Woodfin elected officials plead with residents at meeting not to pursue deannexation

WOODFIN – During a meeting last week, Woodfin government officials — including a new mayor and two new Town Councilmembers — listened to residents' frustrations with the town and urged residents to reconsider their request to leave.

In the Feb. 1 evening meeting in the Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College training facility, these elected officials convened with a group of residents who signed a petition declaring their desire to leave Woodfin. Around 40 people attended the meeting.

Throughout the meeting, Mayor Jim McAllister, elected last November, encouraged his constituents to share their grievances with the town, often thanking speakers for sharing their stories.

McAllister’s message to residents who want to leave: “Give us a chance.”

But after 17 years of mistrust built with the previous regime, many of Woodfin’s residents on the west side of the French Broad River don’t want to give the town another opportunity. They want to leave.

These residents live in an area of Woodfin that the town annexed in 2006. It was contested at the time, according to Citizen Times reporting. Residents were concerned that the services the town provided was not worth the additional taxes.

Woodfin resident Chip Parton, whose family has lived in the area for close to half a century, began circulating a petition in September 2023 to reverse the 2006 annex. More than 225 people have signed on. Some of them attended the Thursday night meeting. Just over 8,000 people live in Woodfin, according to census estimates.

It was an evening of storytelling and civics lessons. Residents discussed their travails with the town, how its municipal ordinances prevent them from raising livestock or restrict the structures they build on their land. Some shared frustrations that they still do not have running water, even though they said they were promised it by previous elected officials.

For many residents in the town, water is provided by the Woodfin Water District, which shares the town’s name, but is a separate entity. The promises were still made and broken.

Others were frustrated with a stormwater utility fee, which Woodfin imposed on residents earlier this year, as required by the state and federal government. Parton explained that the fee is not part of residents’ taxes, which keeps residents from receiving financial assistance if they are eligible. Fees are generally based the size of a property's impervious area, according to the town website.

Woodfin’s budget totals $7.7 million for the 2024 fiscal year. A portion of it flows to maintaining parks and roads on the east side of the river, without similar investment on the west side.

“I think you should all just let us go,” said Gary Barger. “Why am I paying all this money for nothing? It’s just that simple.”

Toward the end of the meeting, Town Manager Shannon Tuch discussed ways Woodfin could address residents’ frustrations. She spoke about leaning on relationships with water providers, making zoning changes to allow livestock and manufactured homes and creating ways to lessen the stormwater fee.

But even though Tuch offered tangible solutions, residents still expressed their interest in leaving.

The choice is a bit more complicated for officials tasked with making the decision. In North Carolina, de-annexations are passed through bills that need to pass both chambers of the General Assembly, but do not require gubernatorial signature.

More: A town divided: some Woodfin residents sign petition to leave town through de-annexation

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Democratic state Sen. Julie Mayfield and Rep. Caleb Rudow, who both attended the event, would each need to submit bills in their respective levels of government. Rudow is running for Congress.

Mayfield said that she hoped residents found a way to move forward with Woodfin, cautioning that joining unincorporated Buncombe could pose a new set of problems that residents haven't anticipated.

After the meeting, Rudow echoed a similar sentiment to the Citizen Times. He said wanted to collect additional opinions and ensure that de-annexation would not leave the residents more vulnerable.

No decisions were made during the meeting. McAllister said the elected officials are going to continue to hold discussions with the hope of holding additional community forums down the line.

Mitchell Black covers Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack. Please help support local journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Woodin town officials plead with residents not to deannex