State lawmakers approved a new annexation process in June, allowing unincorporated areas to block a neighboring city’s advances if 60 percent of their property owners dissent.
WHQR’s Michelle Bliss reports that this year’s battle over Monkey Junction in New Hanover County has reached #9 on our 2011 top ten story countdown.
Nearly 75 percent of property owners in Monkey Junction spoke up loud and clear: they don’t want to be annexed.
But the City of Wilmington and a handful of other municipalities across North Carolina have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s new petitioning process.
The City also filed a preliminary injunction to block the county board of elections from certifying the petition signatures its staff has been collecting for months. That injunction was later withdrawn.
Next month, property owners in Monkey Junction will motion to intervene in the City’s lawsuit so they can present their arguments in favor of the opportunity to petition against what would otherwise be an involuntary annexation.
Tune in all this week as we air WHQR’s 2011 Top Ten Countdown of news stories across the Cape Fear region and state.