Testimony ends in annexation case; decision expected in early December

Three days of testimony ended in the annexation lawsuit Friday, but Judge Ken Crow does not expect to issue a decision until early December.

“It’ll be a wonderful Christmas present to hear that it got shot down, but you never know,” Briarwood resident Mark Capps said Friday after Crow heard closing arguments from both sides in Lenoir County Superior Court.

Capps is among 1,200 residents just west of Kinston who would be annexed it the city wins the lawsuit.

Attorney Jim Eldridge, who has fought involuntary annexations before, filed suit against the city during July on behalf of the residents.

“Mr. Eldridge has done a fine job of representing our interests,” Hill Farm Road resident Jerry Williams said.

Oral arguments began Monday, continued Tuesday and picked up again Friday.

Eldridge questioned a number of city officials on the witness stand, including City Manager Scott Stevens, former planning director Tommy Lee and former City Attorney Vernon “Poo” Rochelle.

Rochelle was questioned because of his knowledge of a 1989 agreement between the city and the Hillcrest subdivision to provide septic tank maintenance to residents there as the city tried to annex the community, even though no such provision exists in the city’s current annexation plan.

Eldridge argued that city’s plan of services stated that sewer service will be provided to the annexed area — city officials plan to run sewer lines out there, but residents must pay to hook up to the line, and their existing septic tanks will not be maintained by the city.

State annexation statutes require municipalities to provide services to annexed areas in the same manner as the rest of the city.

“This is such a fundamentally flawed concept, that I don’t think it can be remanded ... it is so fundamentally at odds with the city’s own policies,” Eldridge said in his closing statement.

City Attorney Jim Cauley countered: “The proposed plan of services is consistent with the city’s policies up to this point, not inconsistent.”

Involuntary annexations are legal in North Carolina, but must be done according to specific statutes; attorneys challenge them in courts on procedural grounds, and judges can either order cities to redo their plans or declare annexations null and void.

In Kinston’s case, Eldridge said the city did not plan to offer sewer service as it is offered in the rest of the city, illegally split tracts when drawing the annexation boundaries and did not include an effective date in its annexation ordinance.

The City Council voted during May that Nov. 30 should be the effective date, though.

That date is null and void, though, because an annexation is not effective until the last court makes its final decision.

Crow said he must go through several hundred pages of documents, case law and testimony before making a decision, which he expects will not be announced until next month. It is highly likely that either party would appeal his decision — some annexations Eldridge have fought dragged on for years, saving the residents from paying additional city expenses.

David Anderson can be reached at 252-559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.