2005 North Carolina Code - General Statutes § 160A-36. Character of area to be annexed.

§ 160A‑36.  Character of area to be annexed.

(a)       A municipal governing board may extend the municipal corporate limits to include any area which meets the general standards of subsection (b), and which meets the requirements of subsection (c).

(b)       The total area to be annexed must meet the following standards:

(1)       It must be adjacent or contiguous to the municipality's boundaries at the time the annexation proceeding is begun, except if the entire territory of a county water and sewer district created under G.S. 162A‑86(b1) is being annexed, the annexation shall also include any noncontiguous pieces of the district as long as the part of the district with the greatest land area is adjacent or contiguous to the municipality's boundaries at the time the annexation proceeding is begun.

(2)       At least one eighth of the aggregate external boundaries of the area must coincide with the municipal boundary.

(3)       No part of the area shall be included within the boundary of another incorporated municipality.

(c)       The area to be annexed must be developed for urban purposes at the time of approval of the report provided for in G.S. 160A‑35. For purposes of this section, a lot or tract shall not be considered in use for a commercial, industrial, institutional, or governmental purpose if the lot or tract is used only temporarily, occasionally, or on an incidental or insubstantial basis in relation to the size and character of the lot or tract. For purposes of this section, acreage in use for commercial, industrial, institutional, or governmental purposes shall include acreage actually occupied by buildings or other man‑made structures together with all areas that are reasonably necessary and appurtenant to such facilities for purposes of parking, storage, ingress and egress, utilities, buffering, and other ancillary services and facilities. Area of streets and street rights‑of‑way shall not be used to determine total acreage under this section. An area developed for urban purposes is defined as:

(1)       Any area which is so developed that at least sixty percent (60%) of the total number of lots and tracts in the area at the time of annexation are used for residential, commercial, industrial, institutional or governmental purposes, and is subdivided into lots and tracts such that at least sixty percent (60%) of the total acreage, not counting the acreage used at the time of annexation for commercial, industrial, governmental or institutional purposes, consists of lots and tracts three acres or less in size.

(2)       An area so developed that, at the time of the approval of the annexation report, all tracts in the area to be annexed are used for commercial, industrial, governmental, or institutional purposes.

(3)       The entire area of any county water and sewer district created under G.S. 162A‑86(b1), but this subsection only applies to annexation by a municipality if that:

a.         Municipality has provided in a contract with that district that the area is developed for urban purposes; and

b.         Contract provides for the municipality to operate the sewer system of that county water and sewer district;

provided that the special categorization provided by this subsection only applies if the municipality is annexing in one proceeding the entire territory of the district not already within the corporate limits of a municipality.

(d)       In fixing new municipal boundaries, a municipal governing board shall use recorded property lines and streets as boundaries. Some or all of the boundaries of a county water and sewer district may also be used when the entire district not already within the corporate limits of a municipality is being annexed.

(e)       The area of an abolished water and sewer district shall be considered to be a water and sewer district for the purpose of this section even after its abolition under G.S. 162A‑87.2(b). (1959, c. 1010, s. 4; 1973, c. 426, s. 74; 1985, c. 757, s. 205(c); 1993 (Reg. Sess., 1994), c. 696, s. 6; c. 714, s. 6; 1998‑150, s. 6.)