Situated near the intersection of two country roads in Harnett County, Holly Gardner’s one-story ranch home and surrounding farmland could easily be described as the perfect rural setting.
The idyllic pastureland has been in the Gardner family for four generations, going back to parents who donated a one-room schoolhouse to the nearby town of Angier and grandparents who bought lights so the community could play baseball at night.
But in this quiet country setting, Gardner, a recently widowed mother-of-two, has found herself the victim of a local zoning ordinance imposed by Angier that is preventing her from selling a portion of her land for residential development.
Until recently, the farm was devoted to tobacco, corn, wheat, and soybeans. But in a state economy quickly out-growing its agricultural roots, Holly Gardner and her husband of 24 years, Eddie, decided earlier this year that a new direction was necessary. In an effort to reduce mounting farm debt, the family initiated plans to sell a four-acre plot of farmland for housing construction. But the situation turned sour when Eddie was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given only a short time to live.
“[My husband] was just trying to figure out a way to help with some of the farm expenses that have been accrued since the tobacco program was phased out,” Gardner said. “That’s about the same time that he was diagnosed with cancer, so he put it on the fast-track to get the project done while he had time.”
Gardner and her brother-in-law, Ben, hired a surveyor to mark off a small section of land on the southern end of the farm for development. But to Gardner’s surprise, the powers that be in Angier threw up a roadblock — extraterritorial jurisdiction, a law which allows municipalities to exert control beyond the city limits.
The requirements put forth by the Town of Angier Planning Board were simple — redraw the proposed development lines to include sidewalks, curbs, and gutters. Living well outside the Angier city limits, Gardner was upset to learn that the town could impose restrictions that would make construction costs too high to consider. But under ETJ law, they could.
Fighting for a variance
State statute § 160A-360 governs a municipality’s use of ETJ. The law stipulates that a city, depending on its population, may use the ETJ power up to three miles from its border. The statute also requires municipalities to notify all landowners within the proposed extension and to inform them of their “right to participate in a public hearing” prior to approval of the ordinance.
A study conducted by the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government found that 62 percent of local governments take advantage of the ETJ provision. Dr. David Owens, UNC-CH professor of public law and government, concluded in a January 2006 research paper that while ETJ rules occasionally trigger controversy, policies are routinely used without public outcry.
But to Gardner, who faced the hurdle of obtaining a zoning variance shortly after losing her husband to cancer, the reality of ETJ powers was not an academic matter but a brute reality.
Gardner and her brother-in-law countered the ETJ requirements by petitioning Angier for a variance, citing the cost-prohibitive nature and environmental risks the board’s demands would entail. City Planner Travis Morehead issued a memorandum dated Sept. 6 recommending that the board deny the request.
“The staff has not reviewed any information that leads to the conclusion that there are extraordinary and exceptional conditions pertaining to the parcel in question,” Morehead wrote. “There are no special circumstances, which result in this parcel warranting a variance. Economic factors are not considered to be special circumstances.”
On Sept. 12, Gardner made her appeal before the Angier Planning Board, but board members unanimously voted to turn down the variance, according to The Angier Independent.
Financial feasibility
Including amenities such as curbs and sidewalks can range in cost anywhere from $7,000 per lot to as much as $17,000 per lot, making the entire construction project cost- prohibitive, said Donald Gregory, Gardner’s general contractor.
“It seems like the town of Angier is pushing everything away,” Gregory said. “I could name you several subdivisions that have not come [to Angier] simply because of the massive amount of money that it’s going to cost to put them together.”
Michael Sanera, research director and local government analyst for the John Locke Foundation, said that including curbs and sidewalks would drive up costs and make competition with nearby neighborhoods more difficult. “Houses constructed outside the ETJ and in Harnett County will not be required to have curbs and sidewalks,” he said. “Thus, the same house a short distance outside the ETJ will have a price tag significantly less than those inside. Which house will sell? Angier is imposing costs that others do not have to pay.”
The requirements for curb, gutter, and sidewalk were originally drafted into Angier’s subdivision ordinance in August 2002, according to Morehead. “Curbs, gutter, and sidewalks are fairly indicative of urban development,” he said. “Sidewalks facilitate safe pedestrian traffic into and out [of] areas, whether those areas are in residential or non-residential districts.”
The ETJ standards also add to the aesthetic appeal of potential subdivisions, Morehead said, although the policy was not implemented to attract upper-income residents. “Curb, gutter, and sidewalks are not a socio-economic issue,” he said. “These developmental standards are not unique to Angier, but in fact…are very common to other local municipalities in the Triangle area. Having development standards helps ensure that the quality of life of the town’s current and future residents are [sic] maintained and perhaps improved upon.”
But Gardner sees irony in the requirements given the rural nature of her farm’s setting. “You can imagine a development with two sidewalks — one on each side of the drive—out in the middle of the country,” she said. “And they can’t even put sidewalks in the town of Angier hardly unless a federal grant is written.”
Ben Gardner put it even more bluntly. “Angier wants to be like Holly Springs or Cary,” he said.
Future development
Given the regulatory roadblocks, Gardner said that she is not planning to move forward with development plans for a while. Last summer, the family leased out the farmland to cultivate sod, which is helping to pay some of the bills. But Gardner still considers Angier a prime region for growth with its centralized location between Raleigh and Fayetteville — if only the town would be flexible.
David N. Bass is an editorial intern for Carolina Journal.