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prescribed in Section 2.3.2(B); or <br />(D) The Planning Director. <br />2.3.4 Classification of Amendments 2 <br />Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan or portion thereof are classified as "principal" or <br />"secondary" amendments. <br />(A) Principal Amendments Include <br />(1) Additions to or modifications of policies, objectives, principles or standards; <br />(2) The creation of new activity nodes or additions to existing activity nodes which <br />exceed ten acres in land area; or <br />(3) Proposals for new freestanding plan areas or additions to existing areas that <br />exceed 100 acres in land area. <br />(B) Secondary Amendments Include <br />(1) The expansion of an activity node where the additional area is contiguous to an <br />existing node and does not increase its land area by more than ten acres; <br />(2) The expansion of a designated plan area where the additional area is contiguous <br />to the existing plan designation and does not increase its land area by more than <br />100 acres; <br />(3) A correction of an error or omission; or <br />(4) Revisions to any factual or descriptive material. <br />2.3.5 Public Hearing Required <br />(A) A public hearing shall be held before adoption of any proposed Comprehensive Plan <br />amendment. The Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Board 3 shall hear <br />applications and receive public comment for proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments <br />in a Quarterly Public Hearing. <br />(B) The public hearing is legislative in nature and the hearing shall normally be closed at the <br />conclusion of the hearing. Closure of a legislative hearing does not bar discussion of an <br />application outside of the public hearing setting. <br />(C) A quorum of Planning Board members shall not be necessary to conduct the public <br />hearing. <br />2.3.6 Notice Requirements for Public Hearings <br />(A) Notice of the public hearing shall be given by publishing said notice at least twice in a <br />newspaper of general circulation in the County, stating the time and place of such <br />hearing and the substance of the proposed amendment. <br />(B) This notice shall appear in said newspaper for two consecutive weeks with the first notice <br />appearing not less than ten days nor more than 25 days before the date set for the public <br />hearing. In computing the notice period, the day of publication is not to be included, but <br />the day of the hearing is to be included. <br />2 Staff proposes that this entire section (2.3.4) be deleted because it is relevant only in conjunction with Section <br />2.3.7. Rather than limiting “principal” amendments to being heard “generally” only once per year, staff proposes <br />that any Comprehensive Plan amendment could be heard at any of the quarterly public hearings. If this Section is <br />deleted, subsequent sections would be renumbered and section reference updates might occur in other <br />sections/articles of the UDO. <br />3 Since a quorum of Planning Board members will no longer be necessary to hold a public hearing, the public <br />hearing would no longer be a joint hearing. <br />Staff <br />proposes <br />this <br />entire <br />section <br />for <br />deletion <br />(see <br />footnote <br />below) <br />28