Most of the residents along the southern end of Lake Shore Drive will soon have the city of Hollister as their immediate “back door” neighbor to the west. In fact, if the two voluntary annexations that the Hollister Board of Aldermen approved on their first reading at their May 15 meeting are not removed from the consent agenda for the board’s next meeting there will automatically be a large number of lots and homes, on the southern end of Lake Shore drive that will immediately be surrounded to the west and the north by the city of Hollister.
During a public hearing on May 15, the petition for the voluntary annexation into the city of Hollister of approximately 27 acres of land owned by Empire Electric, was presented by Doug Tiemann, Pickett Ray & Silver, a development firm headquartered in St. Peters, MO with a local office in Branson. According to their web site, Mike Rankin is their Director of Business Development. Rankin used to be the Director of Economic Development for the City of Branson prior to leaving that post in the spring of 2007 and has extensive experience in economic development not only in Branson but in other areas. There were no other public participants in the hearing.
The 27 acres being annexed is actually under water, the land underneath Lake Taneycomo, and runs from basically the middle of the lake to the eastern edge of the Lake from a point between East Highway 76 and Taneycomo upstream from Coon Creek, downstream along the Lake Taneycomo Bank for about 4,700 feet. In general terms, the northern end would be at the northern end of the fourth lot up from the intersection of S. Fork and Lake Shore Drive which is a western extension of the north line of the Davis Addition.
As soon as that public hearing was closed Tiemann presented a second petition for the voluntary annexation of 6.76 acres of land on the west side of Lake Shore Drive at another public hearing. The eligibility of this land for voluntary annexation into Hollister is totally dependent on the Hollister Board of Aldermen approving the voluntary annexation of the Empire Electric Land into the city of Hollister as that is what provides the contiguity necessary for voluntary annexation.
The 6.76 acres to be voluntarily annexed is currently under the jurisdiction of Taney County and is owned by Ahmed A. Salama who had previously tried to get county approval for development of land he owns in that area. The northern boundary of the Empire annexation coincides with the northern boundary of the northern lot line in the Davis Addition which is owned by Ahmed A. Salama and is part of this annexation.
After the two public hearings the Hollister Board of Aldermen unanimously approved both voluntary annexation requests and they will become final without further comment at the board’s next meeting if not removed from the consent agenda for further discussion. If approved, all the lots bordered to the west by the annexation of the Empire Electric Land will still be in Taney County except for Salama’s lot which will be part of the city of Hollister because of its voluntary annexation. It will also open the road for the voluntary annexation of any other land that is contiguous to the Salama’s lot such as the land immediately to the north or immediately east, across Lake Shore Drive, from the property.
