By Mark Wineka

Salisbury Post

Salisbury has its eye on four areas for annexation that would increase the city’s population by about 1,400 people.

Salisbury City Council approved resolutions of intent Tuesday to annex what it’s describing as Camp Road, Harrison Road, Old Mocksville Road and Hawkinstown Road areas.

More particulars:

* The Camp Road area includes subdivisions close to the Piedmont Correctional Center, which is already in the city limits. It includes 317 parcels and an estimated 621 people.

* The Harrison Road area includes the Westwood mobile home subdivision and some significant business properties, including Food Lion’s cold storage distribution center and Custom Glass Products.

The area includes 323 parcels and 743 people.

* The Old Mocksville Road area includes 21 parcels across from Country Club Hills, extending roughly from Canteberry Drive to four lots beyond Seventh Street. It has 24 residents.

* The Hawkinstown Road area includes 15 residential parcels and 29 people. Most of the properties are close to the intersection of Old Mocksville and Hawkinstown roads.

“It is a doughnut hole within the city,” said Bill Duston, a Centralina Council of Governments representative who specializes in annexations.

COG is assisting the city in its annexation efforts.

Duston said “all of these areas have fairly strong qualifications” for meeting the state’s requirements for involuntary annexations.

Salisbury’s annexation calendar calls for the areas to be brought into the city by June 30, if council adopts an annexation ordinance by April 20.

In two weeks, council will adopt annexation reports on each area. Those reports give more specifics behind the areas, projected revenues and services the city would provide.

COG and city staff members will hold a public information meeting at 7 p.m. March 26, when plans for extending services to the area will be explained. Council members are not required to attend that meeting.

Council will conduct its formal public hearing on the annexations at 4 p.m. April 9.

Both the March 26 and April 9 meetings will be held at City Hall, 217 S. Main St.

The city will send out notices to all volunteer fire departments and private garbage collectors in the proposed annexation areas by Feb. 23. Salisbury would take over those duties, if the annexations are approved.

Property owners in the annexation areas will receive notice by first-class mail four weeks prior to the March 26 public information meeting.

The annexation schedule also sets April 14 as the deadline for receiving requests to extend water and sewer lines to houses and businesses in the areas.

Duston called it “a fairly aggressive calendar.”

Council voted 4-0 on each of the resolutions of intent, with Mayor Susan Kluttz, Mayor Pro Tem Paul Woodson and Councilmen Mark Lewis and Bill Burgin in agreement.

Councilman William “Pete” Kennedy was absent from Tuesday’s meeting. He was attending the funeral of his brother, John.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263, or mwineka@salisburypost.com.