The Town of Garner is requesting permission from Wake County to amend its extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) as follows:

  • Extend: 8,858 acres (13.84 sq. mi.)

The request may be viewed with this online mapping tool. Residents and property owners may search their address within the online mapping tool to determine if they are in the area of request or not. 

Throughout the Town’s request drafting process, efforts were made to avoid existing county subdivisions which have been constructed largely on private well and septic systems and are generally not in need of municipal services.  However, in some cases, including such subdivisions has been necessary to maintain a cohesive jurisdictional boundary. In all cases, the boundaries of the extension areas do not split individual parcels (except where the parcel is already split by an intervening roadway) or subdivisions.  Furthermore, all of the extension areas (save a portion of one parcel off Rock Quarry Road) are located within Garner's Urban Services Area as designated by Wake County.

How much impact will this request have on the average property owner?  Very little.

Unless the property owner is looking to make significant changes to their property, it is unlikely that the owner will notice the change.  If anything, it is hoped that local owners shifting from the County to the Town will appreciate the accessibility of local Garner offices as opposed to needing to travel to downtown Raleigh.  There are just three administrative services that will shift at no cost to the property owner as a result of this request:

  1. Zoning: While Garner regulations are not identical to Wake County regulations, they are also not completely different. The Town and County work together with citizen input on a coordinated long-range plan for the area that is realized over time through the application of zoning regulations, regardless of jurisdiction.
  2. Subdivision: The subdividing of land is more tightly influenced by state legislation, and is therefore fairly consistent from one end of the state to the other - particularly when it comes to subdivisions that are exempt; however, there are some differences between Town and County regulations. These differences tend to be even less than what may be seen in the zoning regulations.
  3. Building Inspections: The State of North Carolina sets the Building Code for all local jurisdictions. Therefore, there should be very few differences between the Town and County in the application of those rules.

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