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Feeling Forgotten, Residents of Danfield Drive Seek Annexation by City of Wheeling

Residents of Danfield Drive in Warwood have submitted a petition for annexation to the city of Wheeling. The residential street located on the far end of Elm Grove off of Glen Hollin Drive near Wheeling Creek is outside of the city limits and is actually situated in Marshall County, although it is only accessible from Wheeling streets. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING — Residents of Danfield Drive are — in a way — outcasts of Elm Grove.

Every indicating factor would lead a reasonable person to believe that Danfield Drive is home to just another nice little stretch of houses on the outskirts of the Friendly City. The houses have a Wheeling address and 26003 ZIP code, and the street is only accessible from Glen Hollin Drive and the other streets of Elm Grove — a Wheeling neighborhood.

The problem is this: None of the homes on Danfield Drive fall within the city limits of Wheeling. In fact, they aren’t even located in Ohio County.

Last week, an effort that has been brewing for years took a crucial first step toward what residents of Danfield Drive hope will be a remedy to a longstanding headache. A petition for annexation was submitted to Wheeling City Council, which moved to accept the petition.

Many more steps need to take place moving forward, and officials in the city’s legal department are presently working on the details, officials said.

In a highly unusual entry on the Sept. 7 council agenda, the item appeared under the section “petitions of all other kinds.”

“I believe that’s the first petition we received ‘of all other kinds’ during my time in office here,” Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said.

The complicated situation stems from the fact that the city limits end where Danfield Drive begins. That means regular city services — including street maintenance and snow removal — do not extend onto Danfield Drive.

So who takes care of the streets?

“We do it,” resident Kathy Kramer, who has lived on Danfield Drive for 10 years, said. “We pay taxes to Marshall County, but Marshall County won’t own us. We’re not even on their maps.”

The border between Ohio County and Marshall County runs along what is almost a straight line running east and west. Danfield Drive is located just below that line in the northernmost part of Marshall County.

Ironically, there are parts of Wheeling that dip down below that line. The two streets also located on the south side of Glen Hollin Drive just before Danfield Drive — Claton Court and Robin Bird Lane — are also located south of the straight imaginary line separating Ohio and Marshall counties. However, that’s one small section where the Wheeling city limits actually dips down below the parallel and captures the homes on those streets. In fact, a large grid of homes located south of the parallel and across Wheeling Creek off of Mil Acres Drive are included within the southernmost city limits of Wheeling, despite being situated way below what would otherwise be a straight county line.

“Some time ago, all of the other streets in that area were annexed with the exception of a few houses at the top of one street,” said Wheeling City Councilman Dave Palmer, who represents Ward 6 where Danfield Drive would be located … if it were actually in the city.

Palmer has been working with Danfield Drive residents like Kramer, her neighbor Anna Miller and others on the street who are seeking to reap the benefits of being city residents — or put an end to the detriments of not being city residents. Palmer said a total of 11 homes on Danfield Drive would be affected by an annexation, and all of the residents of those homes support the proposal — as he does.

“That would give us continuity all the way through Mil Acres, Glen Hollin and out to Mar-Win now,” Palmer said, noting that he and Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron have been working with the residents who submitted the petition for annexation. “I would ask my fellow council members to support this. Mr. Herron and I met with the residents — it was a unanimous choice of the residents to accept coming into the city.”

While direct-pay utilities such as water and sewer services are provided by the city of Wheeling, the tax-funded services like street paving and snow removal are not provided by any public entity. Marshall County crews would have to venture into Wheeling to even access Danfield Drive to service the street.

“We’ve been trying to get this for a while,” Kramer said of the annexation. “From what I understand, it’s in the hands of the legal department at this point.”

Herron confirmed this last week, noting that a number of steps will still need to take place in order for the proposed annexation to take place.

“The law on annexation in West Virginia changed a year and a half ago,” Herron said on Friday. “This is our first proposed annexation under the new statute.”

According to the city manager, the new changes to the state annexation laws may or may not apply to this particular petition, and that’s what the city legal department is currently working to address. Definitions in the new statute specify minor and major boundary adjustments, and with Danfield Drive lying within Marshall County, the process may be more complicated than if it was situated in Ohio County.

“There are two slightly different processes depending on how it is classified,” Herron explained. “But regardless, the process includes review by the Marshall County Commission and approval of the annexation by Wheeling City Council. In between, our city staff will review and comment on the possible impacts, if any, on their applicable city services.”

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