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Article 2: Procedures <br /> Section 2.8: Zoning Atlas and Unified Development Ordinance Amendments <br /> <br /> <br />Orange County, North Carolina – Unified Development Ordinance Page 2-30 <br /> <br />(B) The Board of County Commissioners may direct the Planning Board to provide a <br />recommendation by a date certain. If the Board of County Commissioners does not so <br />direct, the Planning Board shall make its recommendation within three regularly <br />scheduled Planning Board meetings. <br />(C) If the Planning Board fails to make a recommendation within the time allotted in <br />subsection (B) above, the application shall be forwarded to the Board of County <br />Commissioners without a Planning Board recommendation. <br />(D) Amendments initiated by Orange County shall not be subject to time limitations other <br />than those specified by the Board of County Commissioners during the public hearing <br />process. <br />(E) Evidence not presented at the public hearing may be submitted in writing to the Planning <br />Board for consideration prior to the Planning Board’s recommendation to the Board of <br />County Commissioners. The Planning Board may consider additional oral evidence only <br />if it is for the purpose of presenting information also submitted in writing. <br />(A) The Planning Board shall allow public comments at its meeting and those comments <br />shall be taken into consideration by the Planning Board in making its recommendation. <br />(B) The Planning Board’s action on an application shall be one of the following: <br />(1) Recommend approval, <br />(2) Recommend denial, <br />(3) Recommend approval but with specified changes, or <br />(4) Recommend the Planning Board be given extended time to consider the <br />matter.38 <br />(C) In making its recommendation, the Planning Board shall also approve a statement <br />describing whether its action is consistent with an adopted comprehensive plan or any <br />other officially adopted plan that is applicable, and briefly explain why the board <br />considers the action taken to be reasonable and in the public interest.39 <br />(D) Should the Planning Board fail to make a recommendation prior to the quarterly public <br />hearing, the application shall be forwarded to the Board of County Commissioners <br />without a Planning Board recommendation.40 <br />2.8.9 Action by Board of County Commissioners <br />(A) The Board of County Commissioners shall not consider enactment of the proposed <br />amendment until hold a public hearing after the Planning Board either makes its <br />recommendation or takes no action on the application as prescribed in Section 2.8.8(C) <br />within 30 days if its referral. <br /> <br />38 The previous version the ORC reviewed proposed to allow the Planning Board to make a preliminary <br />recommendation and request that the BOCC refer the application back to the Planning Board of significant new <br />information were presented at the public hearing. The Staff Attorney has suggested that, because the BOCC <br />always has the procedural right to send an application back to the Planning Board, that the previously proposed <br />possibility be removed and replaced with the language shown in (4). Additionally, the Staff Attorney has <br />recommended that procedural rights not be codified in the UDO; this has resulted in some changes from the <br />version the ORC reviewed in July 2015. Some procedural aspects of the process will be available via “cheat <br />sheets” the night of the Planning Board meeting and/or public hearing. <br />39 Required by NCGS 160A-383. <br />40 This paragraph is a slight modification from existing paragraph (C), which is proposed to be deleted. It addresses <br />what happens in the event the Planning Board fails to make a recommendation (namely, that the process moves <br />forward without a Planning Board recommendation). <br />29