8/14/2008
In
an 8-1 decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the City of Meridian's
annexation of approximately 9.3 square miles of unincorporated territory in
Lauderdale County. The annexation was
originally granted in Lauderdale County Chancery Court in August of 2006, but
was appealed to the supreme court by Lauderdale
County, the Citizens Against Annexation and the Eagle Pointe Homeowners'
Association.
The
appellants have 14 days in which to petition the supreme
court for a rehearing. If no
petition is filed, the court will issue a mandate seven days after that, and
the annexation will go into effect 10 days after that, for a total of 31
days. The effective date would be
September 15.
In
its decision, the court found that the chancellor's findings in the original
annexation trial were supported by "substantial and credible
evidence", based on 12 indices, including the city's need to expand,
whether the area to be annexed is reasonably in a growth path for the city, the
need for municipal services in the area sought to be annexed, and past
performance by the city in providing services to its residents. The supreme court
did not take issue with a single finding by the chancellor in the original
case.
Mayor
John Robert Smith said, "We were confident this much-needed annexation
would be upheld. We want to assure the
residents in the affected area that, not only will we be providing basic
services on day one, we will work with them on such critical issues as planning
and zoning, just as we did with residents in the area we annexed a number of
years ago. We are determined to provide
them the best of
the services Meridian can offer to our new
residents."
Each of the city's seven departments has had an implementation plan in place for two years, ever since the original decision in Chancery Court. Basic services that will be provided immediately include police and fire protection and garbage pick-up. In order to provide quick fire response, a temporary fire station will be established at Northpark Church on Highway 39 North. The station will be manned and equipped, and will remain in place until a permanent station can be built.