CLENDENIN, W.Va. — A Kanawha County town wants to annex 166 residences and seven business within a one-mile radius of its current city limits.
Clendenin’s minor boundary adjustment is scheduled for a public hearing before the Kanawha County Planning Commission Wednesday evening.
“It’s time to expand a little bit, to bring some fresh faces into town,” Clendenin Mayor Gary Bledsoe told 580 WCHS Radio News. “Maybe we can get some new ideas and get some new people to run for council and the mayor’s office.”
The proposal would take in Kelly Hill, Osborne Addition, Cromwell Estates and Cobb Station, Bledsoe said.
“They would get full-time 24-hour-a-day police protection. We would be making patrols in their neighborhood. They would be getting street lighting where necessary (for security reasons),” he said.
Bledsoe has heard both support and opposition from the residents who would be impacted. He anticipates a good turnout at the planning commission public hearing at the county courthouse 6 p.m. Wednesday.
“I understand where they’re coming from but we’ve got services that they benefit from now, in my opinion. They benefit from the Town of Clendenin being here,” Bledsoe said. “We want to offer them all the services that our citizens get now.”
It’s been 30 years since the last minor boundary adjustment in Clendenin.
The Kanawha County Commission will make the final decision on the request.