NASHVILLE (AP) - A state panel has recommended extending a moratorium on municipal annexations while a study on the practice continues.
The Commercial Appeal (http://bit.ly/1k86QO3) reports the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations unanimously approved the recommendation, which would put off annexations of residential or farm land until 2015. The moratorium, which was enacted last year, does not apply to commercial and industrial property.
The recommendation comes after Republican state Rep. Mike Carter of Ooltewah, a Chattanooga suburb, asked the commission to consider recommending a new law requiring referendums for annexations. The panel declined the request, but recommended extending the moratorium as a compromise while the study continues.
Republican state Sen. Mark Norris of Collierville, who chairs the commission, requested the comprehensive study of Tennessee law regarding annexation and urban growth las t year. It will be the most comprehensive study of the issue since a reform of the law passed in 1998. That law gave municipalities broad authority to annex surrounding territory without approval of the annexed residents.
The commission's recommendation will go to the General Assembly. Meanwhile, Carter has said he will keep pushing for a referendum on annexations when the legislature reconvenes.
Norris said he believes lawmakers will approve one or the other.
"Being an election year, I think there's a strong sentiment favoring annexation by referendum, period. I think the prevailing sentiment is that people ought to have a right to vote. I favor that. Most states favor it."