Gray's Creek Facts

Who this is for

Residents who signed the Gray's Creek incorporation petition (sometimes called the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations petition) and now want to remove their name.

Maybe the information was unclear when you signed. Maybe the charter and budget documents are still listed as "in preparation." Maybe the numbers you have seen since do not match what you were told at the door. Maybe you simply changed your mind. You do not have to give a reason. North Carolina law treats your signature as yours to give and yours to take back, up until the moment the petition is filed.

What the law says

The Gray's Creek incorporation petition is a request to the North Carolina General Assembly, routed first through the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations. The Commission's authority and the petition process it administers are set out in NC General Statutes Chapter 120, Article 20 (the statutes establishing the Commission and its review duties, beginning at G.S. 120-158). The procedural framework for municipal incorporation by act of the General Assembly is in NC General Statutes Chapter 160A, Article 1.

Neither chapter contains a single, explicit "you may withdraw your signature" sentence dedicated to incorporation petitions. North Carolina petition law instead operates on a long-settled common-law principle that runs consistently across recall, initiative, annexation, and incorporation contexts:

For this petition, "filed" means the moment the petitioners formally submit the signed signature pages to the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations. The petitioners have publicly stated their submission deadline is November 1, 2026. Any withdrawal sent before that filing is timely.

The petitioners themselves (the Gray's Creek Organizing Committee, which also operates publicly as Gray's Creek Civic Information) are the petition circulators. They hold the signed pages until submission. They are the party who must receive your written withdrawal notice. Sending it to the County Board of Elections or to the General Assembly does not substitute, because they are not the entity in possession of your signed page.

How to withdraw, three steps

1. Write a signed, dated withdrawal letter (template below). Include your full legal name exactly as you signed it on the petition, your residential address inside the proposed boundary, and an explicit statement that you withdraw your signature from the Gray's Creek incorporation petition.
2. Send it by a method that creates a paper trail. The recommended method is certified mail with return receipt, sent to the petitioners' published contact. Their email address is Incorporation@GraysCreekNC.com; a mailed copy to a verifiable street address is also recommended. Email alone is acceptable as notice, but a certified-mail copy is the durable record you can produce later if needed.
3. Keep a copy for your records. If the petition is later filed and your name is still on it, your copy plus the return receipt is proof of timely withdrawal. You can submit that proof to the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations and request that your name be struck from the petition.

Copy and send: withdrawal letter template

Fill in the bracketed fields, print, sign, and mail. Plain text is fine. You do not need a notary or a lawyer.

What to expect after sending

The petitioners are under no legal obligation to respond, and many will not. That is fine. The point of the letter is not to extract a reply, it is to create a record. Once your letter is in the mail with a certified-mail receipt, your withdrawal is on the books. If you later see your name listed as a supporter in any petitioner materials, mailer, or website, you have clear grounds to demand correction. If the petition is filed and you suspect your withdrawn signature was included anyway, write to the Joint Legislative Commission on Municipal Incorporations (contact information is available through the North Carolina General Assembly website at ncleg.gov) and attach copies of your withdrawal letter and the filed petition. NC petition practice generally treats a timely-withdrawn signature as invalid for counting purposes.

You can still oppose without withdrawing

Withdrawing is one option, not the only one. You can also leave your signature on file and simply tell your neighbors what you have since learned. The petitioners need a target number of signatures (15 percent of registered voters inside the proposed boundary, roughly 2,150 signatures) for the petition to clear the Commission's threshold. Every withdrawal moves them further from that number. But signatures left in place that came from now-skeptical signers are also useful evidence at the Commission hearing, where the genuineness of consent is a fair subject of testimony. Pick the path that fits your situation.

This is not legal advice

This page summarizes the general framework of North Carolina petition law for an opposition information context. It is a starting point, not legal advice, and the statutory citations above are the relevant chapters, not a substitute for reading the sections that apply to your specific situation. If you have a specific concern, for example your signature was forged, the circulator misrepresented what you were signing, or you were a minor or non-resident at the time you signed, please consult an attorney. Cumberland County has multiple small-firm practitioners who handle municipal and election matters. The North Carolina State Bar's Lawyer Referral Service at 1-800-662-7660 is one starting point.

Tell us when you have withdrawn

If you do send a withdrawal letter, we would like to know. Email facts@grayscreekfacts.com once your letter is in the mail. We are tracking how many residents have withdrawn so we can present an honest count at the Commission hearing. Your name is not published without your explicit consent, and your information is never shared with the petitioners or any third party. You can also add your email to our signup list to get updates as the petition deadline approaches.