ORD-1999-016 Proposed Zoning Atlas Amendment Z-3-9 Ernie McBroom

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28 Popular Government Spring 1993 http://ncinfo.iog.unc.edu/planning/pgsp93.htm of the property affected,M nor that the text of the proposed ordinance be published.j9] But enough detail must be printed to let a person know the nature of the zoning change being proposed and to clearly describe the property involved(for example,by giving the street address).Just listing the ordinance number with the date and time of the hearing will not suffice;the court of appeals held such a notice to be inadequate. By reading the notice, even the most diligent owner of property . . . would have no reasonable cause to suspect that his property might be affected by the City's contemplated amendment to its ordinance.To be adequate,the notice of public hearing required by G.S. 160A-364 must fairly and sufficiently apprise those whose rights may be affected of the nature and character of the action proposed.r 10 Individual Mailed Notice In 1985 the General Assembly amended G.S. 153A-343 and 160A-384 to require individual mailed notice to those parties most directly affected by certain legislative zoning decisions: "zoning classification actions." In 1987 this provision was amended to exempt the total rezoning of an entire community from the mailed-notice requirement.This exemption was itself modified in 1990 to require mailed notice in total rezonings if the rezoning involves "down zoning" or zoning to a less intense use.r 11 (See Table 2.) Most aspects of the mailed-notice requirement are clear.The notice should include the same information contained in the published notice, should advise persons of the proposed zoning change,and should be mailed in time for receipt a reasonable time before the hearing. The mailed notice need only be made by first-class mail. It does not have to be registered or return-receipt mail. Some zoning ordinances go beyond this to require certified mail,and some zoning offices do so as,a matter of office policy,but that is not required by statute. Also,the notice is to be mailed to the owners as identified by the county tax records;an updated title search is not required.If there are no tax maps available for the area, the mailed-notice requirement does not apply. 12 All rezonings that amend zoning district boundaries require mailed notice.In general,it is also required for the application of new overlay zones,the application of zoning to new extraterritorial areas,and the initial adoption of zoning.Mailed notice usually is not required for most routine zoning text changes, since they do not affect the basic zoning classification of property.r 13 The.mailed notice also must be sent to all "abutting" property owners.As a matter of practice,some cities send a mailed notice to all who would qualify to sign a protest petition whether or not they have technically abutting parcels of land. This generally includes the owners of both the property being rezoned and the property within 100 feet(excluding abutting"rights-of-way)of that property. The statute does not require the local government to do the mailing if it is not initiating the rezoning.. Several zoning ordinances place much of the administrative and cost burden on the party requesting a rezoning,by requiring that person to provide a certificate that the mailing was done or to provide stamped,addressed envelopes to the local government to deposit in the mail.Many other local governments require that a list of those to be mailed notices be provided as part of any petition for a rezoning. The mailed-notice requirement has been subject to more modification by local legislation than any other mandated zoning procedure. Given the high cost of individual mailings when a substantial rezoning is proposed, eighty-five local governments have sought and received legislative relief.The most common modification has been to substitute publication once a week for four weeks of a large display advertisement in a local Aewspaper in lieu of mailed notices.r 14 Speakers and ividence Public hearings on legislative zoning decisions must be conducted in a fair and impartial manner,but the formalities of an evidentiary hearing--oaths,exhibits, cross-examinations,avoiding gathering evidence