Could state help local officials take a bite out of doughnut hole problem?
Can state lawmakers help take a bite out of Bluffton's "doughnut hole" problem?
Town officials and staff with the Municipal Association of South Carolina hope so.
As Bluffton has grown over the past decades from one-mile square around Old Town to a sprawling 54 miles, properties were annexed into the town piecemeal.
That created pockets -- known as doughnut holes or enclaves -- of unincorporated Beaufort County surrounded by neighborhoods that are inside town limits.
In Bluffton, these enclaves total nearly 5,500 acres.
And while the jigsaw puzzle shape of Bluffton's borders makes these pockets particularly obvious, the town is by no means the only local municipality where they exist.
Beaufort also has dozens of parcels of land -- many centered along U.S. 170 and near Boundary Street -- swallowed by doughnut holes, according to city zoning maps.
"There aren't many cities across the state that don't have an enclave of some kind," Scott Slatton, a public policy advocate with the municipal association, said last week. "And there are few cities that do have enclaves where those (doughnut holes) don't give them some sort of a problem."
The association has drafted a piece of legislation that aims to help municipalities fill some of these holes.
"What our proposed bill does is allow (local governing bodies) to annex by ordinance a piece of property that is 25 acres or less that has been surrounded by city (limits) for more than five years," Slatton said
In essence, the bill would simplify the complex annexation process, which typically must be initiated by landowners and can sometimes require special elections.
Doughnut holes may not seem like a big deal, association deputy director Reba Campbell, said Friday. But residents who live in them could experience delayed response from emergency services.
"If there is a fire or a crime going on and there's confusion over whether to send (county or town emergency crews), then it becomes a big deal," she said.
Campbell said while that "is an extreme example," there are a host of other less dramatic reasons to fill doughnut holes.
For example, residents in county enclaves tend to reap the benefits -- access to services and amenities, increased property values -- from the towns that surround them while town dwellers "foot the bill" in the form of property taxes, she said.
Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka said last week that for annexation opponents, tax increases, even though they are typically only a few hundred dollars per year, are often "the biggest gripe."
That's not the only gripe, however.
"This is a very tricky issue," Campbell said. "Whenever you're dealing with annexations, it's kind of a political hot potato."
Slatton said state lawmakers are generally "very averse to any intrusion on property rights."
And "even though (filling doughnut holes is) not necessarily an intrusion," any legislation "that may even appear to infringe on property rights automatically raises red flags," he said.
Bluffton town councilman Dan Wood said he can understand political opposition to unfettered annexation "when you are trying to expand the geographic area (of a town). But when you are just trying to fill in your geographic area, that's a different issue."
By limiting annexations to 25 acres, the association's proposal attempts to find "the sweetspot" that helps municipalities while "still being palatable" to state lawmakers, Campbell said.
While many of Bluffton's doughnut holes are larger than 25 acres, town leaders say the bill would be a move in the right direction.
But the process of loosening the state's annexation laws could take several years.
"Our bill not been introduced yet, so we have to find a coalition of lawmakers to champion it," Campbell said.
In the meantime, Bluffton leaders say they will lobby state lawmakers on behalf of the association's proposal.
Follow reporter Lucas High on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Lucas.
Related content:
- Frustrated greater Bluffton residents turned away from polls, Nov. 4, 2015
- Doughnut holes take bite out of city taxes, May 8, 2005
This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Could state help local officials take a bite out of doughnut hole problem?."