The city of Festus has gotten a little bigger.
Festus City Council members voted 7-0 Dec. 23 to approve the voluntary annexation of eight properties whose owners are going to lose water service provided by Public Water Supply District 5. Ward 4 Councilman Jim Tinnin did not attend the meeting.
Over the summer, the water district, which serves about 2,600 customers outside the Festus and De Soto city limits, sent notices to 18 owners of properties near Hwy. 67 and County Road CC informing them that they needed to find a new source of water because of the Missouri Department of Transportation’s I-55 improvement project, which also calls for improvements at Hwy. 67 and County Road CC.
“(The MoDOT project) work means the water district will no longer be providing their water,” Mayor Sam Richards said. “This way, we can provide them water.”
The properties involved in the voluntary annexation include: 1631 Dunaway Road, 1637 Dunaway Road, 11760 County Road CC, 11740 County Road CC, 11735 County Road CC, 11761 County Road CC, 11771 County Road CC and 11835 County Road CC (Faith Baptist Church).
Other than the church, the rest of the properties are residences, City Administrator Greg Camp said.
“The annexation covers about 25 acres (total),” he said.
No one spoke against the annexations during a public hearing on the annexation held prior to the Dec. 23 council meeting.
Camp said the annexation means the city will provide all of its standard services to the properties, including water service, and the property owners will pay taxes to the city.
He said the switch in water service for the eight properties is targeted for March or April, when the MoDOT project is expected to advance to the area around Hwy. 67 and County Road CC.
However, Camp said the city’s motivation to accept the voluntary annexation was not to expand its tax base, but instead to provide water service to those who would not have it otherwise.
“District 5 approached us and said they can no longer provide water service (for the properties involved),” Camp said. “We said we could.”
Lisa Peters, district manager for Water Supply District 5, said the MoDOT road improvement project will affect the district’s water main that runs under Hwy. 67, cutting off the connection to those 18 properties.
“The cost to reconnect the (properties) to the water line would be too much,” she said.
Peters said she believed water service to a number of other properties would be affected by the MoDOT project, but they already were inside the Festus city limits and did not need to be annexed to be eligible for Festus water service.
Camp said it’s possible more annexations due to the Hwy. 67 road improvement project may occur.