Planning commissioners voted Wednesday to push forward with San Antonio’s revised annexation plan, even as residents said the city failed to notify them about the move.

The Planning Commission voted 6 to 2 in favor of full annexation of an area off Interstate 10 West, north of La Cantera shopping center and near Camp Bullis. George McNair and Mary Rogers voted no.

“This area is going to change no matter what we do,” said commission Chairman Marcello Martinez, who voted for annexation. The question is, he said, as development happens there, “Is it regulated or is not?” Being part of the city, he believes, will allow that kind of oversight.

They also approved the city’s plan to execute a non-annexation agreement with a residential area along U.S. 281, near the Bexar-Comal county line. Under the agreement, which still needs to be hammered out, the city won’t annex the area for 17 years.

The issue goes to City Council for a vote Sept. 8.

But residents in the I-10 area, already opposed to being brought into the city limits, are even more frustrated because the city has changed the process to annex them.

Previously, the city was going to pursue limited-purpose annexation. That allows a city to decide in three years or less whether to annex all or part of a specific area, or whether to abandon the plan completely. In that three-year period, residents can vote in City Council elections but they don’t pay city taxes. The city also can extend certain land-use regulations to the area during limited-purpose annexation, which normally don’t apply to unincorporated parts of the county.

Now, the city is pursuing a municipal annexation plan and full-purpose annexation, which will be triggered by the City Council vote in two weeks. If it passes, the area won’t be annexed until three years after the council vote, which would be 2019. In the interim three-year period, residents can’t vote in council elections, but city land-use regulations also won’t apply.

At the end of the three years, City Council votes again to fully annex the areas.

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City officials have said pursuing this new course sends a signal to residents and the Legislature that San Antonio is committed to annexation.

“We’re letting them know we’re certain we want to annex this area,” said Bridget White, the city’s interim planning director.

But some residents were shocked to discover the city had changed the process. Under full-purpose annexation, the city does not have to notify residents until after the City Council votes to move forward with the plan.

“The biggest disappointment to all of us is they’re not letting us know,” said Shanda Evans, who lives in the I-10 West area and was in a sit-down meeting last week of residents, Mayor Ivy Taylor and City Manager Sheryl Sculley. Only then did the residents learn the city was switching from limited-purpose to full-purpose annexation.

“I would think that if you wanted happy residents, you would let them know” they are being annexed, Evans said.

Deputy City Manager Peter Zanoni, who was also in the meeting with Evans, said notices about the annexation schedule are on the city’s website.

There are downsides to full-purpose annexation. Under state law, if a city votes to fully annex an area but then decides against it, the city cannot try to add that area again for another five years.

Full-purpose annexation also won’t necessarily protect the city from any changes in annexation law that could pass during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January. Legislators pushed hard during the 2015 session to make it harder for cities to annex. Those measures failed, but many city officials are bracing for a new round of annexation legislation this spring. Many residents hope the city will just delay annexation long enough for new legislation to pass.

Rob Killen, an attorney representing residents in the U.S. 281 corridor, said full-purpose annexation is actually more common in the state than limited-purpose.

The city will spend the next year developing a service plan for the I-10 West area, which will outline the location of emergency services, libraries and other major infrastructure improvements. Many residents have said they are already happy with the services they receive and don’t believe the city can improve upon them.

“We don’t want or need anything they’re offering us,” said Glenda Haynes, who lives in the I-10 West area up for annexation and attended the commission meeting.

San Antonio officials have argued that with higher taxes, the residents will get better services. The city will also have more control over development in the area.

City Council is also planning to consider whether to annex a commercial strip off U.S. 281 later this fall.

vdavila@express-news.net

Twitter: @viannadavila