CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- A roomful of south Bradley County residents made it clear this week that they do not want to be annexed by Cleveland.

About 100 people attended the first of two public hearings on the city's request to expand its urban growth boundary to include areas around McDonald and Bancroft Road. By law, the city can only annex within the growth boundary.

City officials have said they expect industrial, commercial and residential growth in the proposed annexation areas, some of it related to the Volkswagen plant in neighboring Hamilton County.

At the required hearing Tuesday, some in the audience suggested applying for rural status for their properties to block any city expansion.

A committee of city and county appointees and community representatives will study the growth boundary proposal and make a recommendation. All members must agree for the 10-year-old boundary to be changed.

Right now, all that's being discussed is expanding the growth boundary, not actual annexation, said committee chairman Craig Mullinax, from Cleveland Utilities.

"We have taken no votes. No decisions have been made," he said.

"Establishing an urban growth boundary is a long-term vision," Mr. Mullinax said. "It's not something that's going to take place tomorrow, the next day or the day after."

But Janet Coombs and other residents said the city can't annex unless the boundary is changed. Some also said the city has been very vague about what might happen after that.

Cleveland Community Development Director Greg Thomas noted that "economic changes have come to our area" since the boundary was adopted.

"Even though nationally and regionally we are in a time of downturn, we have been the fortunate beneficiaries of some very good economic news lately in terms of Wacker and VW," Mr. Thomas said.

Wacker Chemical is planning to build a $1 billion polycrystalline silicon plant in Bradley County.

The county's population is expected to grow by 30 percent over 20 years or so, Mr. Thomas said.

Residential growth alone does not pay for services that growing population requires, he said. The community needs commercial and industrial development, too.

The city and county have begun their first long-range planning process while the state considers expanding Interstate 75 and Exit 20 along with an interchange on APD 40 that could open up more land for development.

Committee member Mickey Torbett said local government in the past has done a poor job of planning for growth.

"It's always more expensive to retrofit for the growth," he said.

WHAT'S NEXT

What: Public hearing on changing Cleveland's growth boundary

When: 1 p.m. Tuesday

Where: Cleveland-Bradley County Chamber of Commerce, 225 Keith St. SW.

PROPOSED ADDITIONS

* South Bradley's McDonald and Bancroft Road area

* Along I-75 to the 18 mile marker

* In Tasso, around the new Cleveland municipal airport

Source: Urban Growth Study Committee