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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: October 20, 2015 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 6-c <br /> SUBJECT: Republication of the Unified Development Ordinance as the Code of Technical <br /> Ordinances of Orange County, North Carolina <br /> DEPARTMENT: Attorney's Office, Planning PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Republication Resolution John Roberts, (919) 245-2318 <br /> Perdita Holtz, (919) 245-2578 <br /> Craig Benedict, (919) 245-2592 <br /> PURPOSE: To republish Orange County's Unified Development Ordinance ("UDO") as the <br /> Code of Technical Ordinances of Orange County, North Carolina. <br /> BACKGROUND: On December 5, 2011 the general ordinances of Orange County were <br /> codified by the Board of County Commissioners into the Code of Ordinances of Orange County, <br /> North Carolina ("Code"). <br /> Due to multiple problems with the complexity of converting the UDO to an appropriate format <br /> and also several staff changes at Municipal Code Corporation ("Municode"), the adopted Code <br /> did not include the UDO which was adopted in its unified form on April 5, 2011. The Code's <br /> adoption ordinance specified that the UDO would remain in effect, however, and work was <br /> continued on adding the UDO to the Code. This was ultimately accomplished on May 20, 2014. <br /> The UDO codification with Municode has not produced the desired results. The Attorney's <br /> office, Planning Department staff, and the Clerk have noticed several issues related to the <br /> current maintenance of the UDO. Some of the issues experienced to date are as follows- <br /> 1. Cost vs. value. As the Board of Commissioners is aware, the County's UDO is, if not the <br /> largest, certainly one of the largest UDOs in the state. The volume of the UDO and the <br /> frequency with which it is amended make it extremely costly to maintain with Municode. <br /> 2. The frequency of updates. A high number of government initiated text amendments to <br /> the UDO means that the version of the UDO maintained by Municode is often months <br /> behind the amended UDO. Asking Municode to increase the frequency of updates would <br /> substantially increase the cost to the County and still would not produce an immediately <br /> available or viewable current version as it could still be weeks behind the actual <br /> amended version. <br />