2009 North Carolina Code
Chapter 160A - Cities and Towns.
§ 160A-45. Declaration of policy.

Part 3. Annexation by Cities of 5,000 or More.

§ 160A‑45.  Declaration of policy.

It is hereby declared as a matter of State policy:

(1)        That sound urban development is essential to the continued economic development of North Carolina;

(2)        That municipalities are created to provide the governmental services essential for sound urban development and for the protection of health, safety and welfare in areas being intensively used for residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and governmental purposes or in areas undergoing such development;

(3)        That municipal boundaries should be extended in accordance with legislative standards applicable throughout the State, to include such areas and to provide the high quality of governmental services needed therein for the public health, safety and welfare;

(4)        That new urban development in and around municipalities having a population of 5,000 or more persons is more scattered than in and around smaller municipalities, and that such larger municipalities have greater difficulty in expanding municipal utility systems and other service facilities to serve such scattered development, so that the legislative standards governing annexation by larger municipalities must take these facts into account if the objectives set forth in this section are to be attained;

(5)        That areas annexed to municipalities in accordance with such  uniform legislative standards should receive the services provided by the annexing municipality in accordance with G.S. 160A‑47(3). (1959, c. 1009, s. 1; 1973, c. 426, s. 74; 1983, c. 636, s. 9.)