The Local Life: Proposed legislation to reform state annexation laws need your support

Northern Beaufort County has come a long way since 2006 -- the "Year of Annexation." The City of Beaufort went after Clarendon and McLeod Farms (4,200 and 1,005 acres, respectively), the Town of Port Royal annexed into Lemon Island (105 acres, 5 miles from the town boundary) and the Town of Yemassee annexed Binden Plantation (1,300 acres, 3 miles from the town boundary).

The Coastal Conservation League and our conservation partners worked hard to prevent intensive development on these properties. The economic downturn also has played no small role in ensuring this outcome. The conservation community's continued efforts are something that Beaufort can rely upon -- but the economic forces that came to bear on these particular properties are less assured. A recession is hardly a planning tool to cherish and -- on the flip side -- preservation money that saved much of the annexed acreage is likely to be more scarce in coming years.

Fortunately, Beaufort-area elected officials have the solution to our annexation uncertainty. State Rep. Bill Herbkersman and state Sen. Tom Davis have introduced bills that would reform state annexation law and protect citizens from the haphazard annexations that have become all too common. For Beaufort-area residents, a quick glance back at 2006 is reason enough to support these bills.

Of those annexations, Binden Plantation remains most vulnerable to inappropriate development. As you will remember, the Town of Yemassee attempted to achieve the annexation requirement of "contiguity" by annexing a 20-foot wide corridor that runs those 3 miles, also known as a "shoestring." This was a preposterous defiance of the requirement for contiguity and the Conservation League filed a lawsuit. The trouble is, the courts are not convinced that the league has a right to challenge Yemassee's actions. The way the current law is interpreted, being a landowner of the property being annexed is just about the only way to guarantee that you have a legal right to call foul.

Any other illegal activity with this kind of hamstring for prosecution would be deemed ludicrous, i.e. illegal dumping can only be legally stopped if one the dumpers requests prosecution, insider trading is prosecuted only if one of those traders requests prosecution. This is precisely where the Binden case has been tied up for the past 5 years -- determining who has the right to ask that an illegal action be stopped. To date, the merits of the annexation itself have never been legally considered in these proceedings.

In the years that have passed since those enormous annexations, neither the City of Beaufort nor the Town of Port Royal have shown any subsequent interest in large property annexations and are instead busy making plans to grow inward. Yemassee is facing grave financial woes as a result of its overreliance on Binden (the developers are currently in bankruptcy proceedings). And yet, inappropriate annexation in the region continues. Hardeeville annexations into Beaufort County pave the way for planning decisions that affect Beaufort County residents, yet remove them from the decision-making process.

The bills proposed by Herbkersman and Davis will go a long way to address these ills. The bills would:

The above provisions seek to guarantee that residents have a voice in major planning decisions that affect them. We are grateful to Davis and Herbkersman for seeking to ensure fiscally responsible and constituent-responsive planning.

Andrea Malloy is the interim director of the south coast office of the Coastal Conservation League.

This story was originally published March 28, 2011 at 12:01 AM with the headline "The Local Life: Proposed legislation to reform state annexation laws need your support."