Jefferson County city leaders will likely challenge restrictions placed on annexation procedures by a recently signed bill in court.
On July 13, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 2818, which says Jefferson County cities, towns and villages would only be allowed to annex land if 25 percent of the property is contiguous with its border, and cities, towns and villages would only be allowed to annex property once every two years.
The law goes into effect Aug. 28.
County mayors were scheduled to meet Wednesday, after the Leader’s deadline, to discuss options to combat the bill.
“I think what we plan on doing will depend on what we can do legally,” Herculaneum Mayor Ryan Wright said. “We will take every legal option that we can take. We will see if there is anything we can do to stop the annexation policy from going forward.”
The bill originally only requested to allow the city of St. Joseph to annex a city-owned airport that is not within the city’s limits or contiguous to its borders. It was sponsored by state Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, who represents District 11 in Buchanan County.
However, before the Legislature passed the bill and sent it to the Governor’s Office, two amendments were added setting new rules for annexation in Jefferson and St. Charles counties.
Along with the Jefferson County restrictions, the bill requires 18 percent of property be contiguous with a city, town or village to allow annexation in St. Charles County.
State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, R-Arnold, who represents District 22, said she worked with state Sen. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, who represent District 2, to add the amendments for Jefferson and St. Charles counties to the bill.
District 22 takes in roughly the northern half of Jefferson County, and District 2 covers south-central St. Charles County.
Coleman said the Jefferson County annexation rules in the bill reflect Senate Bill 1344, which she filed to create a boundary commission in Jefferson County.
Coleman said she was pleased that Kehoe signed the bill.
“I do think this is a real win for the county,” she said. “We do want to have growth in Jefferson County, and we are open for business. We just have to make sure we are doing it in a way that allows the public to comment, allows us to make sure that we are making decisions that benefit the entire county and is in line with that planning so we have responsible growth.”
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon said he believes Kehoe’s best option was to sign the bill, even though county city leaders opposed it.
“It is interesting how when you have a lot of amendments attached to bills, it helps in one area but it hurts something else,” he said. “In this case, the cities kind of fell on the short end of this bill signing because it does take some of their annexation powers away.
“By the same token, it is kind of a protection for the county because we are not constantly worried about what is going to be the next piece annexed out of the county.”
Arnold Mayor Bill Moritz said he was deeply disappointed that Kehoe signed the bill, and he said it cannot stand.
“It will hurt (cities) terribly,” he said. “There have been special legislations like this before, and they have all failed. You have to go through the process of killing it. It is ridiculous it has to be this way.”
Crystal City Mayor Mike Osher said he was not surprised that Kehoe signed the bill, and he is in favor of fighting the annexation restrictions in court.
“The bill was fine for St. Joe,” he said. “The Jefferson County portion, I don’t agree with. I think it stifles growth. It could kill large projects. If we annex a piece of property in and can’t annex another for 24 months that is a two-year delay in a process that sometimes weeks matter. Sometimes larger corporations and even homeowners when they want to annex into a city they want to do it soon. Now, we get one every 24 months. That is not OK.”
Byrnes Mill Mayor Rob Kiczenski said Jefferson County cities are paying a price because St. Joseph needed to be allowed to annex the airport property.
“It is a very targeted law,” he said. “It is calling out cities in Jefferson County. It is pretty ludicrous. Why they are singling out Jefferson County with a little more relaxed rules for St. Charles County and the St. Joseph airport.”
Wright said the annexation restrictions are detrimental to all of Jefferson County, not just cities.
“Anybody who lives in the outskirts of a city, any potential growth that would come to that area will be hindered,” he said. “If companies, restaurants and box stores are unable to be in cities and get those city services, a lot of them are not going to come. That will hinder everybody else’s ability to grow. It is a horrible thing.
“Hopefully, we can get it taken down in the courts. We will see what happens.”
Moritz said Arnold has been working on an annexation project, and the new rule has forced the city to expedite the process to try to complete it before the end of August.
Osher said Crystal City does not have any annexation plans impacted by the bill being signed, but the city has paused an annexation study it planned to have completed.
“Crystal City needs to grow south of town,” he said. “We can’t go east or west, and north has us blocked. The only access we have is south, and we were going to have a study done. It is expensive to annex and run a city properly, so we have to make sure that would be the right move for our citizens. Now, I have that (the study) on pause.”
Pevely Mayor Steve Markus said he and other mayors were not contacted by legislators before Jefferson County restrictions were added to the bill.
“If they would have talked to us, they would have known that we don’t want this,” he said. “That is the problem. They never contacted us or asked us. I don’t care for it, and we are going to fight it.”
Coleman said she does not believe any city leaders tried to contact her about her bill, which did not get out of committee, or after the amendment was added to House Bill 2818.
She also said she considers the annexation rules that will be put in place are an extension of the Jefferson County master plan, which calls for the creation of a boundary commission.
“I filed a bill with a different version of the solution that we ended up with, and they had significant options and ability to weigh in on the master plan as it was developed over many years,” Coleman said. “This legislation is a direct result of a master plan. It is to make sure that Jefferson County doesn’t become St. Louis County. That it doesn’t become St. Charles County and some of the other surrounding areas that have unsustainable growth and negative effects because people weren’t thinking through the long-term consequences.”
Gannon said he was invited to the meeting this week with the mayors, but he was unable to attend. He also said he believes city leaders will decide what is best to do for their municipalities without interference from the county.
“I know they will each independently make decisions on how it affects them,” said Gannon, who is not seeking reelection and whose current term ends Dec. 31. “We have some smart leadership in our cities, and they know the best thing to do for them.
“Nothing may come up in my term, but the next county executive may have to deal with how you can prevent the withering assets of Jefferson County in the unincorporated areas and having them taken out of the county and put into the cities. That is something the next county executive is going to have to deal with.”