Residents rally against property annexation bill in Union County

MARVIN, N.C. — Hundreds of Union County residents have signed a petition opposing Senate Bill 219, which would allow more properties to be annexed into the towns of Marvin and Stallings.

The bill, if passed, would remove a cap on annexations, enabling more property owners to voluntarily join these towns.

This has sparked concern among residents like Sarah Harbin, who initiated the petition to maintain the rural character of their community.

“If our neighbors opted to annex themselves to a town, we’d be fine with that. It’s not that we don’t expect development to come out. What we do, we want it to be reasonable,” said Sarah Harbin, a petitioner against SB 219.

State law currently limits satellite annexations to no more than 10 percent of a town’s corporate limits, and the village of Marvin is currently at less than 1%.

This means that even with the passage of Senate Bill 219, the overall impact on Marvin’s boundaries would be limited. Council Member John Baresich of Marvin explained that annexation could help distribute the tax burden for infrastructure and services that non-residents already use.

Proposed development in Union County receives mixed reactions from community members

“We’ve installed a number of roundabouts over the last number of years to help to improve traffic flow. Those help those subdivisions that are not just the ones that are in Marvin, but also ones that are directly adjacent to it as well. But the village of Marvin taxpayers are the ones that have been, you know, funding a lot of those improvements,” he said.

Senator Todd Johnston, who drafted the bill, withdrew it from the calendar last week and indicated in an email that he has no plans to bring it to a vote.

This decision follows feedback from constituents like Harbin, who have expressed concerns about the lack of specifics regarding which properties might be annexed.

The towns of Marvin and Stallings are among over 100 municipalities in North Carolina that have enacted similar legislation for long-term strategic planning.

However, the exact scope of the annexations proposed by Senate Bill 219 remains unspecified, leaving residents uncertain about the potential changes to their community.

With the bill currently off the table, residents of Union County remain vigilant about future developments that could affect their communities.

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