Opinion ID: 2495667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Horn Lake's need for developable land and remaining vacant land

Text: ¶ 19. The chancellor relied on Horn Lake's evidence to find that the city had 3,146 acres of vacant, unconstrained land, which equated to 30.1 percent of the existing City of Horn Lake. The trial court further found that Horn Lake had an additional 1,411 acres of vacant, constrained land on which development could occur within the existing corporate limits of Horn Lake. The amount of vacant, constrained land that was suitable for development equated to 13.5 percent of the existing city. Horn Lake did not dispute that it had 3,146 acres of vacant, unconstrained land that were suitable for development. It did argue that the 1,411 acres of vacant, constrained land were largely in the flood plain and floodway, that the areas outside of the flood plain and floodway have severe slopes, and that this land could not be developed because of utility easements. ¶ 20. The chancellor did not state whether this subfactor weighed for or against the reasonableness of annexation by the City of Horn Lake, which was not error, as the reasonableness of annexation is determined by the totality of the circumstances. In re Enlargement and Extension of the Corporate Limits of the City of Madison, 983 So.2d 1035, 1042 (Miss.2008).