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Sandpiper Sentinel April 20 06 Volume 4, Issue 3 Sandpiper Bay Party Girls Part of the delight of living in our beautiful community, Special Interest Sandpiper Bay, are the Articles: wonderful events we enjoy. The credit goes to our “party girls.” Kudos to Fran Hecht, Annexation our original party girl, who Report chaired the very first Party New Lifestyles Party Committee chairs: Ruth Ann Latcheran, page 2 Committee. Fran set the Jan Barr, Pam Wheelock, & Jackie Headman standard for a lifestyle filled with festive and fun events. liking of one another, Jackie Jackie, Ruth Ann and Pam Hawaiian Under her able leadership and brings to the group a 30 year welcome any ideas and Trip enthusiastic guidance many background of catering suggestions from residents. experience including being the They’re already thinking page 4 great times have been enjoyed by the residents of Sandpiper Catering Coordinator of Special about New Year’s Eve, so if Bay. Fran and her committee Events at Rowan University in you have any ideas let them Diners’ deserve our grateful Glassboro, New Jersey. know. Club appreciation for a job well The first of many planned Bring your patriotic spirit and done. Thank you for all your events, the Spring Fling, held on make plans to attend the page 7 hard work. April 22nd, was a huge success Memorial Day Party to be th The beat goes on and the despite bad weather and a held on Monday, May 29 as concurrent event taking place at our Party Committee is hard at BOD future looks rosy! Jan Barr, Jackie Headman, Ruth Ann the Golf Course. The affair was work planning a fun-filled day Meeting Latcheran and Pam self-funded with sponsors complete with entertainment page 11 Wheelock, our latest party providing entertainment and soft by Harlequin, games and door girls, have volunteered to drinks as well as door prizes. prizes. Aren’t we the lucky keep the good times rolling as Door greeters provided name ones that our party girls, Jan, Abbott the current Co-chairladies of tags and food tags for the many Pam, Jackie and Ruth Ann, covered dish items provided by are committed to letting the page 12 our Party Committee. Jan and Pam, whose husbands worked residents. Future plans include good times roll here at together when they lived in catered events as well as Sandpiper Bay! Maryland, did lots of covered dish parties, but Jan, entertaining and partying together before moving to Sandpiper Bay where they met Jackie and Ruth Ann. Spend five minutes with these four gals and their outgoing personalities come shining through. In addition to a wonderful combination of enthusiasm and a mutual PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com Sandpiper Sentinel Page 2 What Does Annexation Mean for Sandpiper Bay? By Robert Eronimous, Chair ad hoc Annexation Committee Fo r those of us who are not natives of North Carolina the No part of the area may be within another incorporated discovery that a Sunset Beach mailing address doesn’t municipality. mean that you “actually live in Sunset Beach” was At least 60% of the total number of lots and tracts are used something of a surprise. Recognizing that this was an for residential, commercial, industrial, institutional or important area to study, the Sandpiper Bay Transition governmental purposes. Committee formed an ad hoc Annexation Committee. “We Annexation of an area can occur in two different ways knew that the entire Sandpiper Bay community would be pursuant to North Carolina State Law Article 160A. on the radar screens of surrounding communities and felt that we needed a special committee to monitor annexation,” 1. Voluntary annexation where 100% of the property explained Transition Chairperson Karen Joseph. owners agree to be annexed into a particular Township. This occurs primarily when a parcel of land is under single The committee meets as needed and keeps a close eye on ownership and that owner wants to be annexed into a all annexation events in the State Legislature, in Sunset particular Township. This has occurred very recently when Beach and in the town of Calabash, which is clearly the owner of the Pearl Golf Course requested that it be moving to expand its boundaries. In fact, Thistle and the annexed by Calabash. If you are driving west on NC 179 Pearl were recently annexed by Calabash. you will note that the Calabash City Limits sign has moved We’ve learned that legislation is pending in the NC Senate much closer to Sandpiper Bay than it was about this time and General assembly (Senate Bill 19 of 2005) that could last year. Calabash’s tax revenues will certainly increase if substantially alter the annexation process. It will require a the Pearl builds the 4,100 units included in its proposed referendum on the issue of annexation provided that 15% plan. of the people in the area to be effected sign a petition to Continued on page 3 force a referendum. Contact has been made with Bonner Stiller, Esq. to determine if a moratorium has been issued pending the action on this issue. Carla Farmer in Mr. Stiller’s office has informed us that there in no moratorium in place. The sponsors of this legislation are Senators Brock and horton. It is believed that this legislation has no Games, Puzzles, reasonable chance of being enacted. Books, On a local level, Pam Silberman attends the monthly Sunset Arts/Crafts, Beach Town Council meetings to ensure that we are aware ! of any actions that could impact Sandpiper Bay. It was Candy & More! Pam’s attendance at the February 6, 2006 meeting that first alerted us that Sunset Beach passed a resolution to annex our community. Bob Eronimous obtained a copy of the attachment to that resolution and determined that the area TOYS & SUCH FOR YOUR in question included all of Sandpiper Bay (including the GROWING BUNCH! golf course), Sunset Village (condos) and all of Wyndfall. G B ! Some errors in the description of the annexation area were found in the attachment and Eronimous has contacted Original Town Administrator Linda Flugel for additional and Location New Store corrective information. Ocean Isle 2004 Hwy. 17 South We have obtained mapping for the adjacent town Beach N. Myrtle Beach, SC government jurisdictions. Causeway 843-272-1300 How does annexation happen? 910-575-7163 There are specific requirements to make an area eligible for annexation: The area must be contiguous to the existing municipal boundary. Monday - Saturday At least 12.5% of the total external boundary of the area Open at 10 a.m. must coincide with the municipal boundary. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com Sandpiper Sentinel Page 3 Annexation 2. Involuntary annexation is the more common method. Township? North Carolina law does not require the consent of property Both Sunset Beach and Calabash can attempt an owners for involuntary annexation. But, the area must meet annexation. Each of these Townships has a border that is specific requirements: contiguous to Sandpiper Bay and that is a requirement a) A descriptive map of the area must be prepared; under State Law. Each would enjoy the tax revenues available from Sandpiper Bay. The current tax rate in b) a Resolution of Consideration must be passed by the Sunset Beach is 13¢ per hundred dollars of assessed value Township which proposes to annex the area; of the property. (On a home valued at $300,000 the tax bill c) the Township must record a Resolution and the would increase by approximately $380 per year.) description of the area with the Registrar of Deeds of the After a review of the possibilities, the Annexation County and with the Secretary of State of the State of North Committee believes that annexation by Sunset Beach is in Carolina; the best interest of Sandpiper Bay. d) a Public Hearing must be held on the Resolution prior Sunset Beach can provide police protection, public works to its adoption. Generally, any comments made during such services, animal control and other services. a Public Hearing will not have an effect on the outcome of the adoption of the Resolution Sandpiper Bay residents would have a voice in the decisions that will affect the future direction of the Town of All the information is then forwarded to the State Sunset Beach and the beach itself. With annexation also Legislature where a Resolution permitting the annexation is comes the ability to have a say in the future of the passed. community that we call home. What’s the future hold? The expected growth in our area will have a dramatic For Sandpiper Bay the question is not will annexation impact on the character of our area over the next decade occur? But rather when will it occur and by which and we should be able to voice our opinions with respect to that future growth. The appeal of our neighborhood and our property values are tied to our Sunset Beach identity. A positive side of annexation is that our POA would be relieved of the rsponsibility to maintain the roads in our development and we would have a few more services available to us than we now have under county government control. A negative side of course is that we would pay more taxes. While the controls over the use of land and building code enforcement would be assumed by Sunset Beach, there is case law history that indicates the Town could not substantially change the land use regulations and deed restrictions that apply to us as property owners and there is not likely to be any major change from the status quo.