Annexation & ETJ

North Carolina State law establishes the basic framework for a municipality to expand through annexation of additional properties into its corporate limits.  The various methods and procedures by which annexation may be accomplished as well as the qualification criteria an area must meet in order to be considered for annexation are set forth in the State annexation statutes.  The laws recognize cities as the basic provider of essential governmental services needed to support urbanized areas.  In return for the ability to annex, municipalities must extend local urban services such as police and fire protection, water and sewer lines, recreational services, solid waste collection and support for the local public street system.

Each municipality may develop its own annexation program within the guidelines and procedures set by the State's legislation.  The City of Raleigh regularly uses two methods of annexation: 1) Voluntary or petition annexation and 2) Involuntary or city-initiated annexation.

For Raleigh, the largest number of annexations is now accomplished by petition request of property owners which generally include vacant tracts of land proposed for urban development utilizing City utilities.   Raleigh has also administered an annual program of city-initiated annexations for over thirty years.  Such annexations generally involve existing developed properties and require a more complex approval process than petition annexations.  For city-initiated annexations detailed reports must be prepared indicating how an area meets statutory urban development intensity standards and most importantly how the City intends to provide and finance the extension of municipal services to an area.

A policy (see Resolution 1993-208) adopted by the City of Raleigh in the mid 1990's required that annexation petitions be submitted for development projects connecting to City utilities has shifted Raleigh's annexation program emphasis from city-initiated type annexations to petition type annexations.   Consequently, potential city-initiated annexations have shifted to previously developed areas that often demand upfront capital expenditures by the City to retrofit them with water and sewer lines.

Raleigh also has a policy (see Resolution 2008-460 ) not to accept annexation petitions for sites outside of the Raleigh Extraterritorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) except in limited circumstances.  This is intented to avoid piecemeal annexation of scattered sites surrounded by County jurisdiction and remote from other city service areas.

Related Information:
Annexation Booklet
Annexation Petition
Annexation History Map
City Limits Map