The Henderson City Commission gave preliminary approval to a zoning change that will allow the future home and property of Mayor Brad Staton to be annexed into the city.
After Staton recused himself and left the meeting room, the remaining commissioners heard first reading of the ordinance and then voted 4-0 in favor of approving the annexation of the county properties into the city.
Commissioners Nick Whitt and Rodney Thomas both said that any resident who owns county property bordering the city limits has a legal right to be asked to be annexed into the city.
When a property gets annexed into the city, the owner then must pay both county and city property taxes. Whitt said the city gladly accepts residents willing to subject themselves to also paying city property taxes and thus expanding the city’s tax bases.
“I think we would be crazy to say that we wouldn’t want them to be part of the city,” Whitt said.
Thomas also agreed, saying, “This is a right any citizen has.”
The annexation became contentious online when past Hendersonian articles about Staton’s plan to get the properties annexed into the city were shared on social media. To legally serve as mayor, a person must live within city limits. Several commentators, in part, said Staton was getting special privileges and using his job as mayor to make the annexation happen.
In a past interview, Staton said he had been searching for a home for three years without much success and the residence in Grantwood was perfect for him and his family.
In December, Staton made deals with the current property owners which would allow him to buy the county properties if they asked to get them annexed into the city.
There are two properties involved in the deal because the residence at 634 Glenwood Dell, where the mayor will live, does not border city property. A connecting property, 656 S. Glenwood Dell, which is a wooded lot, does border the city’s boundary.
Both property owners in December made requests to have their properties annexed. Subsequently, the city commission in December approved a resolution to have the issue go to the Henderson-Henderson County Joint Planning Commission for a public hearing and to make a recommendation of the zoning of the properties if the commission approves the annexation.
At the Jan. 7 planning commission meeting, two neighborhood residents said they weren’t against Staton’s future properties being annexed into the city but wanted it on the record that they didn’t want their properties annexed into the city. A third said he was opposed to the annexation and also didn’t want his property annexed into the city.
Whitt, at Tuesday’s city commission meeting, said that there has been no discussion of annexing other properties in the Grantwood subdivision into the city.
City Attorney Dawn Kelsey said there are two types of annexation. The first is consensual annexation, which occurs when a property owner asks to be annexed into the city. The second is nonconsensual annexation.
According to the Kentucky League of Cities’ website, “In nonconsensual annexation, the city attempts to expand its boundaries without the explicit, signed agreement of landowners.” Kelsey said a nonconsensual annexation is very rare because it could involve a special election and a city would have to pay for it.
