Homeowners protesting Pearland annexation plan

BRAZORIA COUNTY, TX There were a lot of opinions inside Pearland's City Hall on Monday night. Just about every homeowner Eyewitness News spoke with said it was their choice to live outside the city limits and it should remain that way.

"If I wanted to live in the city, I would've moved to the city," said Ron Anderson, who's fighting annexation.

Dozens of Brazoria County residents are doing their best to stop the city of Pearland from capturing their land along CR 101.

"This is another example of city government, state government, whatever, coming in, taking over your lives, telling you what you can and cannot do," Anderson said.

The city is looking to annex more than 600 acres south of its current boundary. All of it is along County Road 101, also known as Bailey Road, which the city plans to improve.

"We're making a large capital investment," Assistant City Manager Mike Hodge said. "We're building a new road, Bailey Road, and so we're looking at controlling the development that goes in there, making sure that it's consistent with other areas of the city."

Annexation would also provide fire and police protection, along with animal control and other services. But if residents want to connect to Pearland's water and sewer system, a $4,800 impact fee would be charged.

Residents say since they're already on septic systems and water wells, annexation offers them little.

"There's nothing that they can offer us better than what we have," said Debbie Kirby, who's also fighting annexation. "We have county police; we've already got everything we need out there; we're happy. We're out there so we can be outside of the city."

Homeowners along CR 101 say they'll continue to fight but feel they don't have much of a say in the matter.

"Just staged so that we can come here and speak up and give our piece," Kirby said. "They're gonna do what they wanna do anyways."

The annexation process is picking up speed. Another public hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13 and then the last week of September, City Council could vote on the annexation.