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I searched "Cary" and then "Apex" for house hunting. To my surprise, the borders of them are so complicated. They zigzag and comes a lot of enclaves. Just curious, why are the borders here so complicated? What is the difference between a house in Apex to one in Cary?
I searched "Cary" and then "Apex" for house hunting. To my surprise, the borders of them are so complicated. They zigzag and comes a lot of enclaves. Just curious, why are the borders here so complicated?
There is no countywide sewer system, so if home owners and developers want to hook up to sewer, they have to request annexation into the city. So as each subdivision (or even individual lot) is annexed, the city borders grow in somewhat random looking fashion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jerron
What is the difference between a house in Apex to one in Cary?
Besides the obvious difference in location, in general different cities have different levels of services they provide, different tax rates, different regulations, etc.
With annexation of new development into any town, so the homebuyers can receive city services, towns gain size irregularly.
Most property in Wake county is in unincorporated areas, but parcels that are developed are often annexed by agreements between developers and the towns.
So when Developer XYZ has 20 acres annexed into Apex, it may be freestanding and not even contiguous to Town borders.
Additionally, we have "Donut Holes," which you can see on your maps. Unincorporated areas that are surrounded by Town.
Then, you have to consider what post office delivers your mail. You can be in one town's jurisdiction with a USPS address in the other town. That is not at all uncommon.
There is no forced annexation of unincorporated land into cities. So each property or aggregate of properties by a developer must request annexation. Annexation means higher taxes but more services. So towns grow piece by piece like geometric amoebas.
More recently towns have at least agreed on which areas they will probably accept. For example using highways or roads as logical boundaries.
Raleigh has many enclaves that are technically outside of the city limits... the "donut holes". Each has its own story. Typically the property owners didn't want annexation because they saw no need for city services and did not want to pay city property taxes. As Royal James said, a common reason is that the donut holes were on private water and septic tanks already. At the time the properties were built upon, they weren't in the Raleigh ETJ. In many cases, the City doesn't want to take responsibility for water/sewer in those areas or the substandard streets. So, the City never tried to annex them involuntarily.
Besides, the General Assembly essentially halted involuntary annexation years ago. About the only way to accomplish it now is to have the General Assembly itself put parcels into the city limits. Durham managed to get this done in 2017. Otherwise, annexation is voluntary at the initiative of the property owner. As MikeJaquish says, this happens most often when a developer decides it's advantageous for a new subdivision to be inside the City.
North Carolina law does not require city boundaries to be contiguous, either. And city boundaries can cross county boundaries. A little part of Raleigh actually sits in Durham County, for example.
Additionally, we have "Donut Holes," which you can see on your maps. Unincorporated areas that are surrounded by Town
This is happening to our neighborhood in the SE corner of Swift Creek. Farmland around us is being sold to developers. There are new home subdivisions going in and they have asked to be part of Fuquay Varina. We will be a "donut hole" within a year or two.
Can't really add to what has been said above - annexation leaves funny marks sometimes.
Yep. Our home is in Durham county, City of Raleigh. We vote with special ballots, and our RE taxes are somewhat higher than they would be if we were Wake County.
Your house could be in Apex but have a Holly Springs address. That means your mail comes/goes by way of the Holly Springs post office.
For example, if you had moved to The Park at West Lake while it was being built, it started out with a Cary address and was switched to an Apex address, while being built. Quite the confusion!
If you are driving down Sunset Lake Road, you'll notice a town of Apex sign and then (while on the same road), a town of Holly Springs sign!
If you are doing your own searching, I'd suggest you consider Cary/Apex/Holly Springs as one area. Especially, Apex and Holly Springs. Better to have too many choices than to miss desirable neighborhoods by not understanding the "borders".
What is the difference between a house in Apex to one in Cary?
Not much. If you are house hunting, include both in your search area. There is really very little difference.
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