The petition, with over 1,000 signatures, was submitted to the City office August 2. At its September 7 council workshop, Taneytown City Manager James Wieprecht informed the council that the petition effort did not succeed due to the nature of signatures.

Upon verification of the signatures, it was identified of the 1,043 signatures presented on the petition, 52 names that were illegible and thus unverifiable, 149 were unregistered voters, four names did not have signatures, three were duplicates, and seven were found to live out of city limits, resulting in only 818 valid signatures.

Maryland State law, as it applies to the annexation process, requires at least 20% of a municipality’s registered voters to sign petitions to bring a question to a public vote. In the case of Taneytown, that means ~ 1,000 voters according to Wieprecht.

If the petition had been closer to the required 1,000 names needed, the town clerk might have spent more time deciphering the illegible signatures, he said.

Mayor Bradley Wantz credited the hard work of dedicated residents and was pleased with the amount of people involved who took it upon themselves to raise awareness.

While disappointed with the outcome, petition representative Tara Stanczyk credited the dedication of fellow volunteer residents and businesses lending support to get the petition rolling. Resident Chris Miller, who also assisted with the petition, reminded the council to be mindful that as representatives, their votes should always reflect the needs of the city.

The proposed annexation will change the existing zoning on Sewell Farm to an R-10,000 designation, meaning lot sizes will be approximately 10,000 square feet, or one-fifth of an acre in size. A preliminary sketch of the proposed development calls for 318 units—or homes—in the development, which has raised concerns from local residents over increased traffic and water use.