More than a thousand properties outside Jacksonville’s city limits are about to get a different government rulebook.
Under a state law enacted in August, 1,151 properties in Jacksonville’s remaining extraterritorial jurisdiction will move under Onslow County control for zoning, permits, building inspections and other land-development rules in October.
The properties are not being annexed into Onslow County. They are already in Onslow County. They are not being removed from the City of Jacksonville, either, because an extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, is outside the city’s corporate limits. What changes is which local government decides what can be built, which standards apply and which office handles the paperwork.
Local officials have said the jurisdiction change will not alter current property taxes. It is also separate from the countywide Onslow County property revaluation scheduled for 2027.
What is an ETJ?
North Carolina law generally allows some cities to apply planning and development regulations outside their municipal boundaries. Depending on population and county approval, that authority can extend as far as three miles beyond a city’s contiguous limits.
That arrangement gives a city some control over development near its borders without annexing the property. Owners remain outside the city but may still have to follow the city’s zoning, subdivision, permitting and inspection rules.
Jacksonville had been exercising that authority over the 1,151 affected properties. Onslow County’s transition page says the county will now become the regulator for planning, zoning, permitting and building inspections.
Why Jacksonville is losing the authority
The change comes from Session Law 2026-56, a broader local law concerning Jacksonville and federal military property.
Most of the law describes the addition of federally owned portions of Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Air Station New River, Marine Forces Special Operations Command at Stones Bay and the New River to Jacksonville’s corporate limits. But Section 4 does something different: it says Jacksonville may not exercise the planning and development powers in Chapter 160D beyond its contiguous corporate limits.
In plain English, state lawmakers ended Jacksonville’s remaining ETJ authority.
The law was ratified Aug. 6. It says Jacksonville’s relinquishment took effect when the law became law, while temporarily preserving the city’s development regulations and enforcement powers during the handoff.
The legal clock points to October 5
The county has described the transfer as an October change, but state law provides a more precise backstop.
Under G.S. 160D-202(h), a city’s development rules remain in effect after it relinquishes jurisdiction until the county adopts its own regulations or 60 days pass, whichever happens first. Sixty days after Aug. 6 is Oct. 5.
Onslow County says its Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing and consider the proposed county zoning in October. The county’s transition page had not identified the hearing date as of Sept. 20. The commissioners’ published calendar lists regular meetings on Oct. 5 and Oct. 19.
A special Planning Board meeting was scheduled for Sept. 17 to recommend zoning designations to commissioners. As of Sept. 20, the county’s online Agenda Center did not display an agenda, minutes or recommendation from that special meeting.
Where are the affected properties?
The former ETJ is not one tidy ring around Jacksonville. County GIS data show disconnected areas around the city’s northern, western and eastern edges.
Local reporting has identified affected property near N.C. 24 and Blue Creek School Road and near U.S. 17 and Drummer Kellum Road. Owners should not rely on a general map to decide whether a specific parcel is included.
The county has created an online ETJ address lookup tool. It also mailed notices to owners of transferring property and to owners within 300 feet of the affected parcels.
County zoning may be similar, but it is not identical
Onslow County says planning staff reviewed all 1,151 properties individually and proposed the most comparable county zoning district for each one. Planning and Development Director Carter Metcalf said staff looked at how properties were already being used, generally matching residential property with residential zoning and commercial property with commercial zoning.
That does not mean every rule will remain the same.
Metcalf told WITN that Jacksonville has some architectural and landscaping standards the county does not have. Density limits can also differ between city and county districts. He told WNCT that some owners may gain additional development opportunities under county rules.
Those differences can matter when an owner wants to add an accessory structure, replace a damaged home, divide land or begin a new commercial project. A zoning label that sounds comparable may still carry different setbacks, lot requirements, permitted uses or review procedures.
Existing uses and vested approvals do not simply vanish
County officials have publicly said owners should be able to continue existing uses. The transition statute also protects vested rights acquired under the surrendering government’s rules.
G.S. 160D-202(k) says a person who acquired vested rights under the prior jurisdiction may exercise those rights as though the jurisdiction had not changed. Onslow County, as the acquiring government, may then take actions on that approval that Jacksonville could have taken under its regulations.
That protection is important, but it does not make every informal plan a vested right. An owner with an active permit, approved development plan or project already in review should ask both planning departments for written confirmation of which office will handle the file after the transfer.
What does not change
- The properties remain in Onslow County. This is a transfer of regulatory authority, not a county-boundary change.
- The properties do not leave Jacksonville’s city limits. They were already outside those limits.
- Ownership does not change. The law does not transfer anyone’s land.
- Current property taxes do not change because of the ETJ transfer. Tax values and rates remain separate questions.
- Existing vested rights are preserved by state law. Owners should still document any approval they intend to rely on.
What property owners should do now
First, use the county’s lookup tool and confirm whether the parcel is included. Second, compare the proposed county zoning with the property’s current Jacksonville designation. The name of the district is not enough; owners should compare permitted uses, setbacks, density, accessory structures and any overlay rules that apply.
Owners with pending permits or near-term construction plans should ask which government will finish the review and whether additional documents will be required. Onslow County Planning and Development lists its main number as 910-455-3661.
The final county zoning map also matters. The county has said commissioners will make the final decision after a public hearing. Until that vote occurs and the adopted map is posted, a proposed designation remains proposed.
The county should publish the full handoff record
Onslow County has done several useful things: mailed notices, held an information meeting, created an address lookup and published a transition page. The next step should be a parcel-level crosswalk showing each old Jacksonville district, each proposed county district and the material differences between them.
The county should also promptly post the Planning Board’s Sept. 17 recommendation, identify the commissioners’ hearing date and explain how pending applications will move between departments. A transition involving 1,151 properties should not require each owner to reverse-engineer two zoning ordinances and a state-law deadline.
Government calls this a seamless transition. Property owners get two rulebooks, a 60-day clock and an October public hearing that, as of Sept. 20, still lacks a posted date. “Seamless” is apparently doing a lot of work.
Killjoy Media reviewed Session Law 2026-56, G.S. 160D-202, Onslow County’s ETJ transition materials and GIS data, the county meeting calendar, and reports from WITN, WNCT and Public Radio East.