Huntsville’s annexation push near U.S. 412 moving ahead

Friday, January 11, 2013

Huntsville’s plan to extend the city’s border north toward a widened section of U.S. 412 is likely to be completed before the highway project is finished this summer.

Efforts to annex land, particularly along Huntsville’s northern boundary, began about a year ago when city officials decided to approach the landowners and ask them to consider petitioning the city for inclusion.

Randy Ort, spokesman for the Arkansas Highwayand Transportation Department, said the highway project - which widens U.S. 412 to four lanes from Hindsville to Huntsville - remains on track for completion in the summer.

Most of the land being an-nexed is agricultural, and the highway widening will make it prime for development, Mayor Kevin Hatfield said.

City officials have said they started the annexation drive after hearing that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. planned to relocate its store from central Huntsville. City leaders feared losing the retail store’s sales tax revenue.

Daniel Morales, Wal-Mart spokesman, said Wednesday that the company does not plan any announcements related to its Huntsville store at this time.

Petitions from residents seeking to have their property annexed into Huntsville were filed with the Madison County Court on Dec. 27, Hatfield said. He said final annexation approval will take several more months.

The next step is a public hearing before Madison County Judge Frank Weaver, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at the courthouse, he said. If the county judge approves of the annexations, the petitions will be returned to the Huntsville City Council. The council will then consider an ordinance accepting the properties as part of the city. That ordinance is expected to be taken up during the council’s regular meeting March 11, and have its second reading in April with final adoption possible in May.

Once the ordinance is finally approved, the properties officially will become part of the city, Hatfield said.

The Feb. 5 public hearing provides an opportunity for anyone to voice any concerns about the annexation, Weaver said. He does not anticipate any opposition because the landowners voluntarily petitioned for annexation.

“I think it’s going to benefit the city,” Weaver said. “If infrastructure follows, then hopefully it will attract some business or economic development.”

The city is working on plans to extend water and sewer lines to the properties at a cost of about $4 million, Hatfield said. The city has applied for grants to help defray the cost, and city voters would have to approve a bond issue for the remaining amount, he said.

Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said economic growth tied to the highway expansion is likely.

“Typically where you see a road like that, traffic and development a lot of times move to those areas,” Hawkins said.With “the road improvements that have been made over the last several years, it certainly makes the travel time a lot quicker.”

City officials collected annexation requests through the spring and sent the requests to the regional Planning Commission in May so that planners could create accurate maps of all of the properties.

The commission finished mapping the properties in the fall, but the city had a few more additions, requiring adjustments. In December, the Planning Commission sent the city all of the completed maps, legal descriptions of the properties, other related documents and a decree for Weaver to sign, Hatfield said.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/11/2013