Apr 24 2008
House Panel Wants Moratorium on Annexations
RALEIGH — A House panel recommended Wednesday that North Carolina temporarily ban cities and towns from forcing annexations so lawmakers have time next year to consider changes that some residents have sought.
The one-year moratorium on involuntary annexations — through June 30, 2009 — also would help municipalities make sure they can provide water and sewer hookups and fire and police coverage to new residents, a committee leader said Wednesday.
Fayetteville’s forced annexation of more than 40,000 residents was wildly unpopular, and remains so more than three years after it took effect. In most neighborhoods, the city has yet to deliver sewer services. It’s unclear how the proposed ban could affect any possible plans to annex Gates Four, an affluent community that was excluded from the 2005 annexation. The earliest Gates Four could be brought into the city limits is June 30, 2009 — the same date for lifting the proposed ban.
Forced annexation has to stop, no question about it. That is a blatant infringement on private property rights and what has been going on in places like Fayetteville is even more disgraceful. Not only do they forcibly move the city limits to encompass the property, they don’t even provide the city services the owners have to pay for for months or even years. I can’t believe nobody has sued over this.
I live in an unincorporated area, but I like it that way. I don’t have to pay city taxes and that’s fine with me because I don’t need the city services. The laws here in South Carolina are much more strict regarding annexation than in North Carolina, but if a city tried to annex my home I’d go down fighting.
I agree. For the record, however, this is another reason why I’m not supporting McCrory in the primary and may have to hold my nose to support him n the general.
Charlotte has been notorious for forced annexation since McCrory became mayor. One of the reasons he’s been able to keep city taxes so low is because he gobbled up surrounding lands. When unincorporated lands get annexed by the city, their taxes increase by 19% (Charlotte Observer, August 5, 2005). Consequently, not too many people are eager to become official Charlotteans.
McCrory, for his part, doesn’t seem too concerned by it. “The major advantage of annexation is that the suburbs can’t escape from the city,” he said in 2002 (Charlotte Observer, September 4, 2002). Wonderful. I wonder what it’s like having him as a neighbor.