The Greensboro City Council voted unanimously to oppose Summerfield’s request for extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) at the Monday, Nov. 1 meeting.
The opposition was in the form of a resolution to be sent to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. Summerfield has filed a request with the Board of Commissioners to grant ETJ over an area between the town limits of Summerfield and the city limits of Greensboro.
Granting the request would violate the state statutes for granting ETJ between two jurisdictions and would also violate a 1997 agreement between the City of Greensboro and the Town of Summerfield governing future annexation in this area.
What makes the issue somewhat puzzling is that despite state law and the agreement with Greensboro, Summerfield didn’t notify Greensboro of its intention to request ETJ in this area.
In an August 9, 2021 letter to Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan states, “It is also disturbing how we came to understand this action was happening. Staff learned of the potential request in February through an article in the Rhino Times. Neither staff nor any elected official has been contacted directly by the Town of Summerfield to discuss the matter.”
Vaughan’s letter notes, “One of the purposes of ETJ is for a municipality to regulate land use and zoning such that the area will be compatible with land use and zoning of that municipality, in anticipation of that area becoming part of that municipality.”
The letter states, “The requested ETJ crosses into an area that the Town of Summerfield has agreed should be a part of Greensboro’s corporate limits, an area that Summerfield has agreed not to annex.”
Because this area is according to a legally binding agreement with Summerfield an area of growth for Greensboro, water and sewer has been extended into this area by Greensboro. Vaughan states, “Those investments were made in anticipation of future urban development, at urban densities, in that area. An effort having the impact of curtailing that form of development would have an adverse impact on those investments by not allowing Greensboro to utilize their fullest potential and economic impact from those investments.”
I thought residents had to agree to be annexed in North Carolina. Who in their right mind would want to be annexed by high taxes Greensboro?
Who would want to be under the thumb of the Summerfield leaders is the real question. Or live in Summerfield where the council doesn’t care about anyone but developers.
Now they have one family running the show on the council, zoning board, facebook and speaking at every public meeting, and that family owns hundreds of acres they probably want to develop to make tons. Its been years of the council maneuvering to help David Couch build his mini-Greensboro. They passed a development ordinance after 5 years of work, then they immediately want to amend it for high density. They are begging Greensboro to give up its limited water supply for Summerfield public water. The ETJ is just part of the plan.
Good luck sorting it out…
You know how to tell when a politician is lying? Their lips are moving.