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'Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction' wrests political control over landuse from excluded minority populations
"Hidden Spatial Inequality" Cedar Grove Institute for Sustainable Communities © 2009

A heavily minority ETJ is controlled by a majority-White municipality. 'Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction' laws let Raeford control zoning for the surrounding settlements [within the gray line]. Raeford city [blue line] is 45% Black but its ETJ is 74% Black. Landuse controls rob economic value from the ETJ, as decisions about lot size, sewerage rules, subdevelopment privileges, and location of stores and roads are made to suit interests that you did not vote for. ETJs also rob minority wealth; one study found that ETJ property is worth about 15% less than equivalent property that has been annexed.

Densely-settled but unincorporated Silver City (95% Black) is has been explicitly excluded from annexation by Raeford. Raeford is a good example of the use of 'underbounding' to maintain political control ... any annexation into nearby Black neighborhoods would have upset the present racial balance political that makes Blacks unrepresented in the ‘at-large’ municipal electoral process.
Demography, municipal boundaries from US Census 2000; ETJ from FEMA public databases.
raeford