had no discussion of the issue.
When the request is made, Padgett will have to bring it before City Council. "It may be that the council may support it or that they may not support the thing," Shelton said. "There are too many ifs at this point."
Before making a decision, council will analyze what the annexation would do for the city economically, Shelton said. The city used that same procedure before deciding to support Carriage Hill's request.
Asked what effect the new petition might have on the city-county legal battle, Shelton said, "If it had any, that would have to be up to the county.
"The matter of water and sewer can still be best resolved if litigation is put aside. . . . The money could be better spent," Shelton said.
But County Board of Supervisors Chairman A.A. "Gus" Saarnijoki said word of another request showed that the county made the right decision to fight such requests the first time around.
"It just strengthens our resolve to keep fighting this," Saarnijoki said. Unless the supervisors continue to put up a legal fight, people could continue to ask to get into the city, he said.
"We could just keep losing more and more of the county," he said.
by CNB