bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
CHAPEL HILL -- About 25 people, some of them farmers who live outside the Carrboro city limits, presented a petition Tuesday to the Orange County Board of Commissioners asking that the county take extraterritorial jurisdiction back from the town of Carrboro.
The farmers claim in the petition that their farms should be regulated by the county, which is experienced in managing farms and rural lands, not by Carrboro, which "has no expertise in managing farms or rural land."
Carrboro's extraterritorial jurisdiction, commonly known as its ETJ, extends two miles outside of the town limits. It empowers the Carrboro Board of Aldermen to make decisions about property there, although the people who own the property cannot vote in Carrboro's elections.
ETJs are common across the state of North Carolina and in other states and have a long history. The U.S. Supreme Court took on a case about ETJs and ruled that due process and equal protection were not violated by them even though they didn't allow residents living in them the right to vote in municipal elections.
At the meeting, several people spoke about Carrboro's ETJ, saying among other things that Carrboro is using its ETJ as a sponge in order to comply with Jordan Lake's new nutrient rules.
"Where is social justice in having rural land used by farmers governed by an urban authority and not a rural authority?" said Brian Voyce, who is not a farmer and has run unsuccessfully for mayor of Carrboro twice.
The petitioners previously have asked Carrboro to relinquish its control of the ETJ back to the county, but the Board of Aldermen have refused to consider it. The petitioners now appear to be pinning their hopes on the Board of Commissioners.
They cite a report called "The North Carolina Experience with Municipal Extraterritorial Planning Jurisdiction" by David W. Owens of UNC's Institute of Government in which he wrote, "If the city and county do not mutually agree, G.S. 160A-360(g) provides that a prior county approval can be rescinded with two years written notice to the municipality."
However, Owens went on to write, "This, however, rarely happens. Less than four percent of the municipalities reported that the county had ever rescinded a prior approval of extraterritorial jurisdiction approval."
After hearing from the few who spoke about the petition, the commissioners told them that they would have their attorney and staff look into it.
After the petitioners left the room and were standing in the hallway outside, Commissioner Barry Jacobs came out to speak to them and told them the commissioners also wanted to hear from Carrboro about its position.
