The Charleston City Council voted to add 49 acres within the city limits at its meeting on Tuesday.

The council annexed the property adjacent to Sister City Park. The First Christian Church, 411 Jackson Ave., owns the property, and petitioned the city to annex the property.

Mayor John Inyart said the property will potentially be developed by the church.

“We hope, at some point, that the land will be developed,” Inyart said. “We think that church someday will like to build a church on part of it, and this leaves their options open for what they do with the rest of it.”

Inyart said along with annexation comes city services like water, sewer, police and fire protection.

With the property, there are some streets that will become part of the city.

“There are some county roads that go around this property, and so we will probably end up with the responsibility of maintaining part of those roads,” Inyart said.

Inyart said there is an issue of maintenance responsibility.

“When we have an area with the city on one side and a township on the other, we will have to work something out to share the maintenance of the roads,” Inyart said.

A no-parking zone was also added to the section of 13th Street across from Mark Twain Elementary School.

This addition is to help improve the flow of traffic and visibility before, during and after school events.

The ordinance was placed for public inspection at the Sept. 4 meeting.

The council also voted to amend an ordinance regarding the water and sewer systems.

The amendment states that water and sewer services can be used by properties inside the city boundaries, unless otherwise agreed upon.

“Over the year, there have been times city services, especially water, have been extended outside the city,” Inyart said. “Our ordinance allows for that, but only when there is an pre-annexation agreement.”

Inyart said if the property needs the services, the owners have to sign an agreement saying if there is ever a time the property is adjacent to city boundaries that they promise to annex.

The council also voted to increase the funds from the Tax-Increment Fund for work to be done on the property of Tina Grissom in conjunction with a city project on the property next to her.

It also voted to increase the TIF fund for work on a property at 513 7th Street.

The increase is for $4,170.45 for masonry work and builder insurance.

Inyart said the property was purchased about two years ago.

He said instead of tearing the building down, they decided to renovate the building to meet building codes and be structurally sound.

“Picture a big jack-o-lantern,” Inyart said. “We would have had just a big tooth out of that side of the square.”

Inyart said the buildings on either side of the property would have had to have major repairs to fix problems left by the building.

“To retain the integrity of the square, we decided to put money into the building,” Inyart said.

The council meets at 7:30 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of every month at the Charleston City Hall.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu