A move by property owners seeking to have Port Orchard annex their land along Beach Drive has changed to leave out the Washington Veterans Home at Restil.

City council voted Tuesday to allow a petition to be circulated in the Retsil annexation area, but excluded the 24.8-acre veterans home as part of the area over fears that the large number of 911 calls originating from the home would tax city services.

The annexation now totals approximately 2.22 acres.

When the petition for annexation of the Retsil area, including the veterans home, originally came before the council in February, Police Chief Al Townsend showed concern for annexing the home. He said annexing the veterans home, which houses around 240 elderly veterans, would be a strain on the already stretched police force.

“I’m highly concerned about how we will handle the Bethel Annexation, much less with this in the mix,” Townsend wrote in an email to the city.

Townsend said according to information he has received from the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, the VA home has had 92 calls for officer service in the past six months.