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Table 2 The mailed notice need only be made by first-class mail. Summary of Requirements for Mailed Notice of Proposed Zoning It does not have to be registered or return-receipt mail. Classification Actions Some zoning ordinances go beyond this to require cer- tified mail,and some zoning offices do so as a matter of Triggered by: Zoning classification action office policy,but that is not required by statute.Also,the Sent to: notice is to be mailed to the owners as identified by the Owner of parcel and abutting parcels,as shown on county tax records; an updated title search is not re- county tax listing quired.If there are no tax maps available for the area,the How mailed: First class mailed-notice requirement does not apply." P Not required for total rezonings of entire jurisdiction All rezonings that amend zoning district boundaries Exceptions: eq require mailed notice. In general,even here must be sent to any g rat,it is also required for y property that is the application of new overlay zones,the application of put in less intensive zone) zoning to new extraterritorial areas,and the initial adop- Verification; Certification to governing board of mailing to be tion of zoning.Mailed notice usually is not required for provided by person making the mailing most routine zoning text changes,since they do not af- fect the basic zoning classification of property." whether he or she would be affected.' This does not The mailed notice also must be sent to all"abutting" mean that it must contain a property°�e�•As a matter of practice,some cities send e affect legal description of the prop- a mailed notice to all who would qualify to sign ed,s nor that the text of the proposed ordi- q fY lly a protest nonce be published.9 But enough detail must be petition whether or not they have technically abutting to let a printed parcels of land.This generally includes the owners of both person know the nature of the zoning change the property being rezoned and the property proposed and to clearly describe the property P perty within 100 being (for example,by P pew in- feet(excluding abutting rights-of-way)of that property. ( P y giving the street address).Just list- The statute does not require the local government to ing the ordinance number with the date and time of the do the mailing if it is not initiating the rezoning.Several hearing will not suffice;the court of appeals held such a zoning ordinances place much of the administrative and notice to be inadequate. cost burden on the party requesting a rezoning, by re- quiring that person to provide a certificate that the mail- By reading the notice,even the most diligent owner of property.,.would have no reasonable cause to sus- ing was done or to provide stamped, pect that his property might be affected by the City's to the local government to deit in the mailVMany contemplated amendment to its ordinance.To be ad- other local governments require that a list of those to be equate, the notice of public hearing required by G.S. 160A-364 must fairly and sufficiently apprise those mailed notices be provided as part of any petition for a whose rights may be affected of the nature and charac- mailed-notice rezoning. ter of the action proposed.' ect to Individual Mailed Notice more modification by local legislation than any,other mandated zoning procedure.Given the high cost of in- In 1985 the General Assembly amended G.S. 153A- dividual mailings when a substantial rezoning is pro- 343 and 160A-384 to require individual mailed notice to posed, ei those parties most directly affected by certain legislative received legislative relief. have oThe most tcommon modifica- zoning decisions:"zoning classification actions."In 1987 tion has been to substitute publication once a week for this provision was amended to exempt the total rezon- four weeks of a large display advertisement in a local ing of an entire community from the mailed-notice re- newspaper in lieu of mailed notices." quirement.This exemption was itself modified in 1990 to require mailed notice in total rezonings if the rezon- Speakers and Evidence ing involves "down zoning"or zoning to a less intense Speakers and Evident¢ Public hearings on legislative zoning decisions must use."(See Table 2.) Most aspects of the mailed-notice requirement are formalities conducted of an evidentiary hearing—oaths,exhibits,The notice should include the same information cross-examinations,avoiding t contained in the published notice,should advise persons of the hearing,and the like-gathering not be observed. Af of the proposed zoning change,and should be mailed in ter all,with these hearings the governing board is receiv- time for receipt a reasonable time before the hearing. ing comments,not hearing evidence. 30 POPULAR GOVERNMENT Spring 1993