Minutes 02-27-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ETJ after they are developed provides no protection to the residents of the neighborhood and adds permitting steps to any project current residents take on (zoning permit from the town followed by building permit from Orange County—2 locations, 2 fees). • If the intent of adding areas to the town's ETJ is to ease annexation for neighborhoods already being served by town utilities (and lowing their utility bills), this will not be effective. The changes in the state's annexation laws are a much bigger obstacle than the ETJ location. The town has historically not pursued annexation of neighborhoods under the involuntary process. The town remains willing to discuss annexation with any neighborhood or group of property owners interested. The town has also studied the impact of annexation and water rates on houses of various price points to help neighborhoods determine what is in their best interest. • The town is willing to release the 400 acres of ETJ to the County without receiving additional acreage in return. These areas are difficult to serve with utilities and are unlikely to be considered for annexation, so releasing them from the ETJ manages expectations more clearly. This process does involve notice and public hearings by both entities. Commissioner Dorosin said an ETJ is an unusual situation where residents are subject to the control of a governing body that they have no power to elect. He feels that when this was first adopted by the legislature, the trade-off was that cities got the control beyond their borders, because the areas ultimately become annexed and become part of the city. He said, given the changes in annexation laws, this is not going to happen, and much of the areas here are already developed. He said he does not see any rational justification for subjecting these residents to the additional level of oversight by a board to which they have no political voice. Margaret Hauth said she has struggled to find an upside for the residents, other than to say that in North Carolina it's nice to have ETJ's around city limits. Commissioner Dorosin said this is also not a situation where you have two cities butting up against each other with the ETJ as a buffer. He said this gives him a tremendous amount of reluctance. He said any of these areas, in the ETJ or not, could be voluntarily annexed. He asked about the demographics for the areas being let out. Margaret Hauth said most of this area is Duke Forest, and the others are very low density areas. She said there are only about 22 property owners. Commissioner Dorosin said given all of that, he feels that this change merits a much closer review. Commissioner Gordon asked if the proposal, as referenced it the "What's Next" section of the handout, is proposing that this just stop. Margaret Hauth said the boards could just stop, but the town is still willing to give the 400 acres back to Orange County, as it is unreasonable to have this in the town's ETJ to begin with. This would be a release, instead of a swap. Margaret Hauth said there is no benefit to fully implementing the interlocal agreement if this is done. She said, after this step, the agreement just calls for even more areas to be treated as quasi ETJ. Commissioner Gordon said this is sounding like an argument not to do this. She summarized that what the board would like to do is: not change the interlocal agreement; release the 400 acres to Orange County; and not expand the ETJ. Margaret Hauth said it would be best, since there is a sunset provision, to have both boards pass a joint resolution after these two things are done, that this will not continue.