Request By:
Mr. William Risden
City Councilman
402 West Main Street
Cumberland, Kentucky 40823
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter of August 17, in which you attach an annexation ordinance and question the correctness of Section 5 thereof, which reads as follows:
"SECTION V
Within sixty (60) days of the enactment of this proposed Ordinance to Annex, if 50% of the resident voters of the real property in the area proposed for annexation petitions the Mayor of the City of Cumberland, an election shall be held at the next regular election to determine whether the area shall be annexed. "
You state that Section 5 refers to "resident voters" when in fact the area to be annexed consists of a golf club corporation, presumably not containing any qualified voters.
KRS 81A.420 provides in effect that if following the publication of the annexation ordinance and within sixty (60) days thereof, 50% of the "resident voters or owners of real property" [emphasis added] within the limits of the territory proposed to be annexed petition the mayor in opposition of the proposal, an election shall be held at the next regular election occurring at least sixty (60) days after the petition has been presented to the county clerk.
In view of the above Statute, Section 5 of the ordinance should have contained not only the right of resident voters but also owners of real property located in the territory to protest the annexation. Thus, the owners of the land on which the golf club is located, irrespective of the fact that they may not be residents and registered voters of the area, could file a protesting petition if they so desired, particularly since there are no resident voters.
For your information we are enclosing copies of OAG 80-481 and 80-604 relating to the question of annexation.