Of those casting votes, 463 or 58.5 percent accepted the offer, while 329 or 41.5 percent rejected it.
If a majority had rejected the offer, the council was prepared to proceed immediately with involuntary annexation, to become effective in 2007.
The Pinewild Property Owners Association Board then voted unanimously to accept the proposal. The association forwarded a letter to Pinehurst Mayor Steve Smith, said Terry Lambert, PPOA president.
Of 1,044 ballots and written proposals distributed to property owners, 792 marked ballots were returned, representing a turnout of 75.9 percent, according to Lambert.
“We reiterate, of course, our continued opposition to involuntary annexation but look forward to a cooperative relationship between the Pinewild Property Owners’ Association and the village of Pinehurst,” Lambert said in the letter to Smith.
A representative of StTOP (Stop the Taking of Pinewild) and one from the PPOA annexation committee also counted the ballots, while a certified public accountant verified and certified the results.
“I can tell you that the village is very pleased that the vast majority of Pinewild residents approved the proposal,” said Pinehurst Village Attorney Michael Newman on Thursday.
Pinewild has about 1,200 residents. It has just under 700 homes and about 400 undeveloped lots. All property owners had the opportunity to vote. The annexation is be effective June 30, 2008.
Village Manager Andy Wilkison said Thursday the agenda for the Village Council’s meeting Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 5:30 does not include a Pinewild item
“It may come up in discussion,” he said. “No action is necessary or anticipated by the village at this stage.”
Annexation Law Debated
Pinewild residents John and Lydia Boesch organized a group called StTOP (Stop the Taking of Pinewild), which is a branch of a statewide organization of StTOP (Stop the Taking of Property) that opposes involuntary annexations. They say they will continue to work with the statewide organization to lobby for changes in what they say is the “antiquated” state law allowing municipalities to annex territories directly adjacent to their urban limits without approval of the residents.
But Newman said he’s confident that the state involuntary annexation law is on firm ground and that Pinehurst’s involuntary annexation of Pinewild will go smoothly.
The council made its offer to Pinewild to delay annexation for two years as the result of several months of intense discussions.
If a majority of property owners had voted to refuse the offer, the council would have proceeded to annex Pinewild next year, because it meets the criteria set by the state for an involuntary annexation.
“A recent N.C. Supreme Court majority ruling actually upheld Pinehurst’s planned action and the state law,” Newman said, speaking on behalf of the village.
Smith was unavailable for comment.
In the case of Nolan vs. the town of Marvin in Union County, the state’s highest court ruled in favor of the residents who contested the involuntary annexation. The court ruled that “substantial” municipal services must be available to property owners in an involuntary annexation proceeding. The small Union County town didn’t have any services to offer its own residents, except for part-time town clerk, tax collector and administrators.
Village leaders have said that this is not a comparable case, since Pinehurst has a number of municipal services to offer residents.
Pinewild residents who oppose the annexation say they don’t need any of the services the village offers, such as garbage collection. The county provides water for Pinewild. Residents pay a fire district tax of 10 cents per $100 valuation to the village, which provides fire protection. Once annexed, Pinewild property owners would no longer have to pay that tax.
They would have to pay the village’s property tax rate, which is 31 cents per $100 valuation. Pinewild residents will receive their first village tax bills in August 2008.
Pinewild is currently in the village’s extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction (ETJ) and is subject to its zoning ordinance.
“It’s almost a mantra for these groups to say the state’s involuntary annexation law is antiquated,” Newman said. “Laws against speeding have been in existence since the invention of the automobile. Are they antiquated?”
Newman said the law had worked very well through the years since its adoption in the 1950s.
Delay Welcomed
Boesch and others see the state Supreme Court decision against Marvin as a “landmark” with overtones of victory for the anti-involuntary annexation movement.
Wilkison said 40 of the “no” votes against accepting the village’s offer came from Koichi Sato, general partner for Pinewild Project Limited Partnership (PPLP). It owns the country club, golf courses and other amenities, as well as the still-undeveloped property in phases four and five of Pinewild.
More than 60 percent of the Pinewild homeowners voted to accept the offer, he pointed out, excluding Sato’s 40 votes.
The village has agreed not to exercise its powers of eminent domain by taking over the streets inside the community upon annexation, because taxpayers’ money can’t be spent on private roads or require existing privately maintained roads to meet its infrastructure regulations.
“The village has all along believed that despite a very vocal but small minority associated with StTOP, the majority of Pinewild homeowners understood that this was the best result,” Newman said.
Lydia Boesch said Thursday that this two-year delay is welcome because it gives opponents more time to lobby the N.C. General Assembly to revoke the involuntary annexation law and to mount a lawsuit against the village to block it.
She said some people she knows who oppose annexation voted to accept the village’s offer for that reason. She also said she believes opponents will win the war.
“We have a strong conviction that the statute is wrong,” said Boesch in a telephone interview. StTOP reflects the “not now, not ever” school of opinion among Pinewild residents, she said.
The outcome of the vote didn’t surprise Boesch. “All along we have estimated a 30 to 40 percent rejection rate,” she said.
The law requires municipalities in the final stages of involuntary annexation to adopt an annexation ordinance for the property following the acceptance of an annexation report on the financial impact for the village and residents, among other data. The law sets a deadline by which any lawsuits challenging the annexation may be filed.
Those actions probably won’t happen until spring 2007.
Sara Lindau can be reached at 693-2473 or by e-mail at slindau@thepilot.com.
