Annexation Battle Brewing Between Rock Hill, Homeowners

A legal battle is likely between some angry homeowners and the city of Rock Hill.

City leaders plan to annex more than 300 acres of land off of Highway 161 and Miller Pond Road. That land includes three neighborhoods with more than 70 homeowners: Miller Pond, Miller Pond II and Summerwood.

Homeowners there said they had no idea until recently that annexation was even a possibility.

“I never heard anything about that," said homeowner Ed Johnson. However, after he bought his home in Summerwood and went to City Hall to get his water turned on, he said a city official mentioned it.

“She said, ‘You might be annexed,’” Johnson said. “But we'd already bought our house then.”

Summerwood is still under construction, with only about 17 homes occupied. Another resident, Eric Gozur, has lived there nearly a year.

“No one told me anything about the potential of being annexed,” he said. “We're going to fight this as best we can.”

It's not clear what homeowners can do. City leaders said they are merely enforcing a long-standing agreement between the original developers of those neighborhoods and the city. Residents of Miller Pond have city water, but not sewer. Homeowners in Summerwood have both. People in both communities already pay for those services, even though they don't pay city taxes.

City Manager Carey Smith said the developers signed agreements accepting those utilities from the city, and gave Rock Hill the right to annex them at some point.

“We think it's incumbent on us to be straightforward, and to be transparent,” Smith said. That's why Rock Hill leaders met with neighbors to explain what was happening. But then, a letter was sent out that angered many people.

“I wasn't happy about that at all,” Johnson said. The letter from Smith to homeowners urged them to sign a petition for annexation. Under state law, a city must have at least 75 percent of landowners sign a petition in order for an annexation to be legal. However, the letter said the city can take steps to force the issue if people don't sign. In this case, those steps would be shutting off utilities, such as water.

“I thought it was very aggressive,” Gozur said about the letter. “They were basically saying you're going to do this, or you're going to go without water.”

Smith said the city has the legal right to cut off utilities, but that's never happened in past annexation cases.

“We see this as a binding contract. So our expectation is that they will sign the petition,” Smith said.

City leaders said the real objective is to control growth along the busy 161 corridor from Rock Hill toward York. Smith said business development needs to be managed, and the city is trying to be proactive and plan for the future.

Homeowners question the timing of the annexation because people are out of work and some homes are close to foreclosure as it is. Some worry that a tax increase will tip the balance.

“If you're going to do it, I don't think now is the best time,” Johnson said.

“We're really tight right now. We just had a baby, and our cost of living is right on the line," Gozur said.

City leaders have given residents until Aug. 9 to sign the petition. If that deadline is not met, homeowners will get a follow-up letter, and more time. At some point, the city could step in and shut off the water.

David Grigg, the homeowner's association president for Miller Pond, said the community is looking to hire a lawyer and fight the annexation. He said no one plans to sign the city's petition, and, in fact, most homeowners have already put their names on another one, of his own making, against the annexation plan.

“The city is not going to get the names of 75 percent of people here on their petition, I can tell you that,” Grigg said.