The Frederick County Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to call for a special election for those who live on those properties as one more way to delay or stop the much-debated annexations.

The county's decision is separate from an attempt to force the issue to referendum through citizen petitions. If those petitions succeed, they will call for a referendum of all registered voters in the city, instead of just those who live on or own the affected properties.

Commissioners estimate that fewer than 20 people live in the area to be annexed.

The petition-driven referendum has the greatest chance of success, since those on the property are more likely to have a financial interest in the development.

The City of Frederick is required by state law to pay for the special elections, including the two required by Tuesday's commissioners vote.

Mayor Jeff Holtzinger said Tuesday he does not know how much they would cost or when they will be held.

"I'm not looking forward to any additional procedure and cost that we didn't decide to do," Holtzinger said. "I have to look into (the cost), but I would hope it wouldn't be a lot."

In early September, the city aldermen approved annexation of three farms -- the 151-acre Thatcher and 285-acre Crumland farms on the city's north end, and the less controversial 100-acre Summers farm, attached to the southwest side of Frederick .

The properties have the potential to bring hundreds of housing units and more than 2 million square feet of office and commercial space to the city.

The five commissioners are unanimously opposed to the northern annexations, arguing development there will bring more residents and traffic without infrastructure to support them.

State law allows commissioners to call for a referendum of the people in the affected area, but not throughout the city.

But Commissioner John L. Thompson Jr., a Republican who introduced Tuesday's resolution, said commissioners shouldn't miss their chance to repeal the annexations any way they can.

"The stakes are so high on this, I think we need to take advantage of every opportunity we have to either slow down or stop this annexation proceeding, and hopefully the next Board of Aldermen will take a different view on this," Thompson said.

He told the story of an unopposed town burgess candidate who nonetheless lost when ballots were counted.

"As old as I am, I have seen some strange things happen in the voting booth," Thompson said.

He opposes the annexations primarily because of traffic on U.S. 15, and called them the worst land-use decisions he's seen since his election to local government in 1980.

Commissioner Charles Jenkins, a Republican, was the only one to vote against the referendums. He thinks that if there's going to be a referendum, it should come from the citizens. But he reiterated his opposition to the annexations.

"I hate to see that stretch of (U.S.) 15 turned into another Golden Mile," Jenkins said.

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