Homeowners from the area west of Asheboro are drumming up support for their fight against forced annexation.
ASHEBORO -- Protestors lined the streets in front of the city building in Asheboro for the last two days hoping to drum up support against the forced annexation of the Dave’s Mountain area.
The city council started the process to annex the 400 homes back in February. The final vote is just a day away, and Dave's Mountain homeowners are doing what they can to get the word out.
Homeowners from the area west of Asheboro are drumming up support for their fight against forced annexation.
“They think that when we're annexed that these streets will be paved with gold and the truth of the matter is that their sewer rates are going up, their water rates are going up. They will be paying for our annexation for 20 or 30 years,” said Gloria McClanahan, a Dave's Mountain resident.
City officials said the annexation is a key part of the Asheboro 2020 plan; what they hope the city will look like in the year 2020. But McClanahan says she thinks the cost outweighs any benefits to the city.
“And that means our children and our grandchildren will be paying for this debt with no benefit to the city for 20 or 30 years,” McClanahan said. “This is not a sound financial decision for the city to make.”
Protestors lined the streets in front of the city building in Asheboro for the last two days hoping to drum up support against the forced annexation of the Dave’s Mountain area.
Ed Hyder says he worked for the planning board 20 years ago when the city had a previous opportunity to annex the area. “This area came up for consideration for annexation at that time and the engineers recommended that it not be done because of the cost at that time and so now the cost is even greater,” said Hyder.
The protestors say it's not just about getting people in Asheboro to listen to their plight against forced annexation, but getting people to listen across the state. “The representatives and senators in the state at least owe it to the citizens and the tax payers of this state to have a moratorium until they can at least reach some kind of resolve,” said Bill Palmer, a Dave's Mountain resident. “This is really a major controversial issue across North Carolina.”
He says it could be sometime before the state sees a moratorium on forced annexation and that's why the homeowners have hired a lawyer.
The Asheboro City Council initiated the annexation back in February, since then there have been several public forums about the issue. Officials will take the final step in the process when they vote Thursday night.