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Article 2: Procedures Section 2.3: Comprehensive Plan Amendments Orange County, North Carolina – Unified Development Ordinance Page 2-6 2.3.5 Public Hearing Required 6 A public hearing shall be held before adoption of any proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment. The Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Board 7 shall hear applications and receive public comment for proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments in a Quarterly Public Hearing. 2.3.6 Notice Requirements for Planning Board Meetings and Public Hearings 8 (A) The Planning Director shall provide notification of Planning Board meetings at which the Planning Board is to review and make a recommendation on Future Land Use Map amendments. Notifications shall be mailed and posted for the Planning Board meeting in the same manner as for the public hearing, as detailed in (D) below. The notice shall include the time and location of the Planning Board meeting.9 (B) The Planning Director shall provide public notice for any Comprehensive Plan amendment to be heard at a Quarterly Public Hearing. The notice shall include the time and location of the public hearing.10 (C) For all proposed amendments, Notice notice of the public hearing shall be given by publishing said notice at least twice in a newspaper of general circulation in the County, stating the time and place of such hearing and the substance of the proposed amendment.11 (1) This notice shall appear in said newspaper for two consecutive weeks with the first notice appearing not less than ten days nor more than 25 days before the date set for the public hearing. In computing the notice period, the day of publication is not to be included, but the day of the hearing is to be included. (2) The minimum published size of the notice shall be 25 square inches.12 (D) In the case of For amendments to the Land Use Plan (map) Future Land Use Map 13, the Planning Director shall provide additional notice with the following:14 (1) prominently post a notice of the public hearing on the site proposed for the land use change affected parcel or on an adjacent public street or highway right of way not less than ten days before the date set for the public hearing. 6 Staff notes that public hearings are not required by State statutes for Comprehensive Plan amendments but Orange County chooses to hold public hearings on amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. 7 Since a quorum of Planning Board members will no longer be necessary to hold a public hearing, the public hearing would no longer be a joint hearing. 8 Staff notes there are no statutory requirements to provide notice of Comprehensive Plan amendments (since statutes do not require public hearings for Comprehensive Plans), however, Orange County chooses to provide notice regarding Comprehensive Plan amendments to property owners/residents in the same manner zoning and UDO amendments (which are required by statutes to be noticed) are noticed. 9 The Planning Board has stated that it would like the public to have notice of its meetings when it is considering amendments so the public can attend the meetings and provide comments if desired. This will result in two mailed notifications/sign posting for Future Land Use Plan amendments unless there is interest in combining the notices into one. This can be done for Comprehensive Plan amendments since State statutes do not require notices nor notice timelines. Staff requests ORC input. 10 Proposed addition made by the Staff Attorney. 11 This language is currently (A) but has been automatically re-numbered due to a new (A) and (B) being proposed for addition. 12 (C)(1) and (C)(2) are currently (C) and (D) but have been recommended as subparagraphs by the Staff Attorney. 13 The name of this map was changed in the Comprehensive Plan in 2012 and should be updated here. 14 Proposed changes suggested by the Staff Attorney to clarify the existing language. 15