Beckley working to annex ‘donut hole’ residential areas

July 01--The City of Beckley is working to annex the "donut holes" into the municipal limits, a move that would benefit residents as well as the city itself, according to officials.

Benefits for residents would include services from the city fire and police departments, as well as maintenance of roadways by the Board of Public Works, according to annexation committee chair Bill Kelly.

And a major benefit for the city would be a population increase, which Kelly said would allow for additional grant applications and make Beckley a more attractive place for businesses to locate.

Kelly currently serves as the city's director of information technology and has been a city employee for the past 33 years.

"I know what the city has to offer and I believe annexation would greatly benefit the residents."

The city recently received annexation requests from some residents in the Rural Acres Drive area, which is one of the "donut holes."

Other donut hole areas include Sprague, Skelton, portions of Maxwell Hill Road, Cranberry, Prosperity and Stanaford Acres.

In the past, Kelly said the city granted individual requests from residents asking to be included in the city limits, but these minor boundary adjustments have promoted the disjointed city limits the area has today.

"The donut holes present problems for services because of what's in and out of city limits," Kelly said.

Many residents believe they are Beckley residents, when in fact, they live just beyond the city's border. Those residents are then dissatisfied with response times because they are being served by a Raleigh County entity instead of the city, which is actually closer in proximity.

Kelly said this causes problems with public perception, but he believes annexation will help.

Instead of just granting a few annexation requests, the city has opted to take a different approach this time.

Kelly said letters are being sent to a large group of property owners to educate them about annexation -- the benefits, the cost, etc.

Rural Acres Drive is the starting point for the push and city employees will soon go door-to-door to get feedback and answer questions.

"It's an easily defined area. We want to gauge the public perception and we thought this would be a good place to start."

A common misconception from residents is that the city charges a fee to live within its borders; however, Kelly said that is not true -- Beckley is one of the few cities in the state that does not charge a municipality fee or city taxes.

Kelly said yes, there would be an increase in property tax rates, but he said it would be offset by the decrease in homeowner's insurance rates. Insurance rates are cheaper for Beckley residents because of the proximity of a Class 3-rated fire department, as well as the coverage provided by the Beckley Police Department.

"Many Raleigh County residents are served by volunteer fire departments, which are actually farther away than Beckley fire departments."

He said that Beckley Police Department and Raleigh County Sheriff's Office have nearly the same amount of staff, but the coverage areas are wildly different -- Beckley is approximately 13 square miles, whereas Raleigh County is approximately 600 square miles.

Response times from police and fire departments could potentially be faster for annexed residents, and they would also be served by the city's Board of Public Works, which includes street maintenance, snow removal, spring cleanup, fall leaf pickup and free curbside recycling.

"We don't want to force people into annexation, but we want to educate them about the advantages."

Some people simply do not know the requirements involved with annexation, and there are many misconceptions.

He said he has heard residents say their house would have to be painted a different color or even elevated to a certain height, but that's absolutely not true.

"It's a simple process to come into city limits."

The resident would sign a petition, which would then be taken to Common Council for approval, then to the Raleigh County Commission.

Kelly said that previously, the city focused on annexing businesses into city limits to generate revenue through the B&O tax; however, this time around, the city is focusing on residents.

The city's current population is approximately 17,000, but with annexation, the city's numbers could increase to nearly 35,000, Kelly said, which would more accurately reflect the city's true population.

"The actual functioning population is not represented by 17,000," Kelly said, claiming that the daytime shopping population in Beckley is an estimated 200,000.

Not only Raleigh County residents access Beckley for shopping, dining and health care needs, but thousands of others from Fayette, Nicholas, Greenbrier and Wyoming counties.

If the city's population was more accurately reflected by the number of people it serves, Kelly said new businesses would be more interested in locating in Beckley.

"There is a minimum population some businesses will look at. Some won't look at an area with a population under 25,000, but if we had a higher population, it might make us more appealing."

Attracting businesses to the area is a huge plus with an increased population, as well as additional grant opportunities, the said.

Kelly said when Raleigh and Fayette counties reached a high enough population during the last federal census to be designated a metropolitan area, many funding opportunities became available, and he believes the same would be true if the City of Beckley added residents.

Anyone with additional questions about annexation is urged to call Bill Kelly at 304-256-1765 or City Hall at 304-256-1768.

-- E-mail: [email protected]

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