Cookeville will get public input next month on a proposed annexation in the Dodson Branch Road-Shipley Road area.
Community Development Director Jon Ward said the City Council had been contacted by other interested parties in the area who wanted to be included in the annexation. Ward said the latest revision added 13 parcels along Shipley Road. Ward said the revision will expand the annexation’s total acreage from an estimated 252 acres to an estimated 269 acres.
“Council postponed consideration on setting a date for a public hearing and asked the planning division to contact the property owners who had expressed interest, and you know, see if it made sense to include them in a proposed annexation,” Ward said.
Ward said he is planning to have a resolution on July 17 for the council to set a date for a new public hearing. The Cookeville Planning Commission postponed the public hearing Monday night.
Ward said the city has continued to receive mixed feedback from the additional surveys.
“I’m not really sure where it’s at exactly at this point,” Ward said. “But you know, it’s not overwhelmingly against or for, you know, it wasn’t like an overwhelming response rate, you know, for it or against it. It’s pretty much close to 50/50 percent.”
Ward said city services are a big driver of why people want to be annexed.
“I mean, city services are a good deal,” Ward said. “I know, typically if folks are paying for private trash pickup, you know, you almost break even on an annexation in the city limits. You know the city provides full-time fire protection from a you know, professional fire department. Our certified police department would provide police protection, you know, on top of all the services that public works provides with solid waste pickup, you know, picking up bulk items, things like that. You know, some people find those services as desirable, and then sewer service is the most desirable service.”
Ward said the planning division will revisit a plan of services that the city would provide to the proposed annexed area. Ward said the cost of providing city services is something the city council will have to highly consider before following through with sending the annexation to referendum.
