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Tuesday, 21 November 2006 15:32 |
By DAVID FORBES
WEAVERVILLE ÇƒÓ This North Buncombe town may soon strike an agreement with its neighbor to the south, Woodfin, concerning which areas may be considered for annexation by each town, following Weaverville Town Councilës unanimousvote to set a public hearing on the issue for early December.
Under the terms of the proposed pact, Weaverville would not move to annex any areas south of New Stock Road, while Woodfin would not annex areas north of that boundary. The agreement would last for six years and must be approved by both towns.
Council
set a public hearing on the matter for 7 p.m. Dec. 5 at Weavervilleës
Town Hall. Woodfin Town Council was expected to set a date for a
hearing on the matter this past Tuesday at its meeting, which occurred
after the Daily Planetës press deadline.
Several months ago, as Woodfin made the first steps in a series of
controversial annexations that will make it the second-largest
municipality in Buncombe County, Weaverville passed a resolution
calling on Woodfin to refrain from annexing areas inside the townës
extra-territorial jurisdiction ÇƒÓ an area about one mile outside town
limits where certain zoning regulations are enforced.
Woodfin officials proceeded with the annexations anyway, though they
did end up taking the Lakes section of Woodland Hills off the final
plans for annexation last month.
At the time, Woodfin officials mentioned no such deal, instead citing
the ease of getting services to the Lakes section as their reason for
revising the plans.
Those annexations, Town Manager Mike Morgan said, led to negotiations between the two towns ÇƒÓ and the proposed agreement.
"For several months now, weëve been working with the Town of Woodfin,"
Morgan said. "We saw in the paper where theyëd looked at doing
annexations to the north and weëve looked at doing annexations to the
south. This agreement, if approved, would establish which areas each
town could consider for annexation."
In Weavervilleës case, the areas include the Highlander, Woodberry and
Lakes sections of Woodland Hills and the Stony Brook area, among others.
Morgan emphasized that this did not mean either town would necessarily annex those areas.
"It is important for everyone to understand, this does not mean that we
will annex these sections," Morgan noted. "But for the period of this
agreement, if these areas are annexed, theyëll be annexed by
Weaverville if to the north of New Stock Road, by Woodfin if to the
south. Anything in both of these sections still has to meet all the
requirements under North Carolina law before being considered for
annexation."
In reply, Councilman Al Root noted that the agreement seemed to specify more what each town would not do than what it would do.
"Basically, weëre agreeing that we wonët annex whatës in their area and
they wonët annex whatës in our area ÇƒÓ neither of us is promising to
annex anything," Root said.
In Woodfinës earlier annexation process, many residents of Woodland
Hills were particularly vocal in opposing the annexations, asserting
that their taxes would increase significantly without any real rise in
services. A group representing some of those residents and some others
affected by the annexations is currently pursuing legal action against
Woodfin.
The exact terms of the proposed agreement are available on Weavervilleës Web site.
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