§ 36-36-32 — Annexation upon application of owners of 60 percent of the land and 60 percent of the resident electors generally; application and signature requirements

(a) Authority is granted to the governing bodies of the several municipal corporations of this state to annex to the existing corporate limits thereof unincorporated areas which are contiguous to the existing corporate limits at the time of such annexation, in accordance with the procedures provided in this article and in Article 1 of this chapter, upon the written and signed application of not less than 60 percent of the electors resident in the area included in any such application and of the owners of not less than 60 percent of the land area, by acreage, included in such application. The authority granted in this Code section is in addition to existing authority and is intended to provide a cumulative method of annexing territory to municipal corporations in addition to those methods provided by present law. (b) Each such application shall contain a complete description of the land proposed to be annexed. Lands to be annexed at any one time shall be treated as one body, regardless of the number of owners, and all parts shall be considered as adjoining the limits of the municipal corporation when any one part of the entire body abuts such limits. (c) Each person signing an application for annexation shall also print or type thereon his name, address, and the date of signature. In addition, he shall indicate whether he is a landowner within the area to be annexed, an elector, or both. (d) For the purpose of determining the percentage of electors signing such application, the municipal governing body shall obtain a list of electors residing in such area from the board of registrars of the county or counties in which the area lies. The list shall be compiled by the board of registrars and provided to the municipal governing body in accordance with Code Section 21-2-227 . The municipal governing body shall bear the expense of the preparation of the list in the manner prescribed by such Code section. (e) For the purpose of determining ownership of the property included within such application, the record titleholder of the fee simple title or his legal representative shall be considered the "owner" of the property. (f) Signatures of owners of public roads and other public land within the area to be annexed shall not be required in satisfying the requirements of subsection (a) of this Code section and the acreage of such public properties shall be excluded from acreage calculations pertaining to the landowner approval required by subsection (a) of this Code section. This subsection applies only where the public properties are included in the area to be annexed. (g) The necessary number of signatures of landowners and electors shall be obtained within one calendar year following the date of the first signature obtained. Failure to collect the required number within the one-year period shall invalidate previously collected signatures. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit collection of signatures from the same persons on subsequent applications for annexation.