Annexation is the process whereby land is incorporated into an existing town or city. 

There have been several annexations in Harrisonburg's history, bringing the current size of the city to 11,132 acres.  The largest annexation (7,450 acres) took place in 1983 --- shown in pink on the map below.  (Map courtesy of the City of Harrisonburg).



Title 15.2 (Counties, Cities and Towns) of the Code of Virginia outlines how annexations are to take place. 

Here are some recent annexation related news items:
Mount Crawford seeks to annex 243 acres to expand to 467 acres.
Dayton discusses annexing along Route 257.

Could Harrisonburg and Rockingham County see another annexation anytime soon?  According to Brian, Harrisonburg's Director of Economic Development says the city has no plans to annex any portion of Rockingham County (source: Daily News Record).

On a related note, according to Keith Markel, one of Harrisonburg's previous city planners, most of the zoning frustrations stem from the 1983 annexation.  Much of that land was zoned R-3, which allows anything from single family homes to apartment complexes.  However, this past year, the right to build apartment complexes in R-3 zoned land was removed.