Kimball's Planning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend eastward annexation of the city's boundaries to take in the area of a proposed rail spur.The vote came after an hour of comment by city officials and concerned citizens.The issue now moves on to City Council for consideration in the first of three readingsCommission members are John Morrison (Chairman), Bob Jenner, John Kinney and Mark Brown. Member Gary Randles was absent. Twenty eight interested  citizens plus city officials were on hand for this Feb. 25 hearing. Thirty three properties are located in the annexation area.Approximately 226 acres are involved. Most of the area is bounded by County Roads 47 and 43 on the east and west along with the UPRR right-of-way and US Highway 30 on the north and southCity Administrator Harold Farrar identified the area to be annexed and the public utility coverage. He said citizens in the annexation area would be able to vote in city elections and serve on city boards once annexation were complete. He said  action on the rail spur could move forward.Farrar said the taxes on a $75,000 property in the city are currently $374.90 and the city sales tax on a $20,000 vehicle purchased by a city resident is $150.00.The Fire District tax paid by a city  resident is $15.02 less than the Fire District tax paid by rural residents. Again, this is based on the $75,000 property value.At that point Morrison opened the meeting for public comment.Bruce Evertson said that 27 years ago then Mayor Wayne Robbins promised him that if Castronics located in the Kimball area, Castronics land would never be annexed by the city. Evertson listed the financial benefit Castronics has brought to the Kimball area and said  he kept his promises, the city should keep theirs.Several citizens asked, "Why annex this area."The answer was 'Because that's where the rail spur will be and many of the properties in the area use city utilities."Perry Van Newkirk said, "Castronics doesn't mind being annexed but we don't want to be annexed and then see no rail spur. This item has been going on for 10 years and there is still no rail spur."There were questions from the audience as to how long this spur effort had been going on. Questions about spot zoning were raised. Farrar said there was no spot zoning.Tom Perlinski raised the issue as to whether a property zoned rural-agricultural, as is his, could be annexed. There was no response to his comment.Several citizens said they would not be able to afford the higher taxes that come with annexation. And several stated that the present hard economic times were a poor time to proceed with the project.One likened the annexation proposal to Nazis hauling Jews off in trucks.Perlinski said asked if the rural right to have animals on a property could be passed on to a new owner after annexation.Farrar said the right could be passed on if there was no significant time break before the new owners got the animals on the newly purchased property.Several citizens said they believed they had no vote in the matter and their protests were going unheeded. Several commented that "If I wanted to live in the city, that's where I would have located in the first place."With no more public comment being made,  Morrison closed the session and the commission voted to recommend annexation on to city council.City Council will now have three readings of the recommendation and then vote to approve or disapprove.First reading will likely be at the March 4 meeting.