Groundhog Day in Sebastian: City Council gives third OK to 2,044-acre annexation
SEBASTIAN — Was it Groundhog Day? For the third time Wednesday, the City Council voted unanimously to annex 2,044 acres of citrus property into the city.
Nothing had changed in the three resolutions passed Feb. 8, but a recent Court of Appeal ruling made one more vote necessary.
In that decision, the court rejected a portion of state law that allows governments to continue a hearing without giving additional public notice. Since Sebastian had continued its annexation vote from Dec. 14 to Feb. 8, city officials felt compelled to re-notice the meeting to avoid any challenge to the annexation.
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The third vote on the annexation resolutions, had been recommended by former City Attorney Manny Anon.
“This is the annexation that we already approved,” Councilman ed Dodd said. “This is just a mechanical exercise for legal reasons to make sure that at some point at time in the future, we don’t get caught between a rock and a hard place.”
Janet Begley is a local freelance writer for TCPalm.com. If you like articles like this and other TCPalm coverage of Treasure Coast news, please support our journalism and subscribe now
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: One more time: Sebastian votes its third OK of 2,044-acre annexation
