Features Editor

The Troy City Council held a public hearing Thursday afternoon to consider an annex petition application for residential property on Barron Road

The petition application was signed by 78 property owners in the area and had been approved by the city’s planning commission.

There was no one present at the hearing to voice opposition to the annexation request and the council voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the planning commission and annex the property.

The council passed Ordinance No. 196 which amends the corporate limits of the city by the annexation of 46 acres east of Barron Road.

The annexed property includes 100 residential lots in Pine Ridge Estates and includes Honeysuckle, Boxwood and

Countrywood roads.

Sharon Holland was elated when she heard the news.

"Thank the Lord," Holland said, making no attempt to hide her excitement. "Now I don’t have to worry about my son making an adjustment to a different school or about me having to be deceitful to retain him in the city school system."

Holland said her son is an honor student and is in all of the accelerated programs.

"We take advantage of everything that is offered for him and I didn’t want to have to do something silly to do what was best for him."

Holland said she and other parents in the Pine Ridge Estates area had received letters from the Troy City Board of Education. "The letters stated that, as of Aug. 2, if we didn’t have something to validate that we live in the city limits our children would not be able to attend the city schools."

Holland said if the annexation petition had not been approved, her son would have been required to attend county schools.

"The county school bus has not been coming to our section, but we were told accommodations would be made to pick our children up," she said. "I’m sure everyone is excited that our children will be able to continue going to the schools they are used to. I’m just real happy about this."

Holland said another positive aspect of the annexation is that the city will install street signs.

"In emergency situations, emergency personnel will now be able to find the right address," she said. "Last year there was a fire on one end of the section and they (emergency personnel) were at the other end. This is going to be good in a lot of ways for us."

Brenda Fayson doesn’t have any school-age children, but she was also excited that Pine Ridge Estates will be in the city limits of Troy.

"I’m hoping this means that we are going to get street signs, sidewalks and city sewage," Fayson said. "I’m happy for those with children because this means they won’t have to change schools. If this had not gone through, the children would have been forced out of the system."

Fayson said, from what she understands, the residents of Pine Ridge Estates will not

be on city electricity.

"We’ll stay with the Alabama Electric Co-op, but that’s okay with us," she said. "We’re just proud to be in the city."