Town to recruit property owners

SUMMERVILLE -- Town leaders are talking annexation again. They're eyeing "doughnut holes" and the commercial acres across Interstate 26 that might attract companies looking to locate near the Boeing plant.

Summerville Town Council has asked staff to come back with recommendations on reassigning a planning staffer to work full time recruiting property owners to come into town limits. Regular work in the planning department has slowed down with the home-building collapse. Meanwhile, the town is looking for more commercial and tourism-related development.

The town has sought off and on for years to annex pockets of neighborhoods already enclosed by the town or adjoining it. Summerville is pocked with doughnut holes, properties whose owners didn't agree to annex as their neighbors did. South Carolina annexation law requires property owners' consent. Bringing them in would clear up uncertainties among town and Dorchester County public safety responders in emergencies.

"I think we can solve some of those problems with annexation," said Councilman Aaron Brown.

The town also nearly doubled its size in two decades by annexing large subdivision tracts and watched its population explode. Tax revenue from residential development, as a rule, doesn't completely pay the cost to provide services; commercial development does.

Councilman Walter Bailey, elected in 2009, called for aggressive annexation to provide revenue, public safety, manage traffic and other problems stemming from growth.

"I think we need someone to actively approach these people to talk to them about the benefits of annexation," he said.

Reach Bo Petersen at bpetersen@postandcourier.com or 937-5744.