City Council: Hillbrook Annexation Finalized

The City of Spartanburg is officially a little bit larger today after the the second reading of the annexation of 54 properties in the Hillbrook subdivision sailed through City Council on Monday.

Council again voted 6-1 to annex the properties 16 of which fall under South Carolina’s “25% law” which allows a municipality to annex 25% of the properties in an area without the property owners’ consent provided that the other 75% of property owners representing at least 75% of property value have agreements with the city providing consent for annexation.  The properties to be annexed must also be contiguous to city boundaries.

Councilman Joe Spigner was, again, the lone dissenting vote against the annexation.

The newly annexed properties are on Mabry Drive, Perrin Drive, Winfield Drive, Webber Road, Brian Drive, Hollis Drive, Ransdell Court and Kaplan Court.

City Planning Director Stephanie Monroe said that the newly annexed properties can expect to receive city trash and recycling pickup starting as soon as later this week.  The property owners first tax bill as city residents will be due in January of 2011.

The city has plans to annex around 1,000 properties total this year, most of those being on the west side.  More annexations are expected to be taken up in October.

Also approved at Monday’s meeting was the rezoning of properties at 110 and 114 Knollwood Drive from “Single Family Residential” to “Neighborhood Shopping District”.  The owner of the properties, Cornerstone National Bank, is not looking to develop the property but rather looking to “sell as quickly as possible” according to their attorney Max Hyde.  Hyde added that the property was in a good area for commercial development and that any development would enhance the John B White Sr Boulevard corridor on Spartanburg’s west side.

City Senior Planner Kevin Tolloty said he had spoken with property owners adjacent to the properties to be rezoned and that none of them had voiced any opposition to the plan.

Council also approved the purchase of an 18-foot dump body and chassis from Magic City Ford out of Lexington for $69,445.  The truck will be used for utility purposes such as residential leaf pickup.

Other items passed by council included the authorization of an equipment lease purchase agreement not to exceed $550,000.  The agreement is for the purchase of two automated side loader trucks and one utility truck for the solid waste department.

Council closed out Monday’s meeting with an update on the county’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.  Ernie Boughman, Senior Project Manager with engineering firm BP Barber, showed examples of areas in the county that had been improved with crosswalks and bicycle lanes making the county and city more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.  Complete details on the Master Plan can be found at the Greenways website.