On Monday, SB 214 went up for a conference vote in the Senate — it’s very near passing across the board, but Democrats are heavily opposed for a variety of reasons.
In the Southeast part of the state, Southport and Sunset Beach would see some parcels stripped from their control. Rep. Charles Miller (R-Brunswick/New Hanover) sponsored a bill that made it into SB 214, which deannexes three parcels from Southport’s corporate limits. The properties include around 2.5 acres at 1408 N. Howe St., 1222 N. Howe St., and 1221 N. Atlantic Ave.
Deannexation removes a property from a city’s boundaries and jurisdiction. That means a resident there no longer has a vote in municipal elections, but also doesn’t pay municipal taxes and can follow county zoning instead of the city or town’s designated zoning.
As Port City Daily reported last year, the parcels’ two property owners, Southport Motorcars president Michael Rhyne and Southport Dog owner Thomas Tolley, requested the legislation. If it passes into law, the three properties will no longer be subject to municipal taxes.
The impacts of that loss will be much more significant after a law passed in 2024 removing Southport’s authority over its extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) — which would have allowed the city to maintain zoning control over the properties. Brunswick County will instead have jurisdiction over the deannexed parcels.
As Port City Daily reported, the parcels were formerly part of Southport’s ETJ but are now in the county’s commercial low-density zoning district. Once it gets deannexed, it will be possible to build a five-story building at the location.
At a press conference opposing SB 214 on Tuesday, Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) said North Carolina compares unfavorably to other states in terms of its process.
“Every single deannexation must go through the General Assembly,” she said. “That means what should be a routine fact-finding, fact-specific local government decision is instead treated too often as a political favor, a political fight at the state level.”
WHQR reached out to Southport’s communication team for comment, but did not receive answers before press time.
Butler said the process is flawed — and politically biased. “Property owners, municipalities, and counties have no standardized process. There is no uniform criteria, no hearings, no consistent evidentiary record, no predictable outcomes. Everything depends on what? Legislative discretion. Who you know.”
In the case of Thomas Tolley, who apparently stands to benefit from this deannexation, he knows Miller. They both served in the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office at the same time, according to reporting in Port City Daily. Miller did not respond to a request for comment before press time.
ETJs in beach towns
The deannexations in Southport came after the town lost its ETJ last year, setting the stage for parcels to withdraw — assuming property owners can get a legislator to take up their request. But ETJs have long been controversial in North Carolina, and there are several provisions removing them from municipal control in SB 214.
Sunset Beach has been threatened with such an effort in the past: Rep. Frank Iler (R-Brunswick) first pressed to limit Sunset Beach’s jurisdiction in 2021 at the behest of developers. That bill would have also deannexed a lot of land from the beach town.
SB 214 removes one particular parcel from Sunset Beach’s ETJ at 1105 Seaside Road, owned by New Purpose LLC. The 2.64-acre stretch of vacant land is currently zoned MR3, for Mainland Multi-Family Residential District. It’s directly next to another 4-acre parcel outside the ETJ owned by the same company, but which is zoned for commercial use. WHQR reached out to the registered agent representing the company, an attorney named Sheila McLamb, but did not hear back before press.
Some modifications to the bill came through Tuesday, April 28, after Democrats protested language in the bill that would give Franklin County unilateral power to take land from other counties. The Franklin county language was removed, alongside language that would have shifted election timelines for the Forsyth County School Board. But the deannexations in Southeastern NC remain.
ETJs in beach towns allow those towns to maintain certain aesthetics, building heights, and other requirements even in areas that aren’t paying taxes or voting in municipal elections. That’s controversial, as it means the areas are controlled by the municipality even if they don’t have a vote on their fate.
According to the University of North Carolina School of Government, ETJs originally were formed to allow cities to control land use in the name of public health, particularly before counties really were involved in zoning themselves. But in beach towns, the usage is often to limit density or otherwise maintain aesthetic conformity within the area around the municipality.
As reported in the State Port Pilot in 2024, Southport’s ETJ became controversial when it applied tree removal fines to citizens outside city limits, angering Brunswick County Commissioner Pat Sykes. Rep. Miller told the Pilot he’d heard a lot of support to remove the ETJ from its residents, and that there was talk of getting rid of them across the entire state in a future legislative session.
Because Southport lost its ETJ last year, the deannexation will mean it loses jurisdiction over the parcels in question. Sunset Beach will experience a similar phenomenon — the parcel in question will switch to county zoning — and if it’s the same as the adjacent parcel, that will mean commercial development.
