Applicable only to Iredell County, adds a pre-hearing requirement to GS 160A-58.2 (public hearings held pursuant to a petition for municipal annexation) as follows. Requires the city council to direct the planning department to determine whether zoning the area for residential use will increase the number of students attending public school in the county in which the area is located to more than 100% of the county's current capacity if the area meets all of the following: (1) is agricultural land, forestland, or horticultural land or has been enrolled in present-use value taxation within the previous three calendar years; (2) is not contiguous to the city's primary corporate limits; and (3) is not within the city's extraterritorial planning jurisdiction. If that is the case, then requires county approval before the city may annex the area. If the county with jurisdiction over the area does not approve the annexation, then city cannot proceed with the annexation unless it is willing to pay the county the amount necessary to come back into compliance with school capacity. Applicable to petitions for annexation received on or after July 1, 2026.