Roanoke Rapids City Council this morning registered its opposition to a state Senate bill that would give Franklin County the authority to annex property in Halifax, Vance, and Warren counties without consent.

Halifax County commissioners approved a resolution opposing Senate Bill 214 Thursday night.

The state House on Wednesday pulled the bill from its calendar and is scheduled to vote on the matter Tuesday.

The city council this morning unanimously approved a resolution opposing the bill during an emergency meeting this morning with Councilman Andy Jackson making the motion and Rex Stainback affirming the motion with a second.

City Attorney Geoffrey Davis said emergency meetings are rare, “But I think it’s incredibly important in this case.”

He said the issue comes down to jeopardizing “one of the most important powers of local government” and the ability to exercise choices as far as local planning decisions. “If it’s a new industry the local government entity needs to have the authority to be able to review that and decide whether that’s going to conform to our local planning restrictions and whether to also receive community feedback.”

As state laws currently stand, an outside county that wants to acquire property inside another county has to have that county’s consent, he said. “I think there’s several reasons for it, but one of the important reasons for it, in my opinion, is that if a piece of property is owned by a local government entity, it’s non-taxed.”

In a situation where an outside county or city acquires property inside another county, the property in question is removed from the tax base.

Davis credited state Representative Rodney Pierce for alerting municipal leaders about the matter. “We were all caught flatfooted. There’s been no contact that has been made to anyone here locally that we can find to give us a heads up that this was coming.”

Senate Bill 214 is a local bill that was filed last year and initially made no mention of Halifax County, he said. Local bills ask the General Assembly to allow local governments to do something that they can’t normally do and the governor cannot veto them.

This week, however, a representative pulled the old version of the bill and placed in it several items that weren’t in the original bill that included part 5 that is specifically related to Halifax County which says Franklin County may acquire, including through condemnation, real property — or an interest in real property — located in Halifax, Vance, or Warren counties without the consent or approval of the other counties’ boards of commissioners. “Essentially, if that bill was passed and became law, what that would do is allow Franklin County to condemn — exercise the power of imminent domain — to take property in Halifax County,” Davis said. “It would allow them to purchase, be donated, or to acquire property in any other ways that a local government can acquire property within Halifax County and also within Vance and Warren counties without the consent of the local county commissioners.”

While Halifax County is on the front line of the matter, Roanoke Rapids is the largest municipality within its boundaries, he said. “I think it’s important that we make a show of support with respect to the situation.”

Davis said the county made an effort to contact the other counties that will be affected by the proposed legislation. “It seems like from everyone they’ve heard back from, nobody knew that it was coming.”

Pierce said in a statement Thursday that the matter appears to be tied to water usage. “They are a fast-growing part of the state. I also know that in Vance County, they recently approved a data center that will have needs for water as well,” Davis said.

Pierce had indicated in his statement that the Kerr Reservoir was being targeted. “This is not the only way they could have gone about this,” Davis said. “This seems to me a very kind of extreme and blunt way to go about getting access to water rights up here. It seems to me much more responsible to give voters and the constituents that are impacted by a decision like this to have a say in what’s going on.”

He said he was also troubled that the bill seems to unilaterally give Franklin County the right to make decisions over land use and the acquisition of property and “completely cut out folks here in Halifax County. That’s something we’ve never seen.”

Referring to the recent discussions about aggregate mining in the county, Davis said, “The way that this is written, it seems to me that if anybody wanted to locate a mining operation, they could go to Franklin County and have then acquire it. With all the back and forth and all the hearings, and moratoriums, Halifax County wouldn’t have a right to be part of that. More to the point, the voters of Halifax County wouldn’t be able to express their will through elected representatives.”

Said Davis: “It’s kind of an attack on the basic principles of representative democracy.”

Mayor Emery Doughtie asked about recourse should the matter pass, to which Davis responded, “I’m always hesitant to project the future regarding potential litigation, but I think that would be the only choice because if it passes, it will become law. It really does get to some foundational issues as far as the way that this process is set up. I worry if this is allowed to go through, what it portends for the future of local involvement in development decisions.”

Councilman Warren Bell asked if the bill should pass, would it set a precedent for the state. 

Davis said, “At least as far as the text of this is, it’s really just Franklin County and nobody else, but Franklin County has the ability to go outside of (current restrictions) and acquire property in Halifax, Vance, and Warren.”

He said the issue highlights the growth inequity in the state. “Growth in our state is not even. There are parts of the state that grow leaps and bounds and there are other parts of the state, like us, that don’t grow that heavily. There are parts of the state that are very wealthy in resources, such as ours and other parts of the state don’t have those resources. It would seem to me if this goes into effect and this is allowed, that if I lived in a rural, low population county that is wealthy in resources, I would be worried about some of these more powerful, more populated resource-poor counties looking to take advantage of that.”

Bell said certain regions, like the I-85 corridor, is where the power in the state is as far as economics and politics. “But they are resource-poor in most of those places as far as land and minerals — those types of vital assets such as water and things of that sort.”

Councilman Curt Strickland whether there is anything that restricts where Franklin County can take land.

“There’s no other qualification,” Davis said. “It doesn’t have to be adjacent. They could acquire something in Darlington, in Moonlight — something in the completely non-contiguous part of the county.”

Since it appears the issue is tied to water, the city attorney said, “I can envision a lot of ways that you can give Franklin County access to that water that is not a blanket grant of authority to acquire property without the consent of the local county commissioners.”

Although the matter appears to be tied to water, the bill could also apply to land development, he said. “What happens when developers see that and they say rather than going and buying a nice piece of property in Halifax County and paying taxes on that, why don’t we go to Franklin County and acquire it and lease it back.”

Stainback asked what would happen if Halifax County just said no to issuing a permit.

City Manager Kelly Traynham said typically when another county or government owns property in a jurisdiction that is being targeted by an outside government, that municipality’s zoning authority still applies.

She said, however, “It’s not stated within this legislation. It’s going completely against a lot of other rules.”

She said it creates a domino effect that needs to be taken under consideration. “I don’t think the planning associations and all those have really had an opportunity to consider any of this as well.”

Davis said he worries that if the legislation passes that Franklin County could take the position if local commissioners don’t have the right to consent, does it get them around local planning rules. “That’s one of the worrying things about it.”

He said that the counties involved are lucky that Pierce saw it and started calling governments that would be affected by the proposal. “I really have to give credit to both him and to the county officials for really jumping on top of this and making an issue of it.”

Said Traynham: “It’s really important that not only do we take action, but we personally reach out and make sure our voices are heard in Raleigh.”