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0 <br />The new 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 suits <br />alleging irregularities in ordinance adoption and clarifies that the timeline to <br />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 1 year. However, the <br />General Assembly has included language indicating that the `period of appeal' <br />does not even begin to run until the party, typically the property owner, "first has <br />standing to challenge the ordinance." <br />From staff's standpoint this practically extends the ability for an appeal to be filed <br />in perpetuity. <br />4. A final modification allows individuals to challenge the validity of an ordinance <br />during appeals of enforcement actions regardless of how many years has passed <br />since the ordinance was adopted. -Prior to the adoption of this law, North Carolina <br />case law has held that a violator may not raise the possible invalidity of the <br />ordinance violated as a defense to an enforcement action. This is no longer the <br />case. <br />E. SPECIFIC AMENDMENT LANGUAGE <br />Please refer to Attachment 3 <br />Primary Staff Contact: <br />Michael D. Harvey <br />Planning <br />(919) 245 -2597 <br />mharvey @co.orange.nc.us <br />4 <br />