Cheryl Webb stands outside her home in a county island surrounded by Queen Creek. Her road is unpaved because the town of Queen Creek doesnt develop roads outside its jurisdiction.(Photo: Patrick Breen/The Republic)

Southeast Valley municipalities are like Swiss cheese.

Within city and town boundaries are holes, pieces of land that are governed by Maricopa County and known as county islands, or unincorporated areas.

Debra Stark, director of Maricopa County Planning and Development, said that county islands were created when some property owners asked to be annexed to their surrounding city while others didn't.

"Cities worked around the ones that didn't want to come into the city or town," she said. "So, county islands were formed."

The county has no say in whether a county island annexes into a city, Stark said.

EXPLORE: See the county islands in your town or city

"It's really up to the city and the property owner," she said. State laws dictate that annexation can only occur if 51 percent of property owners consent, representing at least 51 percent of the assessed value of the property.

"Most cities would try to annex in before the property is developed, so you still have one singular owner as opposed to several," Stark said.

The concept of county islands and the governance that comes with them is unfamiliar to many transplants from the Midwest and the East Coast.

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SE Valley county islands come with pros, cons