by Samantha Hurst

The City of Landrum filed action against the Town of Campobello May 30 requesting a non-jury trial over annexation concerns.

Landrum City Council held a special called meeting in late May to discuss concerns over potential actions being taken by Campobello to annex property along I-26 that Landrum officials say crosses its city limits.

“After reviewing the paperwork filed by Campobello, we (Landrum) are unclear what property exactly Campobello is trying to annex,” said Landrum City Administrator Caitlin Martin. “The paperwork filed states it is all the way to mile marker one on I-26, and mile marker one is in Landrum’s city limits. So, we are requesting a review of the annexation records in a non-jury trial.”

A petition for annexation was filed by the Town of Campobello on Jan. 28, 2013 for a Warren Ganjehsani. The documentation states that Ganjehsani owns “real estate in an area which is contiguous to the Town of Campobello and which is proposed to be annexed into Town.”

A rough map was available attached to the annexation petition, which shows a shadowed area proposed for annexation along the interstate up to mile marker one.

Court documents allege that Campobello’s petition “does not comply with any of the requirements of S.C. Code Section 5-3-150 (3) in that it is (1) not signed by the owner of the real estate, (2) the property is not sufficiently described to accurately fix location, (3) no tax map reference is included and (4) it is not contiguous to the town limits of Campobello.”

It also states that the proposed annexation encroaches in the city limits of Landrum and the Landrum Fire Service territory without notice to Landrum officials or the public. Landrum has requested a restraint on the annexation ordinance until a full review of the annexation has been made and these issues are ironed out. Once that has been done, Landrum has asked the annex be made void.