
OCEAN ISLE – For Jonathan Williamson and the other property owners along Hale Swamp Road, it’s the end of a six-month odyssey.
Since January, four homeowners have been looking for Ocean Isle to expand its extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, over their combined 15.87 acres to allay the confusion over permitting and zoning. Their parcels straddle the town’s corporate limits and the Brunswick County line.
An ETJ is the legal ability of a government or municipality to exercise authority beyond its corporate boundaries. While Brunswick County is essentially letting Ocean Isle expand its boundaries for the benefit of the property owners, the county will still be responsible for water and sewer services to the residences.
Williamson told Port City Daily Friday Ocean Isle authorities prepared him and his fellow property owners for a long wait, but supported them in their request. The group submitted letters to the town back in January, expressing their desire to be part of the ETJ.
“There was a bit of a process that we had to go through,” Williamson said. “[Ocean Isle] let me know early on that it was going to take this amount of time.
Williamson said he has built a strong relationship with Ocean Isle staff and elected officials since purchasing his property — only 40% is currently within Ocean Isle’s boundaries — in 2017, and he finds it easier to work with them over the county on zoning issues.
Ocean Isle Town Council held a public meeting on April 11, and unanimously adopted a resolution to provide zoning, planning and inspection services to the parcels as part of an ETJ expansion.
The Brunswick County planning board held a public hearing on June 21. Williamson and homeowner Whitney Sauls spoke at the hearing in support of the ETJ, with Sauls telling the board they would like to be under one jurisdiction “for future development of their property.”
The planning board voted unanimously to forward Ocean Isle’s request on behalf of the homeowners to the county commissioners.
Brunswick County Commissioners then unanimously granted the homeowners’ request to expand extraterritorial jurisdiction at its Monday meeting.
The 4-0 vote came despite the fact Commissioner Mike Forte openly said he has never voted to approve an ETJ in the past because he is opposed to the practice. He changed his mind since four property owners agreed, and their properties were divided.
“Seemed like a no-brainer to me to make it all one for permitting reasons and building code purposes,” Forte told Port City Daily Thursday. “I figured that if they wanted it, so be it. This was unlike other requests in the past where it was a municipality requesting it.”
Commissioner Marty Cooke also spoke with PCD Thursday and said he wouldn’t have supported it in the past because of the days of forced annexation, now illegal in the state. Commissioners have approved one other similar request, according to Cooke, but that was over 15 years ago.
In 2011, the state dissolved the law that allowed cities to involuntarily annex property. North Carolina allowed municipalities to forcefully expand their territories more readily than other parts of the country.
“Historically, what took place 10 or 15 years back was involuntary annexation. People didn’t want to be annexed into municipalities,” Cooke said. “This has been changed by statute, but ETJs are a precursor to annexation.”
Under a county ordinance dating back to 1995, municipalities can expand no farther than 2 miles past its boundaries. However, North Carolina General Statute 160D-202 states if a municipality has fewer than 10,000 people, the ETJ can only extend 1 mile from its corporate limits. Since Ocean Isle’s population was just 909 people in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, it has to abide by state rules.
The four properties approved for expansion in the ETJ are located within the allowable range.
On Monday, county planning director Kirstie Dixon provided a map of the properties, as well as letters from all four property owners — Charles Fox, Tripp Sloane, Whitney and Brandon Sauls and Williamson — asking for the expansion.
She also told council seven of the 19 municipalities in Brunswick County have ETJs, in addition to Ocean Isle: Bolivia, Southport, Oak Island, Calabash, Carolina Shores, Sunset Beach and Shallotte.
Ocean Isle adopted it’s ETJ by town ordinance on May 1, 1990.
Ocean Isle Town Administrator Daisy Ivey said during the meeting the properties were adjacent to the Odell Williamson Municipal Airport, which is slated for future annexation. Therefore, including the homes within the ETJ now prepares them to also be voluntarily acquired by the town within 10 years.
“We do believe that having these parcels within the town’s ETJ would allow the town to better control and monitor this development due to this critical area of our airport,” Ivey said.
The difference between ETJs and annexation is properties incorporated into an ETJ do not pay municipal taxes; whereas once a parcel is annexed, it must abide by that municipalities’ ordinances, receives its services, and pays its taxes.
Property owner Williamson told commissioners his property is zoned between both the town and the county and an ETJ would give him some clarity for any future plans.
“It’s my primary residence,” Williamson told PCD. “Should we decide to build a nicer home there or whatever may come it’s definitely easier to have it consolidated into one jurisdiction.”
Ocean Isle Mayor Debbie Smith told PCD Thursday the expansion only made sense from a business perspective, and it wasn’t a surprise to her the commissioners agreed.
Dixon also told the commissioners it was important to approve the request before it was too late. The General Assembly was fast-tracking Senate Bill 675, which would eliminate ETJs in municipal areas in the state.
READ MORE: State bill addresses property rights, proposes eliminating extraterritorial districts
Sen. Michael Lee (R-New Hanover) introduced the bill back in April because he said residents in ETJs lacked real political representation. He also believed those districts are remnants of a time when the state still allowed involuntary annexations, which are illegal, unless initiated by the General Assembly.
A previous attempt at ending ETJs passed the state senate in 2021 but stalled in committee. The current version of the bill passed 29-14 with seven excused absences June 13, and currently sits in the Rules Committee.
Nevertheless, Smith believes the commissioners’ actions Monday will hold up, regardless of what happens in Raleigh.
“Since this action was prior to any passage of any Senate bill on annexation, I assume it will stand,” Smith said.
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