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Tuesday, 24 October 2006 17:40 |
WOODFIN ÇƒÓ The Woodfin Board of Aldermen voted 5-2 to annex a large area northwest of town at a special meeting Monday night.
However, the board left out the Lakes portion of the Woodland Hills area in its final plan and delayed annexing another area until an upcoming meeting.
The annexation is the second in a series that, if approved, will make the town the second largest municipality in Buncombe County and nearly double its population. (Black Mountain is Buncombeës largest town.)
The
board voted to annex the first area, located southwest of the town, in
August. The third and final area, located northeast of the town, will
be voted on in another special meeting, for which the time and date
were not available as of Tuesday.
However, much of
Woodland Hills, whose residents have vocally opposed the annexation, is
located in the third area, and yet another part was annexed at the
meeting. Some residents of those areas have threatened a lawsuit ÇƒÓ and
the aldermenës actions have not changed that course, a representative
said.
"This still
affects us," Brett Aeker said. "I donët know why they did it. Iëm glad
they reconsidered the Lakes section, but thatës a traditional area that
goes along with the rest of Woodland Hills, which is in the area
theyëre deciding on later. Weëll have to wait and see. But they have
annexed an area that does include some of our constituents.
Aeker added that he would be meeting with attorneys this past Tuesday morning to plot a further course of action.
None of the
aldermen commented on the reasons for their votes during the meeting.
Afterwards, however, Alderman David Clark, who cast one of the
dissenting votes, said, "I thought the original annexation was what we
should do ÇƒÓ and not cut off any of it. We should have done the whole
thing."
After the
meeting, Town Administrator Jason Young told the Daily Planet that the
boardës decision to omit the area, which lies north of New Stock Road,
had nothing to do with the residentsë anger or the threat of a lawsuit.
"From what I
understood, the opposition is geared around Woodland Hills ÇƒÓ and part
of that was annexed tonight," Young said. "Getting sued by 20 people is
no more difficult than getting sued by 10. Itës a question of whatës
best for the town and the community rather than some specter of a
lawsuit."
Instead, the reason for withdrawing the area from consideration revolved around services he noted.
"After looking
at it, the board decided that the parts south of New Stock Road were
easier to provide service to," Young said. "For purposes of clarity, we
thought this was a better fit. The board at this point is trying to
explore what portions of that (the third area) make sense and whether
theyëre going to take all, part or none of them. Itës really a question
of balancing the requirements of the law with the needs of the town and
community."
The other
dissenting vote came from Alderman Don Honeycutt, who has said
previously that he will vote against all the annexations because he
feels that involuntary annexations go against Woodfinës founding
principles.
At a prior
public hearing in July, over 230 people showed up, mostly speaking
against the annexation. Many residents in the areas that are being
considered for annexation assert that their taxes will rise
considerably ÇƒÓ without any substantial increase in services ÇƒÓ if they
are annexed.
This meeting saw
a much smaller turn out, with only a few people watching the
proceedings. No one spoke in the public comment portion of the meeting.
This is not the
first time the board has chosen to table one of the annexations. On
Oct. 17, the board voted to table consideration of both sections,
resulting in Mondayës meeting.
The board cannot wait until its next regular meeting to decide the annexations because of a legal deadline.
ÇƒÓ DAVID FORBES
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