Huntington Place annexation vote set for Aug. 23

Huntington Place residents have a date for deciding whether to join the town of Fort Mill.

They will vote Aug. 23 on whether to annex themselves into town limits. The special election is open only to Huntington Place residents.

The annexation wouldn’t involve new construction. About 200 homes in Huntington Place are already occupied. Enough of those residents petitioned the town to bring annexation up for vote, just the second time ever in York County following the same move by neighboring Sandy Pointe in 2012.

“The petition did exceed the 25 percent threshold,” said Joe Cronin, town planning director. “It is a valid petition.”

The resident-driven annexation would come with some costs for both new residents and the town. The town would provide services like police and trash pickup, and likely take over county-owned roads in the area. Residents would pay new property taxes.

Residents met with town officials as far back as 2013 on the issue, largely for water and sewer relief. Out-of-town rates are twice what in-town rates are.

“The water and sewer rates would be cut in half by coming into town limits, which would be the biggest impact,” Cronin said.

The special election will follow typical protocol. It only will be held at Fort Mill Town Hall, the usual voting location for Huntington Place residents. A simple majority vote wins. Wanda Hemphill, director of the county voter and registration office, said the special election here is one of several recently held, planned or in various stages of discussion.

“We seem to have had more referendums than I have ever seen in my 20 years,” she said.

Other news about town

▪ Town leaders are working out details of a roads needs presentation for Pennies for Progress. A meeting will be held July 20 in Fort Mill, where the commission heading the 2017 Pennies vote will take input on what roads need work.

“We certainly need to present our case for what we believe needs to be done,” said Mayor Guynn Savage.

Other meetings were held or are planned throughout the county. The Fort Mill meeting, like others, isn’t just to get the municipal take on road needs. The Pennies commission wants to hear from residents, too.

“Anybody who wants to come and participate and provide comments,” Cronin said.

▪ Final plat approvals are in for Oakland Pointe, which is already under construction along Kimbrell Road. The former Kimbrell property will have 100 single-family homes on almost 29 acres. The first phase is 32 homes on 12 acres.

One of two historic oak trees at the center of the property was saved, as was one on the corner of Kimbrell and North Dobys Bridge Road. Turn lanes into the property on both ends will be added, too. The large trees and buffers were topics of considerable interest last year as town planners worked to save as many as possible.

“We talked a lot about a lot of parts to this,” said town planning commission member Chris Wolfe.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 8:52 PM with the headline "Huntington Place annexation vote set for Aug. 23."