Annexation

North Carolina’s first annexation legislation was enacted in 1947. The statute permitted a city to unilaterally initiate an annexation, limited only by the requirement that the annexation area be contiguous to the city. There was no requirement of voter approval unless the voters residing in the annexation area presented the city with a petition signed by at least 15 percent of the area’s qualified voters. The legislation also included a brief procedure for voluntary annexation of contiguous property.

The 1947 General Assembly hoped that the new annexation law would significantly diminish the legislature’s involvement in municipal annexation, but in that regard the statute failed. Although succeeding years saw a slight reduction in the number of special annexation acts sought and enacted, the General Assembly continued to spend considerable time and energy on specific annexation proposals. Finally in 1957, after a session that witnessed bruising fights over annexation proposals from Charlotte and Greensboro, the General Assembly established a special commission, the Municipal Government Study Commission, and directed it to come up with a new approach to annexation.