FORT MILL -- Town Council members cast 13 consecutive unanimous votes, in a long-planned move to annex more than 5,000 acres, during a marathon session that ran past 10 p.m. Monday.

If the annexations are approved on additional upcoming votes, the land would more than double the geographical size of Fort Mill and extend the town limits westward from the southern edge of Baxter north to Regent Park.

The council approved a first reading of a massive annexation request by Clear Springs Development for properties around Fort Mill covering approximately 2,700 acres to the north and west of the current town boundary. The council also gave an initial nod to a development agreement that would specify how all the Springs land is developed over the next 20 to 40 years.

Additionally, the council approved the first reading of Leroy Springs and Co.'s request to annex the 1,800-acre Anne Springs Close Greenway, as well as OK'ing a development agreement covering how improvements to greenway facilities would be handled.

The Kanawha development annexation request for 332 acres surrounding the future site of the planned York County museum along the Catawba River also got a favorable first reading, as did the annexation request for 60 acres on which the museum will sit. Development agreements covering both projects also were initially approved.

Second votes on the annexations and development agreements, as well as a second round of public hearings on the development agreements, are scheduled for the council's monthly workshop meeting 7 a.m., Saturday, July 28.