The city of Lexington is being taken to court.
The group Citizens Against Forced Annexation filed a lawsuit yesterday over the city council's decision to annex nearly 2,000 people.
"We surround the city, and we've looked in and we don't like what we smell," Mike Bralkowski, the group's president, said during a news conference at the Davidson County Courthouse.
The Lexington City Council voted unanimously July 21 to annex four areas along Biesecker Road, East Center Street, Old Salisbury Road and Winston Road. The areas cover 2.35 square miles and have 1,953 residents. City officials estimate that the city will get total annual revenues of $1.6 million from the annexed areas. The annexation is scheduled to become effective June 30.
The lawsuit includes four petitions signed by more than 240 county residents. According to the lawsuit, the city didn't follow the procedures for advertising a public-information meeting and a public hearing. The suit also alleges that the city did not fully analyze the effect that the annexation would have on rural fire departments and that the city failed to speak to how the city would provide sewer service to annexed residents.
City officials did not comment on the specific points raised by the lawsuit, but they stand by the decision to annex the four areas. "I think the action was right and will ultimately be in the best interest of those out there," said John Gray, the city manager.
Last month, the city council voted to hire Anthony Fox of the Parker Poe law firm in Charlotte to represent the city in any litigation resulting from the council's vote to annex the four areas.
Opponents didn't challenge the constitutionality of involuntary annexation. North Carolina law allows cities to annex urban areas that are next to municipalities to provide certain services and expand the property-tax base.
"Any fix to the annexation statute has to be a legislative fix," said Bob Hornik, the attorney for Citizens Against Forced Annexation.
In 2003, a group of Forsyth County residents filed two lawsuits against the city of Winston-Salem after the city council there voted to annex about 20 square miles. The lawsuits eventually failed, and the city annexed the areas in 2006.
Lexington city officials began a study of the annexation project in 2005. In April, the city council approved a resolution of intent to annex the four areas. This summer, the city had a public-information meeting and a public hearing.
As the city council inched closer to a final vote on annexation, opposition grew. Opponents circulated petitions and protested in front of Mayor John Walser's house. At the July 8 public hearing, residents compared involuntary annexation to communism, Nazism and segregation.
This is the first time that an involuntary annexation in Lexington has been legally challenged, Gray said. No lawsuits were filed against the city for annexations in 1989 and 1998, he said.
■ Michael Hewlett can be reached at 727-7326 or at mhewlett@wsjournal.com.
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