Tryon Town Council has decided it won’t seek an exemption from the state so it can potentially approve more voluntary satellite or non-contiguous annexations.
The town planned to seek an exemption to the state’s rule limiting voluntary satellite annexation to 10 percent of corporate limits, but faced opposition from the county.
Tryon Town Manager Justin Hembree said he met with Polk County Manager Ryan Whitson and commissioner Renee McDermott, who said the county would be comfortable if the town limited its request to 15 percent and kept annexations within the towns extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).
“That doesnt leave a good taste in my mouth,” said Tryon Mayor Alan Peoples. “(The county) is dictating what we can do.”
Tryon had planned to seek an exemption during the state’s legislature’s May short session, but the town now says there is no rush and town council can revisit the issue later.
Councilman Doug Arbogast said he feels like the word “voluntary” has been dropped from the request peoples minds and should be put in capital letters every time its mentioned.
Tryon officials say they would like the exemption because they have used up about half of the allotment just in Harmon Field. Any other properties the town may want to purchase to increase Harmon Field could be limited due to the rule.
The town also has a policy that states any property owners seeking town services, such as water and sewer, must petition for voluntary annexation. The town may pick up several water customers from a new water line between Tryon and Saluda and those properties are outside the limits and its ETJ. Town attorney Bailey Nager said if the town’s agreed to the county’s suggestions, the towns policy could not apply to those customers.
Hembree said the bottom line is the exemption doesnt stand a chance without the countys approval. The town would have to get local state representatives, such as Rep. David Guice and/or Sen. Tom Apodaca to sponsor a local bill. Saluda is also seeking an exemption with similar reasons. Most of Saludas voluntary satellite annexations are in its own town park, the former city landfill.
Although 95 cities and towns in the state have an exemption to the rule, the state requires that towns can only accept voluntary annexations that are not contiguous to its corporate limits up to 10 percent the area of the size of its town. The Town of Columbus is one of the 95 towns which have an exemption. Columbus was approved for the exemption a few years ago. Since, it voluntarily satellite annexed Fosters Creek, which doubled the towns size and county officials have expressed concern that the same thing could happen in Tryon and Saluda if an exemption with no limitations is approved.