Some Wake County residents are prepping for a protest Thursday night.

Members of StopCary.com will hold what they're dubbing the "Cary Tea Party" at 5:30 p.m., right before the town council meeting.

"We're not opposed to annexation," said Wake County resident Mark Winston. "We're opposed to forced annexation."

The group is hoping to sway council members in the face of a new round of town-initiated annexations.

Winston's neighbor, Ferris Chandler, said he moved to the Brookridge Estates decades ago, when Cary was a small town whose border was nowhere near the neighborhood.

"Essentially nobody wants to be part of Cary," said Chandler. "That's why we built here. That's why people moved out here. We had an opportunity to live in Cary 37 years ago."

Officials with the planning department say there are several reasons for a town-initiated annexation.

"People that live adjacent to these towns like Cary are receiving benefits," said Associate Town Planner Ricky Barker, pointing out things like parks and improved roads. "And annexation is a way for those property owners to pay and contribute to that quality of life."

Barker said the annexations also offer a way to streamline services like police and fire protection.

Folks from the Brookridge neighborhood say the cost is too high, though, both for them and the town.

According to their numbers, the annexation would cost more than $80,000 per property owner in connection fees, development fees and increased taxes over a 21 year span. They say the town would stand to lose more than $6.5 million.

Town officials say that's not necessarily accurate.

"The extension of utilities within these areas is completely up to the neighbors that live in there," said Barker. "And so those costs that are being quoted by the neighbors are if all those neighbors -- at least 50 percent of those neighbors -- want the utility."

StopCary.com members say they're hoping it becomes a moot point, and that the council will vote down the annexations.

"The planning department is following through on what was put forth by a previous council," said Winston. "Some of the current members are new and were elected on a slow-growth platform."

Thursday's council meeting will feature a public hearing; the council isn't set to make a decision until at least next month.

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