|
Late 1995
Early 1996 |
Meetings were held by Hickory
Withe residents to discuss concerns that Memphis might annex across the
county line after Memphis began annexation proceedings to extend to the
Shelby County line. |
|
Spring 1996 |
TN law Public Chapter 666 was
passed that would permit Hickory Withe to incorporate.
Geographic requirements in the
law were so stringent that only two towns in the state were allowed to
incorporate. |
|
|
Hickory Withe drew boundary lines
for the town under a time constraint of about 30 days. |
|
May 1996 |
Hickory Withe made application to
have a referendum for incorporation on the August ballot. |
|
|
Oakland passed
ordinances to annex down Hwy 64 corridor.
There were 4
separate narrow “strip” annexations – north and south from Oakland to Hwy
196, north and south from Hwy 196 to the county line. The annexations from
Hwy 196 to the county line later failed in court.
Oakland had a
population of around 390 people at this time. |
|
|
Several landowners filed lawsuits
to contest Oakland's annexations. |
|
Aug 1, 1996 |
The referendum vote was strongly
in favor of incorporation. |
|
Oct 1996 |
Hickory Withe city officials were
elected. (David Shelton, George Jennings, Elizabeth Carnathan). |
|
|
Oakland filed suit contesting the
Hickory Withe incorporation on the basis that the law was unconstitutional. |
|
Spring 1997 |
TN law Public Chapter 98 was
passed. It was similar to PC 666 but did not have the strict geographic
limitations. This became known as the "tiny towns" law under which five
small towns incorporated. |
|
|
Oakland amended its lawsuit to
include an allegation that this new law PC 98 was also unconstitutional. |
|
Oct 30, 1997 |
Hickory Withe lost the
incorporation lawsuit.
The court held that both laws
were unconstitutional. Later in 1997 the TN Supreme Court ruled that PC 98
was unconstitutional. |
|
Spring 1998 |
The growth and annexation law was
passed (Public Chapter 1101). |
|
Summer 1998 |
Hickory Withe again made
application to have a referendum for incorporation.
The new annexation law said any
territory that had tried to incorporate could try again. Hickory Withe felt
it had to use the exact same boundary lines to meet the statutory
requirements. The boundary line fell within the 3 mile legal limit of
Oakland's city limits. |
|
Oct 24, 1998 |
The second referendum on
incorporation narrowly passed.
This time the vote was very close
because a new law had been passed that, in order to get state-shared
revenues, a municipality had to raise an equivalent amount in property taxes
. To meet this requirement the property tax rate in Hickory Withe would be
one of the highest in the county. |
|
Dec 18, 1998 |
Oakland filed suit to challenge
the incorporation on the basis that the law was unconstitutional. |
|
January 1999 |
Hickory Withe city officials were
elected. (David Shelton, Joann Allen, Reed Barber). |
|
April 26,
2001 |
The TN legislature amended the
annexation portion of the growth and annexation law (PC 1101). |
|
October 2002 |
The trial court ordered the
immediate dissolution of Hickory Withe’s charter. An appeal was filed. |
|
October 2002 |
The Fayette County County
Commission voted to make a Planned Growth Area for the area previously
designated by Hickory Withe’s city limits. |
|
November
2002 |
The growth plan judges set a
deadline for changes and encouraged Fayette County to reach its own solution
to the growth plan. |
|
March 17,
2003 |
Hickory Withe lost the appeal of
the second incorporation lawsuit. |
|
May 2003 |
No consensus could be reached on
the county's growth plan.
Oakland rejected the plan for
Hickory Withe to be a Planned Growth Area and presented its own plan to take
in a large portion of Hickory Withe. |
|
June 2003 |
The plan proposed by the judges’
expert was published and had Hickory Withe as a Planned Growth Area. |
|
Aug 18, 2003 |
The final plan published by the
administrative law judges amended the expert's proposed plan by putting most
of the Hickory Withe Planned Growth Area into an Urban Growth Area for
Oakland. |
|
Aug 27, 2003 |
The Fayette County Growth Plan
was accepted by Local Government Planning Advisory Committee (LGPAC) at a
meeting in Nashville. Appeals by Hickory Withe residents and other county
citizens in attendance went unheeded. |
