House study committee recommends moratorium on annexations, even ones in progress

The N.C. House Select Committee on Annexation today (April 23) voted to recommend a moratorium on all city-initiated annexations, including all those currently pending, and all satellite annexations, including pending ones. The moratorium, if adopted by the General Assembly, would remain in place until June 30, 2009.

The committee recommended halting all city-initiated and satellite annexations to give the study committee additional time to determine whether changes to the state's annexation statutes are needed. All city-initiated annexations would be affected, even those for which a council already has passed an ordinance that is not yet effective. Satellite annexations, done at the request of the property owners, also would be covered by the moratorium.

Two committee members, Rep. Russell Tucker and Judith Wegner, a UNC-Chapel Hill law professor, voted against recommending a moratorium.

The House Select Committee will meet again on May 14, the day after the legislative session begins, and NCLM staff members expect the actual moratorium bill to be presented at that meeting. The bill then would have to be introduced into the General Assembly and pass both the House and Senate.

“Even a temporary moratorium is a cause for grave concern,” said NCLM Executive Director S. Ellis Hankins. “If enacted, a temporary ban could easily turn into a permanent ban, as it effectively has in Virginia.”

“We encourage all municipal officials to talk with their House members and express opposition to a moratorium,” said Hankins. “Please do so as soon as possible. Do not wait for the General Assembly to convene. If you have a pending annexation, please help your representatives understand the consequences of a moratorium.”

Members of the House Select Committee on Annexation
Rep. Bruce Goforth, co-chair
Rep. Paul Luebke, co-chair
Rep. Larry R. Brown
Rep. Nelson Dollar
Rep. Earl Jones
Rep. Louis M. Pate Jr.
Rep. Edgar V. Starnes
Rep. Fred F. Steen II
Rep. Russell E. Tucker
Rep. Trudi Walend
Douglas Aitken, Moore County
Judith W. Wegner, Orange Co., UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law