Bill would halt local annexation

A bill sponsored by state legislators from the area could put a hold on Carrboro’s hotly debated annexation of two areas of subdivisions.

The bill — to be introduced today on the House floor by Reps. Bill Faison, D-Orange, Larry Brown, R-Forsyth, and Nelson Dollar, R-Wake — calls for a suspension of involuntary annexation by municipalities while a committee reviews current annexation procedures.

The suspension would halt involuntary annexations that have been approved but not yet put into effect, a description that fits the state of Carrboro’s action. The town’s Board of Aldermen approved in January the annexation of Areas A and B, consisting of six neighborhoods and more than 850 residents.

Area A includes the Camden, Highlands, Highland Meadows and Highlands North neighborhoods, while Area B is the northern portion of Rogers Road and the Fox Meadow and Meadow Run subdivisions.

Residents of the annexed areas said Carrboro abused its power when it pushed for the annexation, and Faison said he considered the situation when sponsoring the bill.

“People went to Carrboro and said they didn’t want to be annexed by anybody,” he said. “Nobody on the Carrboro board listened to them.”

The action could not be reversed permanently until the committee formed to review the laws gives its final recommendation.

Other bills have been proposed that set forth specific changes in the existing legal procedures. This bill is different in that it calls for no concrete changes but offers a way to find the best solution.

“What I want to do is just suspend things and allow a committee to review the laws and make the laws more equitable,” Brown said.

Legislators hope the study will address the more frequent use of involuntary annexation by cities.

“In the past, involuntary annexation was rarely used and only in case of manifest public necessity,” Dollar said. “Now we are seeing involuntary annexation being used in a far more aggressive manner.”

Newly incorporated residents might face changes such as the doubling of property taxes and the costs of being connected to municipal sewer and water systems. Residents in areas to be annexed have little say in the matter, an issue that is at the heart of the bill.

“They really have no voice in the process if a city wishes to annex property,” Dollar said.

Naysayers of the bill say this type of annexation is not arbitrary and is beneficial to cities. “It allows (municipalities) the ability to grow under strict rules that are set forth by the legislature,” said Andy Romanet, general counsel to the N.C. League of Municipalities.

These requirements consider continuity and urbanization of the area to be annexed and mandate that the city provide the same services in all areas.

The bill’s sponsors will see staunch opposition from the NCLM, Romanet said. “We will fight this piece of legislation.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.