Chelsea council approves two annexations

During their first council meeting since their installation, the 2016-2020 Chelsea City Council approved two annexations and held two public hearings.

Both annexations were located in Branch Lake Estates, which is located off of County Road 47. Clifford and Karen Thompson requested the annexation of their 20.22 acre property on Branch Lake Drive, and Dwight and Deborah Hostetter requested the annexation of their 20.3 acre property. Both homes were annexed from unincorporated Shelby County.

During pre-council, council member David Ingram said there was a third property owner who requested being annexed into the city, but a piece of property between that land and the city of Chelsea prevented that from coming before the council.

The council also held public hearings regarding two rezoning requests, one from Scott Weygand for the Chelsea Preserve subdivision and the other from Russell Morgan and Megan Davis regarding a family subdivision. No one spoke during the public hearings for either rezoning, and both passed unanimously. As a member of the council, Scott Weygand recused himself from discussion of the Chelsea Preserve rezoning.

Also during the council meeting, Chelsea Fire & Rescue Chief Wayne Shirley updated the mayor and council on work that crews have done in the last several weeks. The drought has kept crews busy, and several calls have come in about wildfires. He reminded the council and anyone watching the live stream of the meeting that there is a burn ban which prohibits all outdoor burning.

There is also a fire at U.S. 280 and County Road 43 that has hot spots that will continue to smolder, Shirley said.

“The only thing that’s going to put that out is measurable rain,” he said.

The fire was first reported last week, and crews have continued to monitor the situation and battle flare-ups.

Shirley also commended the crew that helped rescue a man following a 40-foot fall off of a mountain and onto boulders below. Mayor Tony Picklesimer thanked Shirley and the firefighters at Chelsea Fire & Rescue for all of their hard work.

Chelsea Citizen Observer Patrol Director Jim Thornton told the mayor and council that the COPs were busy during the start of the month with elections and football games. Their “ghost car,” which is parked throughout the city to deter speeders, also recently received a ticket, Thornton said. The “ticket” was a note that said the driver of the car was impersonating a COP officer and “would be cited as such.”

“Thank you officer for all you do,” Thornton read off the note. “We love you.”

The note served as their “atta boy” for the week, he said.

The council also voted to pay the city’s bills.

The next council meeting will be Dec. 6 starting at 6 p.m., with a pre-council work session starting at 6 p.m. Picklesimer encouraged anyone interested to attend the work session. He also thanked everyone in attendance at the meeting and those watching the city’s live stream on Facebook.

“I’d like to thank all of you for being present, and I would also like to thank all of our viewers on Facebook live and live stream,” Picklesimer said. “… We look forward to sharing all information with our citizens in as many ways as we can.”