Orange County NC Website
8 <br /> <br />The Board held a public hearing on a Planning Director/County Attorney’s Office 1 <br />initiated Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) text amendment clarifying regulations 2 <br />associated with flags and flagpoles. The Board considered a decision on one of the following 3 <br />options: 4 <br />a. Adopt the proposed amendments by approving the Statement of Consistency 5 <br />(Attachment 3) and EITHER the Ordinance and Proposed UDO Text 6 <br />Amendments in Attachment 4, or the Ordinance in Attachment 4 and the 7 <br />County’s Attorney’s May 10, 2018 Proposed UDO Text Amendments in 8 <br />Attachment 7; 9 <br />b. Defer a decision to a later BOCC regular meeting date; or 10 <br />c. Refer the item back to the Planning Board for a specific purpose. 11 <br /> 12 <br />Michael Harvey reviewed items in the agenda abstract, and the information below: 13 <br /> 14 <br />BACKGROUND: 15 <br />The UDO Amendment Outline Form (Attachment 1) for these amendments was approved by 16 <br />the BOCC at its March 20, 2018 regular meeting. The County Attorney’s 17 <br />Office has provided staff with recommended language. The purpose of these proposed 18 <br />amendments is as follows: 19 <br />• To address concerns over the lack of clear and comprehensive regulation(s) to ensure 20 <br />that the display of a flag does not dominate local skylines. 21 <br />• To clarify existing regulations on flags and flagpoles. Specifically: 22 <br />o The allowable height, location, and number of flagpoles, and 23 <br />o The maximum allowable area (size) of flags that can be displayed on a given parcel 24 <br />of property. 25 <br /> 26 <br />Please note the proposed amendments do not attempt to regulate flag content. Regulating flag 27 <br />content would be inconsistent with numerous court proceedings, including the US Supreme 28 <br />Court Case Reed versus Town of Gilbert. The County cannot regulate the content of a flag. 29 <br /> 30 <br />It can, however, establish content-neutral regulations designed to address the size, height, and 31 <br />location at which a flag is displayed. For additional background information, please refer to the 32 <br />UDO Amendment Outline Form contained within Attachment 1 and to the pertinent agenda 33 <br />materials and information via the following links: 34 <br /> 35 <br />• March 20, 2018 BOCC regular meeting agenda materials can be viewed at: 36 <br />http://server3.co.orange.nc.us:8088/WebLink8/DocView.aspx?id=51820&dbid=0. 37 <br />• March 20, 2018 BOCC regular meeting minutes can be viewed at: 38 <br />http://server3.co.orange.nc.us:8088/WebLink8/0/doc/52122/Page1.aspx 39 <br />• April 4, 2018 Ordinance Review Committee (ORC) agenda materials and can be viewed 40 <br />at: http://cms3.revize.com/revize/orangecounty/ORCAgendaPacket.pdf. 41 <br />• April 4, 2018 Planning Board agenda materials can be viewed at: 42 <br />http://cms3.revize.com/revize/orangecounty/PlanningBoardAgendaPacket.pdf. 43 <br /> 44 <br />An amendment fact sheet (Attachment 6) has been prepared providing answers to basic 45 <br />question(s) associated with this proposal. 46 <br /> 47 <br />If the amendment is adopted, Planning staff will be required to physically document all flags and 48 <br />flagpoles on property within the County’s planning jurisdiction. This is to establish a baseline for 49