Agenda - 05-04-2021; 5-b - Unified Development Ordinance Text Amendments

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: May 4, 2021 Action Agenda Item No. 5-b SUBJECT: Unified Development Ordinance Text Amendments — "160D" Legislation DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: (919) 1. Statement of Approval and Consistency Perdita Holtz, Planner III, 245-2578 2. Proposed UDO and Comprehensive Plan James Bryan, Staff Attorney, 245-2319 Amendments Craig Benedict, Director, 245-2575 3. Proposed Amendments to the Planning Board Rules of Procedure 4. Excerpt of Draft April 7, 2021 Planning Board Minutes and Signed Statement of Consistency 5. Joint Planning Review Letter from Town of Carrboro 6. Draft PowerPoint Presentation PURPOSE: To hold a public hearing, receive the Planning Board/staff recommendation and public comment, close the public hearing, and consider action on County-initiated amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to conform County regulations to a new chapter, 160D, of the North Carolina General Statues. As a result, amendments to Appendix F of the Comprehensive Plan and to the Planning Board's and Board of Adjustment's Rules of Procedure are also necessary. BACKGROUND: In July 2019, the North Carolina General Assembly adopted legislation that entailed the first major recodification and modernization of city and county development regulations since 1905. The effort was several years in the making, beginning in 2013 when the endeavor was initiated by the Zoning and Land Use Section of the NC Bar Association. All local governments in North Carolina are required to adopt conforming regulations by July 1, 2021 (pushed back from an earlier date due to the COVID-19 pandemic). A blog post by staff at the School of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill provides helpful background information on the legislation: https:Hcanons.sog.unc.edu/chapter-160d-and-other-zoning-legislation/ Planning and County Attorney staff prepared UDO amendments to comply with the new legislation with the aim of leaving existing processes as unchanged as possible while also conforming the UDO to statutes. There are a limited number of proposed revisions that are more substantive in nature and are being proposed to conform the County's UDO to State requirements and best practices. These more substantive revisions include: • Eliminating the option for a "Conditional Use District" (CUD) from the UDO. Processing CUD applications are reviewed using a mixture of legislative and quasi-judicial processes, which can result in much confusion. Eliminating this type of process was one of the impetuses for the modernization of the statutes. In the 2000's, the NC