<< Back 9/25/02 Annexation foes keep pushing forward By Scott McLeod They’ve got a name, are collecting money for expenses, and are setting up a regular meeting schedule. The question now is whether these beginnings will lead to the creation of a legal entity that will provide what organizers want — freedom. “All we want is to be free,” says Jerry Franklin, the leader of the Jonathan Valley Community Association. The group has 1,012 signatures on a petition to fight annexation from Maggie Valley. And even though Maggie town officials say they have no plans to annex the area, the group is proceeding as if they have a fight on their hands. “It’s never been discussed at a meeting that we would ever want to annex all the way into Jonathan Valley,” said Maggie Valley Town Manager Scott Bufkin. The town is required every year to submit a form outlining what properties it might ever consider annexing, and part of Jonathan Valley was included in that, Bufkin said. About 25 residents of Jonathan Valley, though, met in the fire station Sunday afternoon to discuss forming some kind of legal entity to oppose any future annexation attempts. The group believes that if it is organized and assumes some kind of legal standing, Maggie Valley officials won’t be able to annex. They are collecting map data, raising funds, determining how much tax money comes from the proposed area and how many people live there. They have set their next meeting for Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. in the Jonathan Valley fire station. To a person, they believe Maggie aldermen have plans to annex deep into Jonathan Valley. “I don’t think there’s any doubt about their long-term plan. I just don’t have any doubts that they want to annex us,” said Jack Ryan. A different group — the Good Neighbors of Maggie Valley — are fighting an annexation attempt by the town right now. That area, though, is within what is traditionally known as Maggie Valley and is contiguous to the current corporate limits of the town. That battle has received much media attention, and the fact that the town is forcibly annexing the area in the valley against the wishes of residents has those in Jonathan Valley fearing the same type action. The town already has satellite annexed Jonathan Valley Elementary School and just last week took in the Preserves, a development in Jonathan Valley. Both of those annexations were at the request of property owners. Franklin said the group wants to incorporate the property a mile deep on both sides of U.S. 276 from its intersection with U.S. 19 to Interstate 40, a swathe that would create 10-square-mile entity. That last thing the group wants, though, is to become a municipality. “For us to become a town would, eventually, make us just as bad as them,” said Franklin, referring to the Maggie aldermen. “That’s the last thing we want.” Andy Romanet, the general counsel with the N.C. League of Municipalities, says in North Carolina you either are a town or you aren’t. “There is no legal entity that I know of that is less than a town in North Carolina. You either incorporate or you don’t incorporate,” said Romanet. The League of Municipalities opposes what Romanet referred to as “defensive incorporations.” “We know some communities incorporate to fight something and then take tax money away from other towns. We oppose that,” he said. Romanet said incorporation proposals are sent to a Joint Legislative Commission on Incorporation, which gathers information about the proposal. They also must have the support of at least one local legislator who will sponsor the bill.