Forced annexation is now history in North Carolina. Gov. Beverly Perdue allowed H.B. 845, the Annexation Reform Act to become law without her signature. The key provision of this bill allows property owners in an affected area to stop a forced annexation if 60 percent of the property owners sign a protest petition. The bill would also require municipalities to provide free water and sewer hookups for property owners in the proposed annexation area.
“This represents a huge change to a very bad law that was a blemish on the State of North Carolina,” said Cathy Heath, director of StopNCAnnexation. “This is a change of historic significance.”
StopNCAnnexation was formed eight years ago by a Wake County group fighting a forced annexation with a mission to use the internet to organize citizens across North Carolina into a cohesive effort, to assist each other and convince the legislature to end forced annexation.
Heath said she was puzzled by the governor’s decision not to sign the bill, but to take a “hands off approach” and let it become law by default. She noted that thousands of people, nearly two dozen citizens groups and the UNC Center for Civil Rights supported the bill. The bill passed with a strong bipartisan vote in both the House and Senate.
“In light of all of the support the legislation had among the people and the overwhelming majority of the legislature, it is hard to understand why Governor Purdue chose not to show genuine support for the bill,” Heath said.
The bill also eliminates different annexation rules for “small” and “large” municipalities, requires municipalities to give a one year advance notice to areas being considered for annexation, and prohibits a city or town from attempting to annex an area again for three years once the property owners have rejected annexation.
Another bill that passed the legislature and is now law will allow nearly every community currently being forcibly annexed to use the petition process to reject annexation. The municipalities affected include Kinston, Lexington, Rocky Mount, Wilmington, Asheville, Marvin, Southport, Fayetteville, and Goldsboro.
The Libertarian Party of North Carolina has long opposed forced annexation. The party platform states: All annexation should be subject to the direct approval of those living in areas proposed to be annexed.
Since it became a law by default, can it be overturned more easily in court?