The Kanawha County Commission on Tuesday effectively delayed the city of St. Albans' attempt to annex three buildings and portions of U.S. 60 and W.Va. 817.
After a 33-minute discussion where commissioners Dave Hardy, Kent Carper and Hoppy Shores listened to testimony from St. Albans Mayor Dick Callaway, West Side Volunteer Fire Department and lawyers opposing the annexation, the commission voted to send the petition to the planning and development director.
That action will significantly delay the annexation, if not effectively stop it.
The commissioners and the mayor both said that they would get their lawyers together to come up with a compromise, but at this point the annexation comes down to one question: Was the petition legal?
The county commission says no.
"They have to redo that petition or they're not going to get to first base," Hardy said.
The core of the debate over the legality of the petition comes down to the number of freeholders that the city had to petition to annex the land. The city argues that it only needed three for the three buildings that will be annexed into their territory, while the county and opponents argue that they need petitions from the state Division of Highways, any people who may have mineral rights on the properties they are annexing and any homeowners on the roads that lead to the Amandaville Court housing complex.
The county also claims that the city needs to have petitions from the majority of the 51 registered voters that live in the Amandaville Court housing complex.
Callaway kept his hands in his pockets while Carper interrogated him about the legality of the city's claim to the land.
"The next step would be to work with the county to work out the various opinions that we have," Callaway said after the meeting.
If the two sides can't agree, either St. Albans will have to drop the annexation claim or take the county commission to court.
While the questions of legality reign supreme over the discussion, there also are people who are simply opposed to the annexation.
Members of the New Amandaville Community Association wrote a letter to the county commission because they're concerned that the city is trying to annex the roads their houses are on. Because the petition did not make clear which roads around the Amandaville Court housing complex the city planned to annex, residents who live on the roads that lead to the complex are concerned that the city is encroaching on their land.
The West Side Volunteer Fire Department was insulted by what they perceived as a slight from the city of St. Albans, when the city said that it wanted to annex the buildings to provide St. Albans fire and police coverage.
"We get our dander up when we hear that our departments that respond to 80 percent of the calls aren't good enough," Carper said.
West Side volunteers estimate that 10 percent of their budget will be lost if the city annexes those two roads, because volunteer fire companies bill the insurance company for the car wrecks they respond to.
In other news, the Kanawha Sheriff's Office named its deputy of the year. The winner was Cpl. Joshua Cochran, a member of the department's SWAT team. The other nominees were Deputy Christopher Boner, Deputy Michael Dickerson, Sgt. Dan Waller, Sgt. Chris George, Cpl. Adam Crawford, and Cpl. Brian Middleton. All of the nominees received a $25 gift certificate to Fazio's except for the winner who received $50 restaurant certificate. All of the officers received a pin to wear on their uniforms for the honor.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or @drdesrochers on Twitter.