Hamilton County Residents Against Annexation’s Bill Reesor says the recent settlement of an annexation lawsuit involving some commercial properties along Highway 58 won’t mean the same scenario in other cases.
“It’s an uphill battle, especially for commercial areas, more so than residential areas because there’s fewer of them [plaintiffs],” he said. “This [case] has nothing to do with residential areas. We’re geared up for a full fight with that.”
Win or lose, Reesor said he expects the forthcoming residential annexations in the East Hamilton area to go through the appellate state court of appeals.
“We just can’t give up on this,” he said. “I had a man come up to me last year; he was unemployed with a wife and two children. He gave us $300. He said, ‘I can’t afford this, but I can’t afford the [resultant city] taxes more.’ Those anecdotal stories go on all the time.”
Another lawsuit is due in court Sept. 28, this time concerning a chunk of land on the fringe of Collegedale encompassing portions of Old Lee Highway, Apison Pike, Old Cleveland Pike and School Road. Reesor said this one also involves commercial areas. He said he expects a residential case to come up early next year based on the fact that the city is currently following through with depositions related to the case.
“Depending on what happens with those, they may go forward with other annexations,” said Reesor, who lives in Windstone, the annexation of which – along with Hurricane Creek – is on hold but has already passed first reading. “We’re raising more than enough money to handle our particular fight. It’s all according to what comes out of the lawsuits coming up before ours how we react at each stage of the game.”
Homeowner Service Associations on both sides of the river have been putting money into a pool to cover attorney and court fees, he said. HCRAA will help represent anyone in any of the city-proposed annexed areas throughout the county.
“In all cases we only exercise the will of the plaintiff[s] in any given area,” said Reesor, adding that as it relates to the recent settlement, “it was strictly the plaintiffs’ decision, not ours.”
In that lawsuit, property owners decided to settle the case in exchange for Chattanooga’s offer to bring them into the city at the end of 2012. As a result, they will not have to pay city taxes until 2013. City Attorney Mike McMahan said this is probably later than a judge would have mandated had the issue been resolved in court.