I have an inner ring produced from a negative buffer on a multipart polygon (Virginia, USA). I would like to create a "coastal strip" polygon by using the split tool. However, when I use the split tool it excludes the Eastern Shore area (to the east) even if I draw the split around the region (red line from first image below). If there a way to include this portion in my feature split without having to do an Explode to Merge geoprocess?

This is my result... can I split and still include the separated portion to the right?
