Court Opinion

ID: 6714414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-20 22:44:29.023517+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:01:30.609261
License: Public Domain

Justice Orr
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority’s conclusion that the 1995 “Act to Revive the Charter of the Town of Bethania” is constitutional. This Act violates Article XIV, Section 3 of the North Carolina Constitution, which provides:
Whenever the General Assembly is directed or authorized by this Constitution to enact general laws, or general laws uniformly applicable throughout the State, or general laws uniformly applicable in every county, city and town, and other unit of local government, or in every local court district, no special or local act shall be enacted concerning the subject matter directed or authorized to be accomplished by general or uniformly applicable laws, and every amendment or repeal of any law relating to such subject matter shall also be general and uniform in its effect throughout the State.
N.C. Const, art. XIV, § 3 (emphasis added). The General Assembly of North Carolina has developed specific procedures for annexation, set out in N.C.G.S. §§ 160A-24 through -58.28, which apply to all North Carolina municipalities. However, the Act in question provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
(c) Notwithstanding Parts 1 through 5 of Article 4A of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes, only areas described as subject to annexation by the Town of Bethania in an annexation agreement between the City of Winston-Salem and the Town of Bethania under Part 6 of that Article may be annexed by the Town of Bethania. Annexation of any areas so designated, however, must be done in accordance with Parts 1 through 5 of that Article, as applicable.
(d) The corporate limits of the Town of Bethania shall also be considered the primary corporate limits of the City of Winston-Salem for the purposes of Parts 1, 3 and 4 of Article 4A of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes.
Act of May 10, 1995, ch. 74, sec. VII(c), (d), 1995 N.C. Sess. Laws 126, 129. As reflected in the minutes of 20 February 1995, the City *671Attorney explained to the Board of Aldermen of the City of Winston-Salem the effect of this Act:
Another provision is that Bethania may not annex in the future without first having an annexation agreement with the City of Winston-Salem. A third provision is that the area of Bethania itself will be considered the primary corporate limits of the City of Winston-Salem for purposes of future City of Winston-Salem annexations under G.S. 160A in order that Winston-Salem can be contiguous to these areas as the City limits are extended.
The obvious effect of this Act is to grant Winston-Salem greater annexation authority than other municipalities and to diminish annexation powers of the Town of Bethania in comparison with other municipalities. This is the exact type of circumstance that our Constitution seeks to prevent. To sanction this Act is to allow powerful municipal interests to have other special acts passed in the General Assembly giving them ever-greater authority over annexation procedures and threatening the rights of smaller, less-powerful municipalities in the process.
I would affirm the trial court’s decision that this Act is unconstitutional on its face.