Residents didn't move to Union Hill Road and High Country Lane to live in the city of Mesquite.
Theirs is a 14-mile drive to downtown Mesquite. They don't seem to mind that they aren't in line for city water or sewer lines, trash service, a Mesquite address or, in many instances, paved roads.
But the fact that the city wants to annex 1,234 acres south of Interstate 20 in Kaufman County and make property owners pay Mesquite taxes has brought a steady stream of protests from the area's few residents.
They see the vote on today's City Council agenda as an intrusion on their country lifestyle - and a 64-cent per $100 valuation tax as an intrusion on their budgets.
Mesquite officials see potential growth to the south and east as a means of supporting the tax base of an inner-ring suburb. The need to control the type of growth in the I-20 corridor is vital to that vision.
Some property in the area is not being annexed because the city has entered into development agreements with landowners who have agreed to continue agricultural use of their property. The owners may develop the property in the future, but the property would be subject to immediate annexation.
"Our primary interest is that the area is going to develop and we want to ensure it's good growth," Mayor John Monaco said.
With the current economic climate, nobody is quite sure when the area will actually develop. However, one reason Mesquite is taking action now is because its leaders expect bills to be filed in the upcoming state legislative session to curtail municipal authority to annex.
The land currently up for annexation is in the Forney school district. Residents consistently stated their address as Forney when presenting their arguments in three public hearings over the last month.
"On Friday night, I go to Forney football games, not Mesquite football games," Frank Morgan said. "I go the Baptist church of Forney, not Mesquite. We think of ourselves as Forney."
The area is in Mesquite's extraterritorial jurisdiction, however, making it eligible for annexation. In 2006, the city annexed 2.2 square miles immediately west of the area on the agenda.
The city does not have to hold an election because there are fewer than 100 homes.
While the land is sparsely populated, it surrounds the Heartland development. So far, Heartland has homes on three dozen streets and a 15-year plan calls for thousands more. A new elementary school, part of the Crandall school district, opened last year for Heartland children.
Heartland will not be part of Mesquite, but its residents will push for services. Without annexation, the city cannot control the commercial development along nearby I-20.
In annexing the area, Mesquite commits to immediate police and fire service. In the long run, the city also must maintain the streets and provide garbage services.
During hearings, residents told the council services could be costly. Animal control is a different issue in the country, they warned. And four flood control lakes in the area, they said, had been filled with silt and pollutants from Forney's growth upstream.
Richard Gertson, Mesquite's community development director, said he and the public works staff had looked at the lakes and did not think they fell into the category of public facilities that the city would have to maintain.
Not only were the residents from the current area who spoke unanimous in opposition, but a couple of residents whose properties were annexed in 2006 said they hadn't gotten their money's worth. Kaufman County Commissioner Ray Clark went so far as to state that they had been treated as "second-class citizens." Council member Dennis Tarpley challenged Clark's opinion.
If annexation takes place, the tax bill won't hit the new residents until October 2011.
So for now, the boast on a flier advertising a house for sale at I-20 and High Country Lane holds true: "Outside city limits for lower taxes."
