The proposal, which includes a major housing development, was without controversry, said Campbell Mayor Donald Burr, and the meeting was over in only a few minutes.

"It'll be good for everyone," he said. "We as a city should take in as much property within our sphere of influence as soon as possible."

Located on Mozart and Kilmer avenues along the southerly portion of Campbell, the land sits between Highway 17, White Oaks Road and Bascom Avenue. It is currently unincorporated.

The property, however, sits in what is called Campbell's "sphere of influence," giving the city, not San Jose or Los Gatos, the right to annex the acreage. Campbell has one other pocket of unincorporated land in its sphere of influence; that property is located east of Leigh Avenue.

The Mozart Avenue property is currently developed with two single-family homes, a greenhouse and other miscellaneous structures related to a nursery business. But if everything goes as developers Morley Bros. and Classic Communities envision, city affiliation won't be the only thing changing.

The two businesses, which are in contract to purchase the land, are planning to jointly develop 24 single-family homes at the site, as well as establish a private road.

Describing the plans as "straightforward," Burr said, "Everyone is in support of the project. There were no major concerns expressed."

According to a Campbell staff report, the city anticipates receiving approximately $431,000 in revenue from project and building permit fees.

The streets and public works divisions won't be significantly affected, the staff report said, because the project will include a private street that will be maintained by homeowners living in the development. The report also stated that based on existing calls to that area of the city, fire, police and public works departments will not be impacted significantly.

Annexation issues used to be made only by the Local Agency Formation Commission, which is the state-mandated agency that oversees the boundaries of cities and special districts. The California Legislature, however, recently enacted laws that allow most city annexations in Santa Clara County to qualify for a "city conducted" annexation process, in which proposals aren't heard by the commission but by the city council of the city initiating the annexation.

If the city council approves the annexation, the decision is final.

Scott Ward, vice president of Classic Communities, said he expects to go through the entire planning process during the next few months.

He anticipates the issue coming before city council in early 2005. If everything goes as planned, he said construction will begin sometime within the same year, in summer 2005. "We were pleased by the reception that we received from the council members," he said. "And we're looking forward to working with them as the project progresses."