The City of Athens is now more than 350 acres larger, thanks to an ordinance made by the Council at Monday’s meeting.

The Council voted unanimously to annex 356.19 acres of land owned by Mark Durm. The land is located on the northwest side of the previous city limits, north of Alabama 99, east of Easterferry Road and south of Sewell Road.

The property is zoned as an EST Estate Residential and Agricultural District. Councilman Wayne Harper said Durm is one of his neighbors, and the property is “very nice” and “well kept.”

“I think this will be good for the city,” he said.

Councilman Harold Wales agreed and said he was curious as to what the land will be used for in the future. He asked Durm, who was present at the meeting, to come up and give his thoughts on the property’s potential use.

Durm said he has no current plans for the property. He said he has three children and is unsure of whether or not Social Security will still be around when they reach his age.

“As I look at it now, this is strictly an investment for them,” Durm said. “It increases the value of the property, and it increases the protection for the property.”

During a public hearing concerning the annexation, resident Greg Skipworth said he was in favor of the move but said he hopes the property will be used for commercial or industrial development and not come back before the Council as a “2,000-lot residential development.”

Wales said the way the property was set to be annexed was “wide open” and is concerned with how future development might affect neighbors living close by.

“In the past, speaking from experience, I have been on both sides of approving and sometimes disapproving property that has to be annexed without having any idea what may go there later on in years,” Wales said.

“No one has approached me to build anything there presently,” Durm said. “If you ask me if it will never be that way, I can’t say that, but I have no plans at this point in time of that being residential property. I do not foresee it in my lifetime becoming a residential district.”

Councilman Chris Seibert said annexing the property gives the City more control over its potential use since it will now fall under city zoning.

“Right now, there is zero zoning as to what can be built there,” he said. “This would be further restrictive.”