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MURFREESBORO – After months of consideration, the Murfreesboro Town Council voted to deny an annexation request during their meeting on Tuesday, July 16.

The parcel in question is approximately 11 acres located on Storey Road, which is just outside the town limits. The property owner, Timothy Harrell Sr., filed a petition for voluntary annexation last year.

Harrell is a developer who is planning to construct housing units on the property. He told the council last year that the plan is to build 22 quads (which will be 88 housing units). But before construction begins, he requested that the town rezone and annex the property. The rezoning, which changed the property to R6 to allow multi-family dwellings, was approved by the council in November 2023.

But the annexation decision has been tabled multiple times since it was first discussed.

As previously reported by the News Herald, the council held a public hearing in November 2023 to first consider the request. Since the parcel is not contiguous with the current town limits, it would be a satellite annexation.

If annexed, the town would have to provide the same services there as they do for the rest of town, which includes water, sewer, garbage pickup, streetlights, and paved roads.

Surrounding properties already have town water and sewer services, but a nearby lift station needs repairs and upgrades in order to handle expanded service. That was the sticking point amongst the council during November’s hearing, and they requested more detailed information on costs and an estimated timeline before they would approve annexation.

At the public hearing, Harrell said he could work together with the town to address the issue.

Since November, two new individuals have been elected to the town council and the matter has been included on the agenda for discussion multiple times. Each time, the council chose to table the decision, noting that they were already committed to addressing many other infrastructure issues which have also been costly.

Over the past few years, Murfreesboro has worked on a number of infrastructure issues following assessments of the water and sewer systems. They have applied for grant/loan funding to complete the work, and have also used federal ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds and state allocations for specific projects throughout the town.

Many of those projects, which include replacing lines and lift stations, are still ongoing.

At Tuesday’s meeting, council member Jay Revelle stated, “There are financial needs in the existing town limits around existing infrastructure that needs to be addressed at this time for our existing citizens.”

“Our fire and police departments in town are already stretched to their limits, in my opinion,” he continued. “The town is already in debt on infrastructure projects and upgrades. We’re not to the limit on debt, but we’ve borrowed plenty of money.”

“With this in mind, in my opinion, the public health and safety and welfare of the inhabitants of Murfreesboro would not be best served by annexation of this proposed project at this time,” he concluded.

Revelle then motioned to deny the annexation request, and James Byerly seconded.

Before the vote, other council members spoke up in agreement with Revelle’s remarks.

Mike Bunch acknowledged a need for more housing, but didn’t think it was feasible right now to spend taxpayer money on the repairs when other parts of town are in need too.

“I think this is just a bad time for Murfreesboro financially,” added Berna Stephens. “I think it would be against the best interest of the town and the citizens of the town when we have so many more projects and obligations that we need to put ahead of a new development.”

Craig Dennis said he agreed with the other council members’ comments.

Revelle noted that by annexing the property, the town would be obligated to pay for the infrastructure upgrades. Typically, he said, that’s up to the developer to do.

He also emphasized that the town could consider annexation again at a later date.

Town Attorney Cecelia Jones confirmed that the property owner can request annexation again or the town can initiate annexation procedures themselves at any time if they want.

After the discussion, the council voted unanimously in favor of denying the annexation request.