Council OKs annexation 6-2

The Winston-Salem City Council last night voted in favor of annexing 22 square miles of Forsyth County, despite hearty opposition from more than 100 people who angrily waved signs and called city leaders names.

The vote was approved 6-2, with council members Vernon Robinson and Nelson Malloy opposed. The annexation, which will add 18,000 residents to the city, will take effect July 1, 2004.

Timothy Young clutched his wife, Emily, who began to cry as Mayor Allen Joines tapped his gavel to adjourn the meeting after the vote. His face was red as he yelled toward Joines: ‘Thanks a lot.’

Tears then welled in his eyes as he explained that he and his wife live on 5 acres in Pfafftown. The annexation will cost them $17,000 in extra costs such as taxes and sewer hookup fees, he said, and they don’t know how they will make it.

ANNEXATION POLL

How do you feel about the city annexing 22 square miles of Forsyth County?

It’s a great idea. Winston-Salem needs to grow as fast as possible.

It’s good, but the city should beware of urban sprawl.

It’s more fair to city residents. The people being annexed are using the city’s resources, but weren’t paying full taxes.

It’s not fair at all. Those who live outside city limits should be allowed to stay separate.

I don’t care.

‘It ain’t right,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘It’s not right at all.’

Robinson, who led a rally at Corpening Plaza before the 7:30 meeting, offered a motion for annexation to be placed on the ballot in November. The motion died with no support.

Before the final vote, Robinson and Council Member Dan Besse were the only members to discuss the plan.

Using a color-coded map and an elaborate breakdown of political parties and demographics, Robinson said that the annexation plan would overall increase the city’s white population and dilute the black vote.

He said that 62 percent of the people included in the plan are next to four black Democratic wards. Fred Terry, Joycelyn Johnson and Nelson Malloy, the council’s other black members, said nothing as Robinson raised his tone and called the plan a ‘radical restructuring’ of the city’s political makeup.

Speaking on the other side, in a prepared statement, Besse offered his reasons in favor of annexation.

‘It is in the best long-term interest for the community as a whole,’ he said.

His remarks, sped by the mayor who told him to summarize after a couple minutes, were met with shouts from the angry crowd.

‘Spinning, he’s spinning…. He is finished, out of a job!’

Besse ignored them and went on.

‘It is basically unfair to the 186,000 residents who currently pay full city taxes, for others who share in the benefits of our metropolitan area to pay less than a fair share of the cost of keeping our whole city a thriving and successful community,’ he said. ‘I can’t blame individuals who say that they don’t want to be annexed because they will pay more in taxes. In many individual cases, a household will pay more in additional city property taxes than they will gain in immediate reduced service costs. But in the long run, all of us – both inside and outside the city lines – will lose if we always base our decisions on short-term arguments.’

Wearing overalls and a sticker opposing annexation on his bald head, James Mecum said he is a victim of the city’s plan for future growth.

With his arms shaking, he held up an aerial snapshot of his 6 acres off Union Cross Road during the entire meeting.

The only quiet people in the meeting were Judith Dancy and Carolyn McPherson, who sat in the last row of the council chambers. They watched silently as Alton Fulk made a fist toward the mayor and called the city manager a crook. Both women, who are from the Winston-Salem Friends Meeting, said nothing when the crowd interrupted Besse with heckles as he tried to explain his reasons for voting yes.

‘We come from time to time to support the council,’ Dancy said.

Opposition to annexation has grown since the idea surfaced early this year.

City Manager Bill Stuart trimmed the original plan from 34 square miles and reduced the rural acres the city would take in by 50 percent in response to complaints from Forsyth County residents and council members at a public hearing in May.

The council also amended its ordinance prohibiting goats, sheep and guinea fowl, in order to allow the animals within the city limits. Those changes came after complaints from farmers and others who said that annexation would force them to give up their animals.

Even with the changes, many residents said that the plan was unfair. They sent letters to the mayor and council members expressing their displeasure, passed out fliers calling for a boycott of businesses in the city and have threatened to target the seats of council members who would vote in favor.

After the vote, Robinson just shook his head.

‘I’m disappointed that the council forcibly annexed these folks,’ he said. ‘It’s legal. But I don’t think it’s right. And it’s going to come back and haunt them.’