City may set annexation hearings
By SHANNON CRABTREE newsdesk@leader-news.com
Plans for public input on the city of El Campo's five proposed annexation tracts should be solidified when City Council meets Tuesday.

Two public hearings must be held to debate the merits of the proposed annexations - tentatively those are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 6, and Tuesday, Nov. 13, with a decision expected during the Tuesday, Dec. 11 Council meeting.

Council will be asked to decide if those are the appropriate dates for the hearings and where they should be held.

Public interest is anticipated to be high, City Manager John Steelman said.

"We're probably looking at the Duson Room (in the El Campo Civic Center)," he said. "With the number of notices we're sending out, there are so many questions that have not been addressed yet."

The city is anticipating sending out about 300 notices to landowners in the areas under consideration.

Through a summer's worth of debate, City Council first created seven areas of annexation interest. Earlier this month, Council pared that number down to five.

Now the public will have the chance to speak on the issue.

Areas under consideration are:•

Area 1: Along Hwy. 71 North bounded by Sandy Corner Road to the west and Wilbur Road to the north while the eastern boundary would be 500 feet east of Hwy. 71 or the depth of the individual pieces of property.

• Area 3: The 60-acre Sunset Terrace tract off FM 2765 just north of the new middle school site.•

Area 4: A tract south of FM 2765 bounded north by FM 2765, east by Ellwood Street and south by Doris Street.

• Area 5: A 1,000-plus foot wide strip from along East Jackson Street running east to U.S. 59 to a quarter mile east of the first El Campo exit.

• Area 6: An L-shaped tract both north and south of Jackson Street from South Meadow Lane toward the Rice Belt bridge.

With a lack of accommodations, hearings cannot be held in each individual area, Steelman said.

"I've talked to a few folks so far and they've all been positive, but I know there is opposition out there," Steelman said.

Also on Tuesday, Council will consider requesting its Planning & Zoning Commission review the proposed parcels and recommend zoning designations for each.

"That needs to be done before it's annexed," Steelman said, adding each would have a specified zone as it entered the municipal boundaries.

Typically, the P&Z would review the existing uses of the parcels in question as well as the zoning in areas contiguous with those areas.

From there, P&Z commissioners would determine the best use for the land. Those recommendations would then be presented to City Council for formal approval.