(A) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide a uniform means for amending the official zoning map.
(B) Authority. The town’s Board of Commissioners may adopt an ordinance amending the official zoning map upon compliance with the provisions of this section.
(C) Initiation. An application to amend the official zoning map may be initiated by the town’s Board of Commissioners, the Planning Board, the Ordinance Administrator, a resident of the town or any other person having a financial or other interest in land located within the town’s zoning jurisdiction.
(D) Procedures.
(2) Review and recommendation by Ordinance Administrator. Prior to the submission of the application to the Planning Board, the Ordinance Administrator shall review the application and make a written recommendation which he or she shall present to the Planning Board during the meeting at which it considers the application.
(3) Review and recommendation by Planning Board. Following the review by the Ordinance Administrator, the application shall be forwarded to the Planning Board for its review and recommendation. During the meeting, the Planning Board shall consider the application, relevant supporting materials, the Ordinance Administrator’s recommendation and any comments given by the public on the matter. Within 30 days of the first meeting on an application, the Planning Board shall make a written recommendation to the Board of Commissioners. In making its recommendation, the Planning Board shall include a written statement summarizing the amendment’s consistency with the Future Land Use Plan and any other relevant plans having applicability to the proposed amendment in accordance with G.S. § 160A-383.
(4) Review and action by Board of Commissioners. Following consideration by the Planning Board, the town’s Board of Commissioners shall conduct a public hearing to review and consider the application, the relevant supporting materials, the Ordinance Administrator’s recommendation, the recommendation of the Planning Board and the comments given during the hearing (if any). Following the close of the public hearing, the town’s Board of Commissioners shall take one of the following actions:
(a) Approve the rezoning application as requested;
(b) Approve the rezoning application with a reduction in size of the area requested;
(c) Approve the rezoning application to a more restrictive base zoning district;
(d) Deny the rezoning application; and
(e) Remand the rezoning application back to the Planning Board for further consideration.
Regardless of the decision on the application, the Board of Commissioners shall adopt a statement on the proposed amendment’s consistency with the Future Land Use Plan and any other relevant plans having applicability to the proposed amendment as well as the reasonableness of the action and how the action furthers the public interest in accordance with G.S. § 160A-383. Where a rezoning is approved that has the effect of creating an isolated district (a zoning district surrounded entirely by dissimilar zoning districts) that is less than ten acres in size, the Board of Commissioners shall also adopt a statement analyzing the reasonableness of the approval of the small scale rezoning in accordance with G.S. § 160A-382.
(E) Protest petitions.
(1) General. Applications to amend the official zoning map which are subject to a valid protest petition as set forth in G.S. § 160A-385 shall only be approved by an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of the members of the town’s Board of Commissioners who are eligible to vote on the matter.
(2) Valid protest petitions.
(a) For a protest petition to be valid, it must be signed by:
1. The owners of at least 20% of the land area within the area subject to the application for amendment; or
2. The owners of at least 5% of the land within a 100-foot buffer extending along the perimeter of the area subject to the application for amendment. A street right-of-way shall not be considered in computing the buffer distance; provided that, the right-of-way is less 100 feet in width. If an area less than an entire parcel is proposed for rezoning, the buffer shall be computed from the exterior parcel boundary.
(b) In accordance with G.S. § 160A-385(a), no protest against any change in or amendment to a zoning ordinance or zoning map shall be valid or effective for the purposes of G.S. § 160A-385 unless it is in the form of a written petition actually bearing the signatures of the requisite number of property owners and stating that the signers do protest the proposed change or amendment, and unless it shall have been received by the Town Clerk in sufficient time to allow the town at least two normal work days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, before the date established for a public hearing on the proposed change or amendment to determine the sufficiency and accuracy of the petition.
(Ord. passed 3-5-2018)