You think it's going to plateau, and something else comes in. All that development can sometimes pit opposing interests against each other. In Branson and Hollister, that manifests itself most often in the issue of annexation. But for property owners, increased services come with increased restrictions. Branson has building regulations and landscaping ordinances that can be costly.
Rules are more lax in the county.
Property owners outside Hollister seem to be especially against annexation, said John Lewis, who was hired in 1997 and is Hollister's first city administrator. That's a major problem because Hollister has all but run out of vacant commercial land. And major investors often refuse to look at property that's not inside the city limits and served by city utilities, Lewis said. It is possible to annex land against the property owner's wishes, but Hollister officials don't want to do that, Lewis said. Neither do those in Branson, Adams said.