SALISBURY — At their Nov. 8 meeting, the Salisbury City Council voted to approve their part of the annexation agreement that the city has been working on with the town of Granite Quarry through out the year. This was Salisbury’s final step in completing the agreement; Granite Quarry will be voting on this matter at their next board of aldermen meeting on Monday, Nov. 13.

“This agreement does not provide the city of Salisbury or the town of Granite Quarry with any additional annexation authority that it doesn’t already have under state law. So, petitions for voluntary annexation come to city council and can come to Granite Quarry,” City Attorney Graham Corriher said. “(The) City council’s authority to involuntary annex, meaning annex areas where the property owners don’t want to be annexed is limited to the point of being nonexistent.”

Salisbury will be making similar annexation agreements with other local municipalities in the future after the current one is officially finalized. Corriher advised how annexation laws that are in place now cause overlap amongst communities; Salisbury’s annexation authority actually “theoretically extends” three miles outside the corporate limits. When overlap occurs, permission is required from a neighboring municipality that is closer to a piece of property that wants to come into the city. Normally, an agreement needs to be made for each individual parcel, but there’s a way around that.

“Cities are authorized to enter into annexation agreements to define those boundaries and so if a petition comes in or a property owner’s interested, they will know which municipality to petition for annexation,” Corriher said.

The Forward 2040 comprehensive plan set out goals to have non-annexation agreements with other municipalities to address growth boundaries and to collaborate with the county and the municipalities along the I-85 corridor to produce a uniform zoning district in order to advance economic development. City staff reviewed infrastructure availability, investment, fire and police response, transportation, extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) and development potential when forming the boundaries.

The 20-year agreement states that annexation is still guided by state law, does not affect other municipalities, and both parties consent to not exercise annexation authority in each other’s non-annexation areas or ETJs. The main areas of the annexation agreement are located along the I-85 corridor and Stokes Ferry Road. Salisbury’s growth areas will not extend past Old Concord Road, Webb Road and Dunns Mountain Road. 

Corriher said that the area bounded by Stokes Ferry Road, Bringle Ferry Road, Dunns Mountain Road and Union Church Road has been set aside and will be discussed at a later date if any sort of development is planned for there.

Going forward, if either Salisbury or Granite Quarry wish to get out of the agreement, there is clause that requires them to give a written notice and wait five years. The agreement does not become effective until Granite Quarry approves of it themselves at their next meeting.