Crowds expected at annexation hearings
P&Z meets next week, hearings Nov. 6 & 13
By SHANNON CRABTREE newsdesk@leader-news.com

The city of El Campo is preparing for potentially large crowds when annexation hearings get under way.

But in the meantime, representatives of the Planning & Zoning Commission will meet 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss potential zoning in five land tracts currently targeted for involuntary annexation into El Campo.

Commissioners will review the existing uses of the parcels in question as well as the zoning in areas contiguous with those areas to determine its best use. Those recommendations will then be presented to City Council at the Oct. 23 meeting.

The zoning discussions will take place almost a month before scheduled public hearings, City Attorney Ronny Collins said, "to give sufficient time for comment. We want to give the public as much information as we can about what's going to happen if (the land) is annexed."

Tuesday, City Council set Tuesday, Nov. 6, and Tuesday, Nov. 13, for public hearings on annexation. Both meetings will be at 7 p.m. and held in the El Campo Civic Center's Duson Room to accommodate crowds.

The city is sending out about 300 notices to landowners in the areas un- der consideration.

With auditorium-style seating, the Duson Room can hold in excess of 400 people.

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.

A formal vote on which tracts will be annexed is expected during the Tuesday, Dec. 11 Council meeting.

Annexations would become official this year.