Shoestring annexation
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A shoestring annexation is a term used in the United States for an annexation by a city, town or other municipality in which it acquires new territory that is not contiguous to the existing territory but is connected to it by a thin strip of land. It is sometimes called a flagpole annexation because the territory resembles a flagpole, in which the connection is the "pole" and the annexed territory the "flag".
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[edit] Reasons
In some states, municipalities are prohibited from annexing land not directly connected to their existing territory. A shoestring or flagpole annexation allows the municipality to do so.
Such annexations are sometimes used when a municipality seeks to acquire unincorporated developed land, such as a newly built subdivision separated from it by undeveloped open space. They may also be used when a municipality desires to annex a commercial or industrial area without taking over intervening residential areas, so as to collect tax revenues from the businesses or industry without having to provide services (such as electricity and garbage collection) to residents.
[edit] Examples
One such annexation was the Port of Los Angeles together with the San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City neighborhoods of Los Angeles, which are connected to the main part of the city by what is called locally the "Shoestring Strip" between Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue. (For more on the reason for this annexation, see the Harbor City article.)
Another example was San Ysidro, which is part of the city of San Diego. It is connected to the rest of the city by a narrow strip of land at the bottom of San Diego Bay.
Another was the the bitterly contested 2005 annexation of Elkhorn, Nebraska by Omaha.
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