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Popular Government Spring 1993 32 http://ncinfo.iog.unc.edu/planning/pgsp93.htm is not required. r281 Many boards do make audio tapes of these hearings in case a transcript is later desired. However, handwritten records and detailed summary of the testimony received are acceptable. Special care should be taken to ensure that the clerk to the board retains exclusive custody of any exhibits presented. The exhibits and record of testimony should be retained for at least the period within which a judicial challenge can be filed--thirty days after notice of the decision is filed and communicated to the parties--and the matter resolved. Additional Hearings With quasi-judicial land-use decisions, such as variance requests and special-use permits, the doctrine of res judicata applies, and a board may not reopen and rehear a case previously decided. 12J9 There is an exception if there is some material change in conditions, such as a new road being constructed at the site, additional development near the site over time, and the like. 30 Also, appeals of quasi-judicial zoning decisions go directly to the courts. It is not appropriate to seek a second evidentiary hearing before a different local board, such as appealing.a board of adjustment decision to the governing board. Conclusion Zoning hearings can be controversial, emotional, and confusing. Often the stakes are high for everyone involved. It is therefore important that these hearings be conducted in a fair and lawful manner. This requires that the local government body responsible for the hearing always keep in mind what type of zoning decision is involved, what type of hearing is required for that type of decision, and what the ground rules for that hearing are. B 11 It is also important that this information be communicated clearly to the participants in the hearing. Landowners, neighbors, and citizens need to understand what these rules are and why they exist-in order to participate effectively in zoning decisions. Each zoning hearing should open with a brief explanation of the rules that must be followed and their purpose. A written summary of the hearing ground* rules can also be provided in advance to the parties to the hearing. There will never be complete agreement on how zoning decisions should come out, and there will always be rooms full of people eager to make their strong opinions known to the boards making these decisions. However, the boards' being mindful of the standards for conducting zoning hearings fairly and clearly communicating these standards to all involved will help make zoning hearings more understandable, more efficient, and fair for all concerned. Addendum After this article was published, the 1993 General Assembly adopted amendments to G.S. 153A-343 and 160A -384 regarding individual mailed notices (1993 N.C. Sess. Laws ch. 799). This statute repealed all of the local laws providing exemptions for mailed notices of proposed zoning classification changes, including nine additional exemptions that had been adopted earlier in the 1993 session. This new statute is effective January 1, 1994 (effective January 1, 1995, for Forsyth County and its municipalities). Local governments have the option of moving up this effective date to any time after July 23, 1993, simply by adopting an ordinance setting forth the earlier date. The new statute creates five exceptions to the requirement of sending an individual first-class mailed notice when a zoning classification action is proposed. The five exceptions are: 1,-+. a total rezoning of all property within a city or within a zoned area of a county, unless the C rezoning is to a less intensive category; 2. 2. an initial zoning of an entire zoning jurisdiction area; 3. 3. a zoning classification action that directly affects more than fifty properties, with at least fifty different property owners; 4; 4. a reclassification that is a zoning text amendment; or