Business & Commercial: Municipal/Annexation Law
Don't let anybody tell you that you can't beat city hall. Whether your building permit has been denied or the city is threatening to involuntarily annex your entire neighborhood, Hodges & Coxe, P.C. has the expertise to assist you in the often complex minefield of municipal law.
As the former attorney for the Pender County board of adjustment, C. Wes Hodges, II, has considerable experience in the areas of zoning and permitting. The most common issues with cities and counties involve the interpretation and application of ordinances, such as zoning and subdivision ordinances. Cities and counties cannot act arbitrarily or capriciously, and procedures exist to challenge unfair or erroneous application of these ordinances. We have the experience to zealously represent your interests, be it in an administrative or quasi-judicial proceeding before a city or county board, or in a state court judicial proceeding.
Involuntary annexation is one of the most polarizing issues in North Carolina today. Without question, the North Carolina General Assembly has granted municipalities broad powers to effectuate involuntary annexations, under the declared public policy that sound urban development is essential to the continued economic development of North Carolina. Nevertheless, annexing cities and towns cannot sweep unincorporated areas into their corporate limits by sheer force of their municipal will. As the authority to annex is a creature of statute, municipalities have no greater powers than those expressly enumerated by the General Assembly. Simply put, cities and towns, like the citizens of this State that they seek to annex, must follow the law.
C. Wes Hodges, II, has been fighting city hall on behalf of the wrongfully annexed across the state since 1996. He has litigated cases in both trial and appellate courts, including annexation challenges against Wilmington, Fayetteville, Oak Island, Fairmont, Wendell, Knightdale, Maggie Valley, and Kernersville, among others.