This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Bay to annex Hwy. 603 to 1-10
Plan could be challenged in chancery court
BY MARY G. SEILEY Staff Writer
Bay St. Louis City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday to annex a vast area between Highway 603, the Jourdan River, and westward to beyond Interstate 10.
The annexation, subject to chancery court approval, would sweep Garden Isles, much of Shoreline Park, and Jourdan River Estates subdivisions into the city limits.
It also would bring both sides of the Highway 603 commercial corridor into the city?s boundaries, giving Bay St. Louis a huge new tax base territory. Also of major significance, the annexation would put the largely undeveloped intersection of Highway 603 and Interstate 10 within the corporate boundary.
?God be with us. said Ward 1 council member Doug Seal, anticipating controversy and challenges to the city?s move, as wrell as the potentially protracted and expensive court procedures ahead.
Full details of a major study leading up to Tuesday night?s decision were not immediately available publicly. But, officials said the annexation would:
?	Add 4,000 residents to the 8,200 citizens now in Bay St. Louis? boundaries.
?	Perhaps double the physical size of the city.
?	Double the 65-to-70 miles of streets and roadways in the city limits.
?	Require tax revenues equivalent to 8.2 mills to provide services to the newT territory.
?	Require an additional one or two council members to be elected; and a citywide redistricting to shape new ward boundaries.
?	Dramatically lower fire
A base map prepared by the firm Bridge & Slaughter LLC, City, County and Regional Planning Consultants, detailing the area the city of Bay St. Louis is proposing to annex. The proposed annexation area includes vast territory between Hwy. 603, the Jourdan River and west to 1-10.
Taylor
Farve
Seal
compretta
Thriffiley
insurance costs for the annexed properties, without impacting rates within the existing city limits.
?	Provide city building code enforcement not existing under Hancock County government in the unincorporated area.
Adoption of the annexation ordinance comes after a year of study and reports
from the consulting firm of Bridge & Slaughter. Numerous reports and briefings by that firm have been presented to City Council, but all in executive sessions, or behind closed cloors.
That?s because annexation, under state law, always involves litigation.
The most recent closed
discussion of annexation came after council?s Monday night workshop session.
The matter came up Tuesday night at the tail end of a long council proceeding, when Mayor Eddie Favre asked council s consideration of the ordinance. It passed in a four-to- one
ANNEX-PAGE 7A
?Some people will be tickled to death with (annexation plans) and some people will be very upset/
-- Mayor Eddie Favre