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Willet: ŒETJ should build bridges, not fencesı

By Rose Hooper
If the concept of "us" and "them" divides a community, extra-territorial jurisdiction will not work.

"But," continued Geoffrey Willet, Division of Community Assistance advisor with the N.C. Department of Commerce, "if a community comes together to affect its future, then ETJ can be successful."

Willetıs comments came June 22 during an ETJ information seminar sponsored by the Jackson County League of Women Voters.

"Those in the town limits and those in the proposed ETJ must come together in their thinking, then let their actions build bridges, not fences," Willet added. "As soon as you draw the lines between Œthemı and Œus,ı youıve broken the lines of communication."

Willet, who has 25 years of community and environmental planning experience, said a visioning process at the grassroots community level can help in the ETJ process. Those already in the town and those in the proposed ETJ should create an open dialogue of what is valued most about the area and how the community and those values can be protected and made better for future grandchildren.

"There needs to be a consensus of how do we get there together," Willet emphasized to the group of ETJ supporters and opponents meeting at the Community Service Center.

Willet drew parallels between Western North Carolina residents and those on the coast where he previously worked. "Each has a fierce independence and desire to protect his own land," he said. "Most of our stateıs ETJ areas are in the Piedmont area."

He illustrated by citing a case in Washington where the town limits extended to the mean high water mark.

"Fishermen would dump their dead, smelly fish on the pier, which extended 15 feet over the town line," he said. "The town had no control over the mess or the smell, so they enacted ETJ." In Greensboro, Willet said, ETJ was enacted to prevent hog farms from interfering with the clean air and water of neighboring farms and residents.

The first ETJ was enacted in North Carolina in 1959 for communities larger than 2,500 residents. In 1961, it was extended to communities of 1,250. In 1971, the Legislature decided that all communities, regardless of size, could enact ETJ up to a mile from their town limits.

A community with a population between 10,000 and 25,000 can extend ETJ up to 2 miles with permission from county commissioners. Communities with populations of more than 25,000 can extend ETJ up to 3 miles, with permission of county commissioners.

Hereıs how ETJs stack up statewide: 89 percent of communities with a population of more than 10,000 have enacted ETJs; 79 percent of communities from 2,500 to 10,000; 68 percent of communities with 1,000 to 2,500; and 38 percent of communities under 1,000 people.

"Location, location, location is everything," said Willet, who has worked with local governments in Western North Carolina for 15 years. "In todayıs rapidly changing world, even smaller towns are influenced by what falls in their shadow."

In 1997, the Legislature ruled that all property owners within a proposed ETJ must receive a first-class notice in the mail four weeks prior to a public hearing. Since North Carolina is not a home rule state, any powers granted to a municipality must come from the Legislature, Willet pointed out.

ETJ must be done by an ordinance. The first step in an ETJ process, he said, is to identify the boundary, going by property lines. The property must be adjacent to the town and property owners must receive notice of the public hearing. Following the public hearing, the town votes on whether or not to extend the ETJ.

"They can listen to the people or they cannot listen to the people; thatıs their choice," Willet said. If the town board votes for an ETJ, then representation on the planning board and zoning board of adjustment follows. That representation must reflect the population, Willet said. Representatives must be residents, but they do not have to be landowners. In the case of Forest Hills, Western Carolina University students would be defined as residents, he said.

"Residency is not defined by where you vote, but where you get your mail and where you call home," he said. "If a student lives in Cullowhee nine months of the year, then he is considered a resident."

County commissioners must have a public hearing on who they are going to appoint to the planning board and board of adjustment. If the commissioners fail to act, the town can make its own appointments.

As mandated by law, an appointment to the zoning board of adjustment is for a three-year term, a condition that could affect some student representation. Terms of the planning board are set locally.

"Here you must have some inherent trust in the process," Willet said, since the town board has the final authority over both the zoning and planning board. Those in an ETJ canıt vote in local elections.

ETJ residents do not pay town taxes and are provided no services. In annexation, however, property owners pay taxes, can vote in elections and run for office. Annexed properties can be spot or satellite, as well as contiguous. Any services offered in the town, such as street lights, garbage collections, water and sewer, must also be provided to those annexed.

In both ETJ and annexation, a town can extend its governing powers such as naming historic districts, issuing building permits, and providing floodway, sedimentation and zoning regulations.

"If things werenıt going to change, there would be no reason for ETJ," Willet concluded. "ETJ is more about the future than anything."

"Change is happening overnight and we have to be ready for it," said Moya OıNeal of the Savannah community and a member of the League of Women Voters. "Either we sleep through it or wake up and prepare for it."

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