Neighbors in southern Dallas County made up of business owners and homeowners are banding together to fight a proposed ordinance that would change the boundaries of the Wilmer city limits.
The topic will come up during Thursday's city council meeting and people say it already happened once before in December.
"Basically, the city of Wilmer has attempted to annex without consent over 150 landowners here in town," said Heran Patel, CEO and manager of SPAT Capital, who owns a piece of land in the area.
He said his land was annexed six months ago without notification and said he's battling the city in a lawsuit. Patel said he is now notifying other property owners who are facing a similar ordeal.
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“I was unfortunately brought into this mess with the illegal annexation and I just want to be an activist for the other 150 people that are basically being subjected to this," explained Patel.
More than 100 properties will be considered for annexation according to a list attached to Thursday night's agenda on the city's website.
The proposed ordinance, which is item nine on the agenda, would impact areas south of Mars Rd., Cottonwood Valley Road, and other locations which are designated by blue-shaded areas on a map that was attached to the city agenda.
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Several people whose properties are listed, said they're upset because they were not notified of the agenda item until other citizens brought it to their attention.
"Now they're trying to force this annexation without any notification whatsoever, the landowners to the north and to the south of me are in an uproar over this," said Troy Eno with Iron Horse Truck Sales.
"My only point is, if you're going to do that, you should notify, you should give us the right or the option to annex in, without sewage, how can you annex in?" said Eno who said was told by the city that sewage services wouldn't be available for several years.
“Right now, we're in Dallas County unincorporated. We're paying our unincorporated tax bill to Dallas County. Wilmer wants to force you into their bracket so they can start charging you their city tax dollars, even though they can't provide all the things that we talked about. The sewage is the biggest part. How do you flush a commode without sewage? You can dig a hole and you put a septic system in which is what most people do, because that's all it's available, So to force people into doing something that they can't, it's just not American period," said Eno.
On Dec. 1, according to the city's agenda, more than 40 properties were listed for consideration to become part of the city. Once some of them became of aware of what was happening, they lawyered quickly up within three days of the vote and were able to block their property through litigation, but for many of the others, they became annexed into the city.
"They got in a lawsuit with the city and they're not annexed but I missed out on that, so they annexed me," said Kim Turner who lives in the area.
She's lived on her property, which is several acres, for decades and said she's never relied on the city of Wilmer. Part of the language on the agenda from last month says an area qualifies for inclusion in a municipality if it's been part of it for 20 years and if the municipality has provided services, including police protection.
Turner said that's not the case for her.
“I’m on a well, I have a septic system and I have the [Dallas County] Sheriff's Department," she explained.
Turner described a conversation she had with a neighbor who is in the same situation.
"It really concerns me when I talked to a man and I asked him, 'Are you getting services from the city?' and he says, 'No.' and I said, 'Would you be interested in being in a lawsuit if we can get together some people?' He said, 'Ma'am, I can't afford it, I'm just going to have to let them do it.' So he gets no services, so what's he going to do? And that's a lot of people," said Turner.
She said she reached out to state lawmakers for help, but she's been advised to get an attorney. She said she doesn't want to pay for one and is going to try and fight it on her own.
Patel said this means higher taxes, including those who may have been on their property for decades.
"A lot of them are elderly, who cannot afford the city property taxes. They've lived here generationally and they have never ever wanted to be a part of the city, nor have they ever accepted utilities or any services from the city," said Patel.
Becoming part of a city means more taxes and also restrictions for building in regard to planning, zoning and code enforcement.
Patel believes it will lead to landowners having to sell their prosperities due to not being able to afford it.
Much of the area, including Turner's home, is now surrounded by warehouses, which is a common theme in that area near I-45 between Hutchins and Wilmer.
NBC 5 reached out to the city of Wilber by email and phone and dropped off a business card to the city office for a response to this story and to provide an explanation of the proposed ordinance. We are waiting for a response back.
