(A) Initiation of amendments. Proposed changes or amendments may be initiated by the Town Council, Planning Board, Board of Adjustment or by one or more owners or lessees of property within the area proposed to be changed or affected.
(B) Application. An application for any change or amendment shall contain a description and/or statement of the present and proposed zoning regulation or district boundary to be applied, and the names and addresses of the owner or owners of the property. Such application shall be filed at the Town Hall with the Zoning Enforcement Officer or a designated representative not later than three weeks prior to the meeting at which the application is to be considered.
(C) Fee. A fee of $75 shall be paid to the Town Clerk for each application for an amendment to cover the necessary administrative costs and advertising costs. If additional advertising costs and the like arise, the cost will be paid by the applicant.
(D) Every proposed amendment, supplement, change, modification or repeal to this chapter shall be referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendation and report (G.S. § 160D-604(c), (e)). The owner of affected parcels of land, and the owners of all parcels of land abutting that parcel of land, shall be mailed a notice of the hearing on a proposed zoning map amendment by first class mail at the last addresses listed for such owners on the county tax abstracts. For the purpose of this section, properties are “abutting” even if separated by a street, railroad, or other transportation corridor.
Additionally, the town shall prominently post a notice of the public hearing on the site proposed for rezoning the amendment or on an adjacent public street or highway right-of-way. The notice shall be posted within 25 days prior to the hearing until ten days prior to the hearing. When multiple parcels are included within a proposed zoning map amendment, a posting on each individual parcel is not required, but the town shall post sufficient notices to provide reasonable notice to interested persons (G.S. § 160D-602).
(E) Plan consistency. When adopting or rejecting any zoning text or map amendment, the Town Council shall approve a brief statement describing whether its action is consistent or inconsistent with an adopted comprehensive plan. The requirement for a plan consistency statement may also be met by a clear indication in the minutes of the Town Council, that at the time of action on the amendment, the Town Council was aware of and considered the Planning Board’s recommendations and any relevant portions of an adopted comprehensive plan. If the amendment is adopted and the action was deemed inconsistent with the adopted plan, the zoning amendment shall have the effect of also amending any future land use map in the approved plan and no additional request or application for a plan amendment shall be required. A plan amendment and a zoning amendment may be considered concurrently. The plan consistency statement is not subject to judicial review. If a zoning map amendment qualifies as a “large-scale rezoning” under G.S. § 160D-6-2(b), the Town Council statement describing plan consistency may address the overall rezoning and describe how the analysis and polices in the relevant adopted plans were considered in the action taken.
(Ord. passed 4-5-2010; Ord. passed 11-3-2014; Ord. passed 5-3-2021)