By Kirk Ross
Staff Writer
Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton has sent a letter to Reps. Joe Hackney, Verla Insko and Sen. Ellie Kinnaird asking that they oppose a bill introduced by Rep. William Faison to undo an annexation of the Highlands neighborhood.
Residents of the neighborhood, annexed along with several other neighborhoods in 2005, had petitioned Faison to help undo the annexation.
Chilton said even though he personally voted against the annexation, he did not think the state should be “second-guessing” the town’s decision.
He did not forward the letter to Faison, he said, after reading his comments in a newspaper over the weekend. Faison introduced House Bill 1601 in late March 27. He represents most of Orange County, including the northern notch of Carrboro.
“It seems like bad public policy to me,” Chilton said in an interview Tuesday. If the rules need to be re-written, he said, they should be re-written for the rest of the state.
Hackney said last week he did not think the bill would pass.
In addition to complaints about the way the annexation was handled, Highland residents have expressed concern that the town was not moving fast enough on a new northern fire station and that the town did not annex the roads.
Chilton said the fire station is in the design phase and the town has hired an architect. The station, he said, was going “full-speed ahead.”
The town will eventually take over the roads, he said, but wants the state Department of Transportation to improve the condition of some of the older more depreciated roads first.