A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT PROVIDING THAT THE TOWN OF BOONE SHALL NOT EXERCISE THE POWERS OF EXTRATERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Town of Boone shall not exercise any powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction as provided in Article 19 of Chapter 6 160A of the General Statutes.
SECTION 2. This act is effective when it becomes law.
It's a breathtaking power-grab meant to cripple Boone's ability to control development on its fringes. Most if not all of the Extraterritorial Jurisdiction that Boone now has was requested by residents living there to protect themselves from unwanted and undesirable development, including the Seven Oaks neighborhood off Roby Greene Rd. which requested to be taken in under Boone's zoning regs to protect itself from a Maymead asphalt plant. This bill would simply remove all those protections with a flick of Mr. Soucek's wrist.
The senator requested a meeting with town officials today to inform them of his bill. He brought with him a veritable who's who of power players who've made a crusade in recent years against the city's land-use planning regulations. Chief among them was Jeff Templeton, along with Mr. Templeton's in-law Perry Yates and Keith Honeycutt and Nathan Miller, former county commissioners who've made their grudges against the town a matter of on-going public record.
Jonathan Jordan, we feel confident, is on board to introduce the same bill in the NC House.
According to the UNC School of Government, "By long-standing practice, a legislative 'courtesy' system provides that local bills will almost always win general approval in each house as long as they have the support of the legislators who represent the jurisdiction(s) involved. Occasionally, a local bill that is controversial will face some opposition, but otherwise, the legislators defer to the local delegation on matters of concern to their local government constituents."
So, our representatives, who preach less government when it suits them, intend to trump the residents and Town Council of Boone by ramming through from on high the most draconian change to our terrain. They intend to unleash the developers to do whatever the hell their imaginations can devise. This is "small government" at its most ironic, and it's being done to benefit the few against the wishes of the many.
When the Town of Boone made asses of themselves by rejecting Watauga County's ETJ appointees, they overstepped their bounds and started this backlash. Boone wants to determine how county residents can build and develop their own properties, but they don't want those same residents to have any voice in Boone elections. Why should county residents be subject to rule by Boone town council yet not have a voice in the elections of those who would rule them?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous sounds a lot like the dumbest Republican member of the Watauga County commission.
ReplyDeleteThis is an uninformed comment.
ReplyDeleteThe ETJ gets representation on the Board of Adjustment. The Town did not overstep its bounds regarding the county's ETJ appointees. The County ignored the definition of "qualified" as defined in the state statutes.
The County wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants complete lack of any sort of land use regulation, yet it wants to benefit from what land use regulation provides at the periphery of the Town's boundaries (a positive spillover).
If this goes through, the Town should refuse to cooperate in any sort of shared interest in publicly provided water or sewer.
The County (gov't and development interests) want the development cake -- water and sewer -- but don't want to bear responsibility for the externalities associated with unregulated development.
This isn't free market. This is greed pure and simple.
Try to develop without water and sewer. You won't get more than second-home McMansions. Watauga County economic development ideas are stuck in 1970.
Thanks Soucek!
Don't give up local power to the state. You will never get it back. State government is big government, too.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, or should I say Jeff? If the county had not appointed people who lived in town to represent the ETJ, I bet the town would not have taken any action. It is not very reassuring when the commissioners say that there are no qualified people who live in the ETJ who they can appoint and instead ignore the ETJ to appoint their cronies.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous. You're an idiot. Do you understand how works? You aren't subject to town taxes, so you don't get a vote. We'll just see how well everyone likes it when an asphalt plant comes crawling up their street and they have no protection. Why didn't Soucek hold a public hearing on this? Because he's paying off his buddies who came with him to the meeting. He's too afraid to come before the public. And so long Howard's Knob. The only protection there is ETJ.
ReplyDeleteGet ready for more apartment complexes like that monstrosity above WalMart and that new mega development on Poplar Grove!! I voted for Nathan and Senator Soucek. I am so disappointed.
ReplyDeleteJust look at who attended the meeting with Soucek (who is an idiot). That's who is really running the show. They want water for their big projects out in the ETJ but don't want to have to follow any land-use rules. So. The answer is simple. Just cut off all water runs out into the ETJ.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 7:05 makes a point. Why not annex those jurisdictions into the town of Boone?
ReplyDeleteThis thread is a lie. Anyone can petition for his property to be annexed into the town, even using satellite annexation. ETJ areas are not needed and until people that live there are allowed to vote, should be unconstitutional.
ReplyDeleteAstonishing. I can only imagine that money and/or favors are being exchanged behind the scenes here. I live in the ETJ, am glad that I do, and do not want what few protections I enjoy to be taken away. I will be calling both Soucek and Jordan's offices tomorrow to complain.
ReplyDeleteThe Templetons sued the town to try to negate the viewshed protections and lost. They tried unseat the town council and lost. So, naturally, they moved up the ladder. Lo and behold, they have found great success owning the Watauga County Commission and the area delegation to Raleigh. Probably own Virginia Foxx, too. Money and Republicans - like soup and sandwich.
ReplyDeleteAnonymi at 9:57 and 10:14 do make good points, but our state legislature is in the process of making annexation even harder than it was before (a bill is now on its way to the governor's desk for signature).
ReplyDeleteGranted, this applies to forced annexation as opposed to the voluntary annexation, but haphazard and chock-a-block annexation is just as bad as haphazard and chock-a-block planning.
My earlier point stands. Property in the ETJ benefit from planned development within the town.
And... there IS representation. On each of the boards that oversee development (board of adjustment, planning commission). Land regulation is the only impact the town has on ETJ properties, and qualified ETJ residents are eligible to serve and directly make decisions on land use matters that directly affect them.
Whenever someone suggests that people being governed by the town should have a vote in selecting those who govern them, you can be sure some idiot will try to tie voting edibility with taxes.
ReplyDeleteANON @ 8:51 is making the argument that only taxpayers should be allowed to vote? Interesting - but you wonder how many others here would support that position? Should students at ASU be prohibited from voting since they pay no town taxes? Should only property owners be given the vote?
Or does everyone just recognize that anony@ 8:51 has just made a stupid statement and ignore such idocy?
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteGet ready for more apartment complexes like that monstrosity above WalMart and that new mega development on Poplar Grove!! I voted for Nathan and Senator Soucek. I am so disappointed.
8:53 PM
So disappointed...the monstrosities you are talking about are located within the town of Boone's jurisdiction and you are arguing that Boone somehow prevents this kind of thing from happening?
Interesting point of view.
Maybe the town of Boone should just annex the areas in question - oh wait, no! Then they would have to allow the citizens there to vote and would also have to provide services. Much better to just claim authority over county residents and to hell with their right to vote for the people who govern them!
This all about voiding Boone's steep-slope ordinance so they can build mega-student housing complexes and condo's up and down every mountain side around Boone. Kiss the scenic beauty that we enjoy and that visitors come here for goodbye! Soucek has sold us all out. His greedy backers and the others who are pushing this have done this for short term profits, and will ruin the atmosphere of this town for the long term. Arrogant. Unnecessary. And the Commissioners have the gall to complaint that the Town doesn't cooperate with them??? Wow.
ReplyDeleteI live in the ETJ too and while I have to agree somewhat with those who argue that they should have a voice in elections of those that govern them, I am also aware that the former Board of County Commissioners was willing to allow an asphalt plant to be built in the flood zone on the banks of the New River.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how many people petitioned that BOC to do something, they refused to help protect the river in any way. It was out of a sense of frustration that many county residents appealed to the town of Boone to annex the area or to extend ETJ so as to keep the New River asphalt free!
As it is now, they don't have an asphalt plant there but they do have piles of asphalt and materials piled up in the flood plain. These materials find their way into the New with every heavy rain and minor flood!
It really is too bad that the town and county have to engage in pissing contests over this issue but their is a lot at stake here. While some people think that a landowner should be able to do whatever he/she wants with his land, others believe that polluting the river crosses the line!
No local control is the agenda of the republicans. This is an underhanded move--backroom, oldstyle, dirty--politics by Soucek, the Christian boy.
ReplyDeleteOooo! Jeff Templeton's on this thread??? That explains the self-righteous and bullying tone. That really explains a lot!
ReplyDeleteI've started calling State Senators and have discovered that because Soucek introduced this bill during a short session, he would have had to sign a form of some sort testifying to the fact that the bill is uncontroversial. Let's work hard to make it known that this is not the case!
ReplyDeletePlease call Sen. Soucek's office (919-733-5742) to let his staff know that it is NOT uncontroversial, and then call Sen. Jim Davis (919-733-5875) and Sen. Michael Walters (919-733-5651), who are the chairs of the Local Govt. Committee, to tell them the same thing. One person I talked to confirmed that local bills are usually passed quickly because it's assumed that they are not controversial and said that it could be voted on as early as next week. Time is of the essence here!
Jeff Templeton is here? Which post is his?
ReplyDeleteOr are you just making stuff up?
Here is the link for the State and Local Govt. Committee from the NCGA website:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/Committees/Committees.asp?sAction=ViewCommittee&sActionDetails=Senate+Standing_72
Please contact committee members and especially the chairs to let them know that SB 949 (the number assigned to this bill) is in fact quite controversial. Let's not let Soucek get away with trying to pass this off as some minor bill that everyone is on board with! If he actually signed a document saying that it is uncontroversial (which is what I was told he would have to do to put it in during the short session) then I think he lied to his fellow Senators and they should know that.
So, if one has to pay taxes in order to vote, the I assume those of you that feel this way therefore are not in favor of the ASU students voting or of anyone that rents in the town of Boone.
ReplyDeleteAnyone that is governed by the rules of a political entity should be able to vote or run for office in that entity. To say otherwise in morally wrong and should be legal wrong.
Maybe we a=can achieve legislation to this effect.
Also as far as the county appointing ETJ representative, that is how it has to be. By your own admission, these people are being appointed by the only politicians they can vote for. Doing it other wise would disenfranchise them.
Town has called a special meeting of the Water Committee for Monday to discuss "Future Allocation of Water Outside the City Limits" and a closed session of the Council "To consult with the Town Attorney on legal alternatives regarding Legal Legislation regarding the loss of Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction." You can see both notices on the town website (PDF under Public notices). I'm betting they are going to cut off water/sewer to the ETJ since they will have no power to enforce in that area. Templeton, et al, may have just cut off their noses to spite their faces. And I really don't see what else the Town can do. They can't just run water willy-nilly around onto county (not town) lands at the expense of Town residents. What a mess, and far from non-controversial.
ReplyDeleteSoucek's staffer was basically rude when he found out why I was calling. (Call anyway, of course.) The person who needs to hear from us is Davis - you may have to leave a message, since his staff apparently isn't there during most regular business hours.
ReplyDelete7:05 PM
ReplyDeleteAnonymous Liberal POV said...
"Anonymous sounds a lot like the dumbest Republican member of the Watauga County commission."
Obviously, being an idiot, ignoring science and education, carrying water for the rich, ignoring Christ and hating government's intrusion into private lives while promoting laws that do just that, makes one a 2012 Republican.
Goodbye Howard's Knob.
"So disappointed...the monstrosities you are talking about are located within the town of Boone's jurisdiction and you are arguing that Boone somehow prevents this kind of thing from happening?"
ReplyDeleteThere were NO regulations in place at the time that could have prevented those monstrosities from being built. Now, there are. In town, at least. Without ETJ protection the same things can happen outside of Boone.
I live one property deep into the ETJ. I have been hoping for some time to be annexed into the Town of Boone. Perhaps this will be the catalyst which makes it happen? Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteMike D., The Town of Boone does not do annexations unless they're requested by the property owner. Be warned. We requested annexation years ago and got it. Took a few months to complete. The Republicans are sending out newsletters claiming that every ETJ property owner's property value just went up. That's pure hogwash. Plenty of studies show that property values are always higher where there is established zoning regs. No one wants to invest big money in development when an asphalt plant or a concrete producer can move in next door.
ReplyDeleteCalled Davis' and Walters' offices to voice my concern that this is an uncontroversial bill (land use in Watauga uncontroversial????).
ReplyDeleteBoth offices were polite. Davis' office acted as if my call was the first related to SB 949. Walters' office told me there has been a deluge of calls related to this.
The situation as I understand it is that Davis (R) and Walters (D) have separate functioning committees that make decisions with their own separate agenda items. Walters' office said SB 949 is not on their agenda and likely on Davis' agenda.
This doesn't make sense to me, but I guess this is the sausage factory.
Walters' office informed me that Tuesday is the day that Davis' committee is likely to meet again.
Good to see Mike D is back.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the ETJ legislation - the last time this issue was front and center, the Republicans on the board of county commissioners paid the price.
The ETJ in the Roby Green area is there because the county was willing to allow an asphalt plant to be built on the New River and within a few hundred yards of residential neighborhoods. Maybe if the county had done something to protect the interests of the homeowners in the area, there wouldn't have been an etj and it would not have come to this.
Anonymous at 8:10 PM begins his post with the disclaimer:
ReplyDelete"This is an uninformed comment"
I think more of the uninformed posters here should be required to similarly label their posts.
Soucek's staffer in Raleigh was pretty rude to me, too. But to his credit, Soucek himself returned my call and seemed genuinely concerned about hearing the other side of things.
ReplyDeleteStill, I think we need to keep pushing to keep this bill from being passed. Please call the Local Government Committee Chairs (Jim Davis and Michael Walters) as someone earlier posted. I did this yesterday and they were both very receptive to hearing from people who opposed this. In fact, the reason I was struck by Soucek's staffer being rude is partly because of how nice and helpful everyone else was that I talked to.
I cannot believe anyone is claiming property values would go up in the ETJ area if it wasn't ETJ. Nonsense!! ETJ designation was one of the selling points when we bought our home. Look at real estate ads, they advertise ETJ as a plus!
I have always found Soucek to be willing to listen and to patiently explain his position. He has, in my opinion and based on several personal observations, been respectful and professional in his discussions with constituents.
ReplyDeleteWhat I have not seen is him changing his mind on an issue. He will listen to you and will hear you out but, in my experience, he won't alter his course.
I'm in the ETJ and happy to be included. I hope the Town of Boone will finally annex the property.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the smart planning and zoning rules, homes in the ETJ are worth more than outside. If the local zoning from ETJ go away, the values of these properties will go down.
Everyone please keep calling the representatives. The bill to remove the right to be ETJed is not good for Boone or Watauga county.
Let's keep government local!
Perhaps the town of Boone should extend it's ETJ to everything west of I-77. I am sure there are a lot of steep slopes in that area and, God knows, without the nannies in Boone overseeing every aspect of peoples lives, someone might build a house in the wrong spot!
ReplyDeleteC'mon you guys...you have to have a better argument than that without Boone's steep slope regulations the people in the ETJ are doomed!
Most in the ETJ area are happy to be there. As Boone continues to grow, there will be others who request Boone to ETJ their neighborhood, too.
ReplyDeleteSmart land use is key to protecting Boone as it grows.
The monstrosity on poplar grove is not in the Towns jurisdiction, only a small section of the entry is in the ETJ. That is the only place the town had any input is on the entry off poplar grove rf, the rest is in the county's territory.
ReplyDeleteI say let the people who live in each ETJ area vote on whether or not they want to remain ETJ. My bet is that most will want to continue the protection the ETJ is giving them. I realize that some will not but let the residents of an area decide for themselves.
ReplyDeleteMost in the ETJ area are happy to be there
ReplyDeleteDo you have anything other than your opinion to support this claim?
Yes, I did an actual count. Most agreed with me. (there were 2 who werent home so I didn't get to ask them)
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:12PM said...
ReplyDelete" 'Most in the ETJ area are happy to be there'
Do you have anything other than your opinion to support this claim?"
I'm not the original poster but I can say with confidence that at least 80% of the people in my ETJ neighborhood want to stay in the ETJ, based on discussions at well-attended community meetings.
Hey, anon! I was probably one of hose that wasn't home when you came by.
ReplyDeleteSorry I missed you. Mark me down as agreeing tith the ETJ protections as well!
You contacted everyone with property in the ETJ in a few hours? Amazing! How many were they?
ReplyDeleteCould it be you are stretching the truth a bit?
sarcasm is lost on the internet!
ReplyDelete