On April 23, 2024, in a 3 to 2 vote, the Waxhaw Board of Commissioners (BOC) approved the annexation of 168.58 acres from Union County R-20 to Waxhaw R-3 and Employment Center, despite strong opposition from the neighbors and surrounding community.
NCGS 160D-605(b) addresses the statement of reasonableness, in that the statute lists factors to consider, namely, the benefits and detriments to the landowners, the neighbors, and the surrounding community; and why the action taken is in the public interest.
The reasonableness and consistency statement’s that were presented stated in part:
That it is reasonable and in the public interest because the parcel has the same land use pattern as the surrounding area.
The “same land use pattern” statement is justified by reaching across NC-75 and the railroad tracks to Millbridge, while ignoring the actual surrounding area consisting of 5 acre lots to the west, .7 to 1.9 acre lots to the east, and 7 acre lots just east of that.
Although technically the Millbridge community can be considered adjoining, realistically, the parcels I just described are adjoining.
I opposed the project for the following reasons:
The request for Employment Center zoning is not consistent with the Waxhaw 2040 plan. Although the project was presented as being consistent with the Union County 2050 plan, that plan has a Strategy to identify “donut areas” and establish a policy to not approve rezonings that would increase density or intensity of uses. Yet the BOC was asked to increase density and intensity of uses in Waxhaw.
The town placed signs and sent out letters notifying citizens in the surrounding area of the annexation and rezoning petition. We had citizens speak against this project at a prior BOC meeting and about 100 neighbors signed a petition as well.
It was mentioned at a prior meeting that Waxhaw R-3, which allows for up to 3.5 units per acre, usually only yields on average about 2.2 units per acre, once we take into account wetlands, floodplain, buffers, topography, utilities and roads.
A point was also made that because Union County R-20 allows for about 2 homes per acre, the yield of Waxhaw’s R-3 is essentially the same thing. But that is simply not true because if developed in Union County, they would also have to consider wetlands, floodplain, buffers, topography, utilities, and roads. Moreover, I confirmed with Union County Planning that if developed as R-20, this property would yield less than 2 homes per acre, obviously.
The current ratio of residential to commercial is 89/11. Although the town needs a larger commercial tax base, this project does not improve upon that ratio because we are adding so much residential.
Also, we have heard many times in the past that if we don’t annex or up-zone a property, the County will do it and receive the tax revenue while we provide services like fire and police.
We know from conversations with our town manager and Randall Arendt, the Land Conservation expert who presented to us on March 8, 2024, that residential homes such as the ones proposed here, historically cost the town more in services than we receive in tax revenue.
Regarding fire and police services, the fire department responds to Union County already, and our police department does not get dispatched to Union County, the sheriff’s office does. But even if our police respond beyond the town boundaries on limited occasions, should that justify annexing large parcels containing residential units which may not provide the tax revenue to cover services? I don’t believe so.
Although the reasonableness and consistency statement states that an employment center will provide diversity to the tax base and allow for high quality jobs, that shouldn’t be stated as fact, since there is no guarantee it will ever be developed. Mr. Graham said as much when he confirmed that residential homes would be built first and that the development of the employment center would be 5 to 8 years out and contingent on market conditions at the time.
