Carroll County Judge Sam Barr issued an order on April 3 denying and dismissing the bid for incorporation of Holiday Island, giving three reasons for his decision. One was based on a change in the law that occurred while the committee of HI residents was actively pursuing the incorporation process. Committee member
Ken Mills said that during June 2017 the legislature, at the request of the Municipal League, amended a state statute to read “the court shall not approve the incorporation of a municipality if any portion of the territory proposed to be embraced in the incorporated town lies within three miles of an existing municipal corporation.” A section of the intended incorporated area would have been within three miles of the town of Beaver, and the committee was unaware the law had been changed.
Holiday Island Suburban Improvement District Manager Lawrence Blood wrote, “The unintended consequence of the change was it made it impossible for Holiday Island to incorporate because of its proximity to Beaver. The change to the law was intended to prevent small clusters of people living close to larger cities to avoid being annexed by incorporating. The impact on Holiday Island was totally unintended.”
Barr also stated in his decision the petition was unclear which of two possible methods of incorporation – either for direct petition or to put the incorporation on the ballot in an election – the signers of the petition intended. Barr’s third reason was, “…it is unclear to the Court how the proponents of the incorporation of Holiday Island plan to fund the proposed City of Holiday Island as a sustainable and self-sufficient community capable of providing residents with water, sewage and sanitation, road maintenance, police services and local government administration.”
Blood commented that the petition clearly stated the signers wanted to incorporate, not set an election date. Barr’s judgment even mentioned that proponents of the petition who spoke at the Feb. 23 hearing intended to proceed via direct petition, although Barr said the petition was not clear in this regard.
Blood also pointed out Barr did not ask during the hearing for clarification about how the committee expected to finance city operations.
Blood emphasized the committee that undertook this attempt at incorporation was comprised of well-intentioned residents doing their best for their community, and they believe incorporation is inevitable. He mentioned in his statement, “Despite the setback this ruling and change in law has caused, the Incorporation Committee continues to believe that incorporation is vitally important to the future of Holiday Island. The Committee has committed to continue working to address the new obstacles to Incorporation.”
Mills said the Incorporation Committee plans to meet soon with Sen. Bryan King with the goal of pushing legislators to remedy the unintended consequence of last summer’s change in the law.