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. ........... .............. ........... ...................... ........... ................................. <br /> 384 modifying the statute of limitations for the appeal of local government de cisson s. <br /> The session law has the following impact: <br /> 1. Adoption of Ordinances modifying the County Zoning Atlas, the statute of <br /> limitations on submitting the appeal has been lengthened from 30 to 60 days. <br /> 2. The law lengthens the statute of limitations from 2 months to 3 years for <br /> suits alleging irregularities in ordinance adoption and clarifies that the timeline <br /> to appeal begins from the date of ordinance adoption. <br /> 3. With respect to contesting the validity of text amendments, the statute of <br /> limitations to file an appeal is extended from 2 months to I year. However, <br /> the General Assembly has included language indicating that the 'period Of <br /> appeal' does not even begin to run until the party, typically the property owner, <br /> "first has standing to challenge the ordinance." <br /> From staff's standpoint this practically extends the ability for an appeal to be 1 <br /> f 1 <br /> filed in perpetuity. <br /> 4. A final modification allows individuals to challenge the validity of an ordinance I <br /> i <br /> during appeals of enforcement actions regardless of how many years has I <br /> passed since the ordinance was adopted. Prior to the adoption of this law, <br /> North Carolina case law has held that a violator may not raise the possible I <br /> invalidity of the ordinance violated as a defense to an enforcement action. <br /> This is no longer the case. <br /> 1. Analysis <br /> -................................................ . <br /> .................................................................................................. ................. ........................... .......................... .................................................................... <br /> The amendment is necessary to incorporate recent modifications to State law <br /> concerning the rights of local citizens to appeal decisions by the local governing <br /> board (Board of County Commissioners) from a legislative (i.e. text amendment, <br /> rezoning, etc.) perspective. This would include the legislative (i.e. rezoning) <br /> component of Conditional District applications. <br /> The wording of the proposed amendment (Attachment 2 of the packet) has been <br /> reviewed and approved by the County Attorney's office. <br /> ............................. .........................................................I............................................I...................................................... ................ <br /> 2. Comprehensive Plan Linkage (i.e. Principles, Goals and Objectives) <br /> ........................-1..................................................................................................... ...................... .........—--------I....................--............ ...... <br /> This is a house keeping item in order to ensure local regulations are consistent with <br /> recently modified State regulations. There is no direct link to the Comprehensive <br /> Plan for these amendments. <br /> ...... .............I................. ......... .... . . <br /> 3. New Statutes and Rules <br /> .............................I........................... .......... ......................................................................................... ...................................... ............................................................................ <br /> Session Law 2011-384 revises several sections of the North Carolina General <br /> Statutes changing the statute of limitations for various local government decisions. <br /> 2 <br />