Property Rights Ending in North Carolina

[Ross]

Property Rights ending in North Carolina

February 12, 2014 by nolathe

For what it's worth, thanks for keeping me and the NC Farm Coalition abreast of what's occurring in KS. Your missives continue to be shared with FC supporters and legislatures where appropriate and as representative of the tenor occurring nationwide that may influence NC public policy.

Otherwise, unfortunately, land-use and rural rights protections, IMO, have lost to development interests here if recently published research proves reliable over the foreseeable future. As you may recall, development interests descended upon NC's Piedmont beginning in the late 60′s, having identified its milder climate, beauty, medical and educational (university) alternatives, mountains and ocean communities as what our aging population would (and now) seeks. By 1971 they'd successfully lobbied to dramatically change state laws whereby, thereafter, towns controlled all rural land three miles outside municipal borers but rightful property owners (largely farm owners b/c of their large plots targeted for development and eventual annexation).

The landmark laws adopted in June 2011, IMO, were too little too late. Since 1997 the FBI had ranked NC tops in the Nation for corruption (various categories). The evidence clearly supports that, regardless of which political party governs NC, the development juggernaut is so embedded in every level of government since and at this time as to make the 2011 laws laughable. In other words, as with law enforcement, the legislative process is "reactive"; seldom if ever able to surmount the forces of greed and evil.

In December this was summarized by the release of a UNC study which illustrated a "megalopolis" reaching from east of the state Capital, Raleigh, westerly towards mid-state Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem and then southerly to include greater Charlotte. Overall 24 counties (of 100) have been compromised and the landowners in all have lost big time and continue to do so. Whereas the 2011 laws did acknowledge 40 years of Unconstitutional "involuntary annexation" of tens of thousands of agricultural acres, the development of hundreds of rural subdivisions representing the eventual annexation of innumerable thousands of residences, and how state laws for decades denied landowners "due process" and "just compensation" for their lost homes, land and livelihood — again, the die has been cast.

Development interests continue to advertise nationwide "move to NC" and at a time when the forecast is for a 30% shortage of potable water and a 50% food shortage within NC by 2025, the dissipation of governmental processes, lack of leadership objectivity, endemic greed, and ignorance ensure this outcome. 500,000 more "carpetbaggers" are expected to arrive into NC by 2020. And at a time when the EPA has demanded a 40% reduction in potable water contamination levels — which, predictably, continues to be disassociated with ongoing development goals.

In one-on-one meetings with the commissioners of Commerce (Decker) and Natural Resources Skvarla) last April, each concurred with the above forecast. Each asked me "What can we do about it?" Each acknowledged helplessness as their boss, and the first Republican administration and GA to govern NC in 142 years continues to pursue a decades of Democratic corruption, if for no other reason than to get re-elected. Again, in other words, slowing the juggernaut is impossible; NC, already iconic for its endemic corruption, will soon become a total loss. At least this is how the General Counsel of Commerce see it. But, then again, who really cares! The FBI simply claims helplessness – lack of resources, "no bodies yet to bury", a thorough focus on terrorism.

Thanks again for keeping me in "the loop". If you're inclined to pray, do think of us from time-to-time. I and my farm are among the many hundreds of farm owners expected to be bankrupted after year-end 2014 — the deadline for NC to finally comply with the EPA's 2001 to reduce N and P contamination, the product of unrestricted urban development. Once farmers lose water rights stemming from saturation of watersheds from urban development, farming will cease. Farmland has been targeted to serve as "the giant sponge" necessary to filter contaminants before they collect in watersheds but the latter are already known to be full-up and beyond being able to comply witih the EPA mandate. In the meantime with the mandate deadline looming, local governments have raced to exhaust every imaginable opportunity to plop down new housing and commercial structures. And in related scams not address by recent laws, development interests via control of local governmental processes have developed targeted farmland by up to 94%, effectively positioning such for acquisition once rightful owners face bankruptcy.

I've written more than I set out to do. As I opened my remarks to NC's leaders this past spring, "NC has been positioned to become the next New Jersey of the United States! What are you doing to prevent this?" The answer, sadly, is nothing.

So please do not "look to the East" for a model of the future. We see no viable future, except for the un-informed and greedy!

Marilyn Kille

Chapel Hill, NC

Unbelievable! One more time!

This AM I spoke with Orange County's Tax Assessor re an update of local land valuations, using my land as an example. Bottomline: My farm should have a current market value up to $356,566 per acre. Instead, arising from NC's laws and development scams, it's current valuation is between $11,865 – $16,252 per acre, about 4.4% of market value. If interested, read further.

As illustrated by the numbers below, a comprehensive understanding of developer scams was never considered during the run-up of the 2011 Annexation Reform and Farm Protection laws. For what it's worth! M.

- In Dec, 2012 Orange Cty's water authority (OWASA) illustrated via its GIS mapping that my farm's acreage IS NOT subject to the highly restrictive state and federal watershed regulations; however,

- Since 1988 Brough/Carrboro have convinced all that my and my neighbor's farms (2,000 acres), in fact, are watershed restricted; thus, zoned "WR" since;

- Not so coincidentally, our land has remained zoned 3-ways: for agriculture, residential subdivision and commercial uses [the latter likely to enable future developer acquisition];

- As a result (and as reflected by the county's Jan. 2014 land records), the market value of my farm's 19.47 acres is less than I paid for it 20 years ago, merely $700,094 [$35,958/acre] (explained as "What a developer might pay for it!"); its discounted "farm use value" is $316,425 [$16,252/acre];

- By comparison, the underlying value of the comparable 13.86 acres immediately opposite my farm has a current value of $4,942,000 or $356,566/acre;

Now, keep in mind that, through Dec, 2013 there were an estimated (unprecedented) 45,500 viewings of my farm's various online real estate site listings BUT not one offer. Explanation? Carrboro continues to incorrectly inform inquiring "none preferred" developers and realtors (potential non-commercial buyers) that (a) under the 2011 Farm Protection law, the town continues to have jurisdiction over my ETJ farm and (b) it will not grant to a buyer the permits necessary to operate either for agriculture or development (until his agenda plays out, of course).

Add to this understanding how, in July 2011, Brough engineered the devaluation of the neighboring Ray Farm estate to about $11,865 per acre [to serve as the "comparable" for the remaining annexable 2,000 farm acres, positioning our farms for when our water rights disappear by year-end 2014]; . . .

Conclusion: There is absolutely no reason why my land isn't worth something far greater than $11,865 per acre and something closer to $356,566 per acre; nor why, instead, it's market value is merely 4.4% of comparable land opposite the farm. But, of course, this represents developer scammming at its best.

http://nolathe.net/2014/02/12/property-rights-ending-in-north-carolina/