Robyn Browne calls it a “shame,” but it’s a fact - annexation opponents are taking the town of Maggie Valley to court.

“Really, it’s just a shame that it has come to this, but this is where we’re at,” said Browne, one of the leaders of the anti-annexation group known as Good Neighbors of Maggie Valley. The suit was filed June 27 in Haywood County’s Superior Court. It alleges that the town did not meet several statutory requirements when it voted May 8 to annex 183 acres, 209 dwellings and 464 people into its town limits. If it stands, the annexation would hike the small Haywood County tourist town’s population by 72 percent to 1,107 people.

The lawsuit by opponents was not unexpected. As the annexation process came to a head in April and May, opponents showed up at public meetings and pleaded with town officials to give up on their plans. They invited the head of a statewide anti-annexation organization to meetings and began raising money.

The town, for its part, was not surprised by the lawsuit. The budget approved two weeks ago included a $50,000 line item for legal fees to fight the annexation lawsuit, and Town Manager Scott Bufkin did not include in his 2001-2002 budget money from property and other taxes expected to be generated from the addition of homes and residents.

Specifically, the suit states:

° The property in the annexed areas do not meet the development and subdivision tests that would make them fair game for annexation. The suit alleges that less than 60 percent of the lots or tracts are currently in use for residential, commercial, industrial, institutional or government purposes. The town contends that at least 60 percent of the lots or tracts are currently used for those purposes.

° That the area does not qualify for annexation because 60 percent of the acreage - not counting acreage used for commercial, industrial, government or institutional purposes - does not consist of lots of three acres or less.

° The town does not adequately address how it will finance extension of services into the newly annexed areas and does not provide enough information to show it is committed to providing services.

The Maggie Valley group is being represented by Wes Hodges, a Wilmington attorney who has fought several annexation cases in court. In April of this year, he helped residents of Oak Island successfully fight off an annexation. He did not return phone calls placed to his office.

As long as the suit remains in court, residents of the newly annexed areas won’t have to pay town property taxes. Even if they lose, they are not required to pay the back taxes, but would only owe property taxes starting from the first day of the first month after the case ends.

 

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