|
The North Carolina Supreme Court’s 5-2 decision in favor in Nolan v. Village of Marvin is one of the most important forced, involuntary annexation cases ever to come out of the Supreme Court, or any North Carolina court. The Court held that North Carolina’s involuntary annexation statutes require a “meaningful extension of public services” into an area proposed for forced annexation. In reaching this conclusion, the Court held that two specific annexation statutes must be read and construed together. One of these statutes is the “policy” statute. This statute, and its legislative history, set forth the legislature’s expectation that an annexing municipality would extend municipal services when annexing an area. The Court also concluded that the Nolans would suffer “material injury” if forced to pay additional property taxes, yet receive no additional services. Now, under Nolan, an area being threatened with forced annexation, that has all if its municipal services (e.g., water and sewer services, police and fire protection, solid waste removal), can argue that the annexation is invalid. This does not necessarily mean that the coast is clear for Pinewild forever. Pinehurst may try to distinguish Nolan on the basis that the Village of Marvin’s population is less than 5,000, and a different “policy” statute applies to Pinehurst. However, the “policy” statute and underlying legislative history that apply to Pinehurst provide strong support to Pinewild property owners if Pinehurst elects, despite Nolan, to annex Pinewild.
|