Apex votes to control 9,000 acres next door

Apex, N.C. — Apex leaders voted unanimously Tuesday for a plan that could position the town to nearly double in size in the next 10 years.

The plan to ask Wake County to grant Apex planning and zoning jurisdiction over nearly 9,000 acres outside town boundaries will be the largest extra-territorial jurisdiction move ever in the county, Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly said.

Extra-territorial jurisdiction lets a municipality control development in unincorporated areas. State law determines how far out a town can reach.

"It allows for orderly planning on the area adjacent to our city limits," Weatherly said. "It provides protection from a neighbor, from the intrusion of something that could be built next door."

Areas within the extra-territorial jurisdiction remain outside town limits, and the town does not tax them. People who live there do not vote in town elections. The town could eventually annex some or all of the land.

"That would, I think, almost double or corporate limits," Weatherly said of annexation.

Extra-territorial jurisdiction may limit what residents can do with the land that, in some cases, they have owned for years.

"When I first got the paper, I didn't understand what was going on," said Christine Williams, who wanted to put a mobile home on another parcel of land that would soon be under Apex's zoning laws.

"That's when I realized I couldn't put that there on that property," she said, noting Apex's zoning laws don't allow mobile or manufactured homes.

Williams said it isn't fair because she still lives in the county. Apex town leaders said it is a part of planning for growth.

Town leaders said people within the extra-territorial jurisdiction will have the option to become part of the town and that no area would be annexed by force.

The town planning director said anyone can petition to change their zoning, but it must be put to a vote.

28 Comments

WRAL.com welcomes your comments on this story. All comments are moderated prior to publication based on our posting guidelines. Please review them prior to posting and if your message is not approved.

VIEW ALL 28 COMMENTS

This story is closed for comments. Comments on WRAL.com news stories are accepted and moderated between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Latest Comments

I want to live in Apex. Apparently its the City on the Summit.

eduncw
October 3, 2007 3:48 p.m.

If you want someone to blame for the procees of annexation, blame the legislature. Municipalities (like apex) cannot exist without the express authorization of the state government. Remeber from civics, people, there are only two levels of sovereign government in the USA - Federal and State. The counties, cities and towns exist solely at the pleasure of the legislature and can only act when, where and how the general statutes allow. If apex is annexing, it is doing so because the statutes say it can, and doing so in the ONLY MANNER ALLOWED BY LAW. If you don't like it, get a new legislature. Apex government isn't the problem here. It is doing what it is allowed to do in the only manner it is allowed to do it.

pleshy
October 3, 2007 2:05 p.m.

9,000 acres, shish, that's nothing, the totalitarian regime in Fayetteville forcibly annexed 23 sq. miles, in a closed door vote! Now after 3 years of paying taxes since, still no water, still no sewer, and this classic example of taxation without representation was upheld by our wonderful state's supreme court. There are a few bills being floated around to change this, so if they aren't just typical, political, lip service I suggest everybody get behind legislation abolishing these "legal" land grabs.