BEAUFORT - The proposed development of 5,000 acres in Beaufort County is making for interesting family conversation for Gov. Mark Sanford and his brother-in-law.

Beaufort Mayor Bill Rauch, who is married to the governor's sister, wants to annex the Clarendon and McLeod farms just north of town and permit as many as 16,000 new homes to be built there.

The plan has drawn criticism from all sides, including a famous author and the leader of the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. Among those critics are two of Rauch's brothers-in-law, the governor and John Sanford, who lives just a block away from Rauch in historic downtown Beaufort.

The governor said earlier this year that annexations in the northern half of Beaufort County should be halted until laws on infrastructure planning are improved. The governor's statement came after Port Royal's annexation of a large tract of land near the Chechessee River.

"These annexations are at odds with preserving tax efficient services in Beaufort County," the governor said in February after comments at the Beaufort County Republican Convention in Sun City Hilton Head.

In Beaufort, John Sanford has helped organize a grass-roots group that put more than 100 protesters in front of City Hall last week to demonstrate against the proposed annexations.

Rauch hasn't been shaken by his in-laws' disagreement.

"I think our goals are identical," Rauch said. "We may disagree on methods."

Rauch thinks the city should be the one to control growth in Beaufort, not the county.

The annexations would put the city's limits just across the Whale Branch River from the Sanford family plantation.

The City Council gave initial approval to the annexation and development agreements in January and is expected to give final consideration to the issue in coming weeks.