County residents fight city annexation

On a quiet Tuesday afternoon on Carriage Farm Road, neighbors walk the roads in front of well-manicured front yards.

One man stops to wave to a passing car and smiles at the driver. Maybe he knows the driver, maybe not. The gesture seems made out of courtesy and friendliness more than anything else.

This picturesque neighborhood seems an unlikely place for controversy. But there’s a battle being waged here.

Signs posted on the front lawns of the majority of houses tell it all in one abbreviated sentence – “Stop City Annex.”

For months, Nash County residents who live just outside the Rocky Mount city limits have shown opposition to the city’s second phase of its two-part annexation plan and are fighting Rocky Mount leaders to stop the proposed plan.

Residents have banded together to form the Oak Level Community Against Forced Annexation – a community organization that has been circulating petitions, making phone calls to state legislators and members of the Rocky Mount City Council, in addition to denouncing the city’s wish to expand its boundaries further into Nash County.

“I’m a country girl,” said Kathy Warren, 49, a resident of Old Carriage Farm Road. “We are rural people back here. This is going to influence our quality of life.”

Expanding boundaries

In years past, Rocky Mount traditionally has conducted a large-scale annexation about once every decade, according to city leaders.

The premise behind a municipality annexing outlying areas, in short, under North Carolina statutes is to bring services to residents outside of the city limits and to ensure growth of the municipality in population and property.

This year’s annexation has been in the works since 2005. On June 30, the first of the two-part annexation plan took effect, annexing 2,500 residents and 3,722 acres of property in both Nash and Edgecombe counties.

That annexation also brought an estimated $93 million in added tax base to Rocky Mount.

The second part of the annexation encompasses five areas in the Twin Counties. The city is proposing to involuntarily annex more than 2,200 people and 1,733 acres of land in both Nash and Edgecombe counties.

Of the more than 1,700 acres to be annexed in both counties by the city, more than 1,380 acres are part of the area in Nash County that is home to the Oak Level community.

If approved by the City Council – city leaders will vote on an annexation ordinance Dec. 18 – Rocky Mount would gain an additional $93 million from the second phase of the plan.

The annexation then would become effective Dec. 31, 2009, if approved by the City Council.

Assistant City Manager Peter Varney, the Rocky Mount city official who has been presenting information to residents regarding the proposed annexation, said when the city proposes to annex land, tensions run high.

However, this was not always the case.

“None of the people in any of the proposed annexation areas have asked for annexation,” Varney said. “In the past, areas did want to be annexed for services. People that are proposed to be annexed today live in subdivisions. It’s different today than it was 20 and 30 years ago.”

By annexing outlying areas that are not located in another incorporated municipality, Varney said, municipalities gain economic growth and expand financial responsibilities to provide more infrastructure.

“Cities provide the infrastructure for a healthy local economy,” he said.

The bones of that infrastructure include street maintenance, water, sewer and street lighting. All of these services are in addition to police and fire protection that will be provided to residents if the annexation is approved.

“One municipality can provide all of these services much more economically,” Varney said.

Ann Wall, director of Rocky Mount’s Planning Department, said throughout North Carolina, annexation has been cited as a key factor in growing many of the state’s most populated cities.

“North Carolina has some of the healthiest cities because of the annexation rules we have,” Wall said.