By Jessie Burchette
Salisbury Post
County commissioners are ready to support Rockwell citizens against a forced annexation if they ask for help.
Arnold Chamberlain, chairman of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, said Monday that while Salisbury’s effort to annex the N.C. 150 west area prompted the county to hire an attorney, the effort is much larger.
“We want a moratorium against forced annexation for at least Rowan County and possibly the entire state until these arcane forced annexation laws can be changed,” Chamberlain said.
A House Select Committee is studying current state annexation laws and may recommend changes to the General Assembly. Any recommendations could go to the upcoming short session or to the 2009 session.
The county has hired the Asheville firm of Adams Hendon Carson Crow & Saenge to mount a legal challenge to annexation. And the county’s legislative delegation has pledged to push a local bill preventing any forced annexation in Rowan County until the Legislature acts on the Select Committee’s recommendations.
“If our attorney advises us that the citizens of Rockwell need to be added, then they will be added,” Chamberlain said. “I as one commissioner am willing to stand with all of our citizens in Rowan county against involuntary annexation.”
Rockwell is proposing to annex 532 residents in two areas, one in the Huntington Ridge area toward Gold Hill and the second in the Nazareth Church area toward Salisbury. The annexation would include more than 300 parcels.
Chamberlain said he has been contacted by several residents of the Rockwell annexation areas who want the county’s help to fight the town.
Chamberlain said he has advised them to get organized and show their opposition. He urged them to attend the public hearing and information sessions in Rockwell.
Bill Ridenhour, a Rockwell alderman, also expressed concerns about the annexation. He took issue with the Centralina Council of Governments study which reports the town won’t have to pay any costs for water and sewer lines.
Ridenhour said Monday that the city of Salisbury, which provides water and sewer, has refused to pay for extending those lines to the area.
“The town of Rockwell would have to pay for the lines and then turn them over to the city of Salisbury,” Ridenhour said. He pointed out that the $50,000 yearly allowance Salisbury provides for extension of water and sewer won’t cover it.
Under state annexation law, a town must provide trunk lines to the area within two years of the annexation.
Ridenhour said the town would have to pay the Rockwell Rural Fire Department $19,000 a year for five years to compensate for the loss of tax base in the fire district.
Ridenhour said he has asked Centralina Council of Governments, which prepared the annexation study, for additional information.
Ridenhour said the board won’t vote on annexation until the May 12 meeting. An information session is set for April 10, during which residents can ask questions.
A pubic hearing on the annexation is set for April 28.
And Chamberlain urged those opposing annexation to open their pocketbooks and contribute to efforts to stop it.
He said he has already contributed a substantial amount of money himself and plans to give more. While he wouldn’t specify how much, Chamberlain said it’s probably more than he would have to pay the city of Salisbury for the first year of taxes.
Chamberlain went on to decry the notion that the county has joined the annexation battle because of his living in Neel Estates, one of the proposed areas to be annexed by Salisbury.
“This is about the people I serve. Enough is enough. Anybody that would say this is about Arnold is a small, small thinker,” Chamberlain said.
He went on to urge everybody in the county and in the state who opposes forced annexation to attend the April 9 hearing to be held by the House Select Committee on Municipal Annexation. The hearing is scheduled for 5 p.m. in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building in Raleigh.
Rep. Fred Steen of Landis serves on the committee and has also urged residents to weigh in with phone calls or e-mails to committee members.
Here are the committee members and their contact information:
Rep. Bruce Goforth, co-chairman, phone 919-733-5746, or e-mail bruceg@ncleg.net; Rep. Paul Luebke, co-chair, 919-733-7663 or paull@ncleg.net; Rep. Larry R. Brown, 919-733-5607 or larrybr@ncleg.net; Rep. Nelson Dollar, 919-715-5825 or nelsond@ncleg.net; Rep. Earl Jones, 919-733-5825 or earlj@ncleg.net; Rep. Louis M. Pate, Jr. 919-733-5755 or louisp@ncleg.net; Rep. Edgar V. Starnes, 919-733-5931 or edgars@ncleg.net; Rep. Fred F. Steen, II 919-733-5881 or fredst@ncleg.net; Rep. Russell E. Tucker, 919-715-3021 or russellt@ncleg.net; Rep. Trudi Walend, 919-715-4466 or trudiw@ncleg.net.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or jburchette@salisburypost.com.