The White County Commission took no action Sept. 10 on a possible compromise to McGill's controversial annexation plan that would reduce the Town Council's proposal by about half of what they had asked for.

Anticipating growth, the town has sought to annex more than 8,000 acres of mostly agricultural land that would more than double the geographic area the town encompasses to provide places for new businesses and homes to locate in several areas including along U.S. Highway 93 north and south of the current town site.

The annexation would extend north along Highway 93 to the Duck Creek turnoff and south to about the location of Club 50. There would be little change in McGill's population unless there is growth as most of the land is currently used for agricultural purposes.

Questions raised during recent county commission meetings about the future of working ranches, ranchettes and children raising animals for projects on their family's properties on the fringes of McGill for youth organizations including 4-H have cast a cloud over the town's annexation ambitions.

The commission has also questioned whether affected property owners have been notified by the town.

Some affected property owners have said they oppose the annexation.

“They (town council) publicly stated that they have no problem with bringing the boundaries in,” Commissioner RaLeene Makley, the liaison to the town council, said last week.

Makley presented a map she drew of what McGill's boundaries might look like with an annexation of 4,000 to 5,000 acres rather than the more than 8,000 acres the town originally asked for.

“I can take it to their board meeting,” she said.

Summit Engineering might be asked to do a boundary line adjustment.

Commissioner Laurie Carson called Makley's proposed map a good compromise for affected property owners.

The issue will resurface in the commission later this month or in October.