Beavercreek Township officials call a decision by Beavercreek City Council to annex 118 acres of land that includes a township administration building, fire department headquarters and three popular parks shocking and destructive to a long existing spirit of cooperation.

Council placed the resolution on the agenda during its Monday meeting then voted unanimously to begin the process of annexing 5.1 acres of land at 2200 Dayton-Xenia Road used by Rine Landscaping and owned by Marilyn and Richard Favorite of Edition Drive as well as 113 contiguous acres owned by either the township, the Beavercreek Township Park District or Greene County.

The annexation include Rotary Park, Victory Park, Phillips Park, and Beavercreek Twp Station 61 property.

Council said annexing the property is an opportunity to be forward thinking about the city’s future.

City officials say the annexation will not have a negative financial impact on any of the entities involved. Trustees were perplexed by the action.

The Favorites and Frank and Rebeccah Rine began discussing annexation with city officials in June, but township trustees were surprised Tuesday to receive notice of the annex planned for Dayton-Xenia Road generally starting at Beaver Valley Road and stopping just before Beavercreek Township Cemetery. The bulk of the land is owned by the township.

“The public wasn’t informed and the owner of 95.77 percent of the property was not informed,” Township trustee Carol Graff said. “This was a hostile annexation in my opinion. There was no cooperation, communication, collaboration and coordination in that action. ”

She said: “Township trustees are never pleased by annexation, but it is particularly onerous when the property (being annexed) is owned by the township.”

Greene County Administrator Howard E. Poston said he had not reviewed the city’s annexation petition and could not comment until he did so. Park board chairman Bob Darden could not be reached for comment.

Trustees said they will discuss the issues at their regular meeting 2 p.m. Monday, but said townships have little recourse in such annexations.

Under the most commonly used Ohio annexation law, land can be annexed if 100 percent of property owners agree. School districts, townships, park districts and similar public property owners are not considered land owners and have no voice in whether land is annexed into another jurisdiction.

If the annexation process reaches its desired conclusion, the properties will remain owned by the original governments, but will be considered located the City of Beavercreek.

City officials said the annexation was not aggressive.

Beavercreek City Manager Mike Cornell said Ohio law does not encourage notification of public property owners before annexation actions are initiated. The petition was filed Tuesday morning with Greene County Commissioners who will vote on the matter as the next step in a multi-layered process.

“We filed first simply because there is an opportunity for that notice to be challenged if the notice is provided in advance,” Cornell said. “Our council is taking a very specific parcel by parcel approach to annexation.”

The city and and township are closely tied. Beavercreek city residents are also considered residents of the township. Township residents are only residents of township.

Cornell said a merging the city and the township was not the goal of the annexation, but a merger survey will eventually be conducted.

He said that at some point there will be a consensus that Beavercreek should be one entity.

Cornell and city planning director Jeffrey M. McGrath said the annexation was triggered after the city was approached by the Favorites and the Rines. Rine Landscaping butted heads with the township in May about a zoning issue concerning filling a floodplain.

The Rines declined comment through a woman at their business Wednesday. The Favorites did not return a call seeking comment.

McGrath said the annexation will be a positive for the whole of the community.

“I think we will be better equipped to service that area,” he said. “When there is opportunity to incorporate Beavercreek Township to Beavecreek, you grab it.”

Township Trustee Bob Glaser wondered if the annexation move is an attempt to tax township employees if the an income tax the city is putting on the May ballot is approved by voters.

“It is always about money,” he said. “I don’t think it speak to kindly about city council.”

McGrath called that assertions far-fetched as three of Beavercreek Township Fire Stations are in the city limits and firefighters who work at those locations would be subject to an income tax.

Beavercreek Township employs about 100 people - the bulk full and part-time firefighters — and has about a $5.76 million annual payroll.

Until the annexation notice, Glaser said the township and city had worked cooperatively on numerous projects.

“We worked with the city so surprisingly well,” he said. “They dumped it on our door (Tuesday) morning without a peep.”