Finley Woods, a development area southwest of Gainesville, is offering to join the city.
Alachua County, however, is challenging the move.
At a Tuesday meeting, county commissioners voted to appeal the city's annexation plan of the 100 acres. The next step is conflict resolution to settle what the county sees as flaws in the plan.
The proposed annexation would involve leaving two pockets of land under the county's jurisdiction, but that land would be surrounded by the city's. The county says this would put the land into an enclave, one of the main reasons its appealing annexation.
But city commissioners still feel it's a valid annexation.
"It meets all the requirement of state regulations. This is property owners and they have property rights, and they should be able to come into the city if it meets all the standards — and this has," City Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos said. "This is a clearly volunteer annexation."
Finley Woods residents have been keeping in contact regarding this issue through a community Facebook page.
They say reasons to favor joining the city include reduced real-estate taxes, the ability to vote in city elections and the removal of utility surcharges.
"We have not yet really found a single con to not do it," resident Eric Barkhurst said.