A lengthy agenda for the Port Royal Town Council quickly shrank Wednesday night as two requests for annexation into the town, including one for a 162 acre property on Lemon Island, were withdrawn.

About 30 members of the Keep Chechessee Rural Alliance -- identifiable by the "Keep Chechessee Rural" stickers each wore -- were present at the meeting to speak out against two Lemon Island annexations that didn't end up reaching the council.

As the meeting was called to order, John Thomas of Bluffton planning firm Edward Pinckney Associates approached Town Manager Van Willis to withdraw the 162 acre annexation request from the agenda. The request was from developer Stokes Land Group.

The Town Council obliged, voting to table the annexation. The withdrawn annexations could be brought back up, town officials said. An explanation as to why the annexations were withdrawn was not provided, and Mayor Sam Murray said it was a surprise to him and he did not know why he was asked to delay consideration.

The proposal for the 162 acre property, which contains 51 acres of high ground, called for 132 houses.

Members of the alliance, who are fighting development in rural areas around the Chechessee, Colleton and Okatie rivers just south of the Broad River, cheered and left the meeting after the annexation proposal was dropped.

A 27 acre property on Lemon Island up for annexation also was withdrawn before the meeting. Its proposal calls for 34 townhouses and commercial space.

About 80 members of the Okatie community had come together Monday at a meeting of the Keep Chechessee Rural Alliance to coordinate efforts to prevent sprawl in the rural community.

In other business, the Town Council approved an ordinance moving town elections from May to November of every odd year. The action could extend Town Council members' terms six months if the state allows the ordinance to take effect immediately. Otherwise, a May election will go on as planned and the first November election will be in 2009.

The Town Council also denied a request for annexation and upzoning by residents of a home in Shell Point who want to sell seafood on the property at the corner of Cypress Street and S.C. 802.

Many Shell Point residents had protested the request to both the Town Council and the Beaufort-Port Royal Joint Municipal Planning Commission, and the Town Council denied the request with virtually no discussion.

The Town Council will meet Wednesday for a special session devoted to plans for the redevelopment of the waterfront port property the S.C. State Ports Authority must sell by Dec. 31. The meeting will be at the Port Royal Police/Fire Department Training Room, 1748 Paris Ave.