Before adopting, amending, or repealing any ordinance or
, the Board of Commissioners shall hold a legislative hearing.
Notice of the hearing shall be provided as follows:
(A) Published notice. A notice of the hearing shall be given once a week for two successive calendar weeks in a newspaper having general circulation in the area. The notice shall be published the first time not less than ten days nor more than 25 days before the date scheduled for the hearing. In computing such period, the day of publication is not to be included but the day of the hearing shall be included.
(B) Mailed notice.
(1) When the boundaries of zoning districts are determined, established, and enforced, and from time to time amended, supplemented or changed, 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.
(2) For the purpose of this section, properties are “abutting” even if separated by a street, railroad, or other transportation corridor.
(3) This notice must be deposited in the mail at least ten but not more than 25 days prior to the date of the hearing.
(C) Posted notice. When a zoning map amendment is proposed, the town shall prominently post a notice of the hearing on the site proposed for the amendment or on an adjacent public street or highway right-of-way. The notice shall be posted within the same time period specified for mailed notices of the hearing. When multiple parcels are included within a proposed zoning map amendment, a posting on each individual parcel is not required but sufficient notices shall be posted to provide reasonable notice to interested persons.
(D) Notice to military bases. If the adoption or modification would result in changes to the zoning map or would change or affect the permitted uses of land located five miles or less from the perimeter boundary of a military base, the town shall provide written notice of the proposed changes by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the commander of the military base not less than ten days nor more than 25 days before the date fixed for the hearing. If the military provides comments or analysis regarding the compatibility of the proposed
or amendment with military operations at the base, the
shall take the comments and analysis into consideration before making a final on the ordinance.
(E) ETJ expansion. If the zoning map amendment is being proposed in conjunction with an expansion of the extraterritorial
under G.S. § 160D-202, a single hearing on the zoning map amendment and the boundary amendment may be held. In this instance, the initial notice of the zoning map amendment hearing may be combined with the boundary hearing notice and the combined hearing notice mailed at least 30 days prior to the hearing.
(F) Optional notice for large-scale zoning map amendments.
(1) The first-class mail notice required by this section shall not be required if the zoning map amendment proposes to change the zoning designation of more than 50 properties owned by at least 50 different property owners.
(2) In this instance, the town can elect to make the mailed notice or, as an alternative, elect to publish notice of the hearing provided that each advertisement shall not be less than one-half of a newspaper page in size. The advertisement shall only be effective for property owners who reside in the area of general circulation of the newspaper that publishes the notice. Property owners who reside outside of the newspaper circulation area, according to the address listed on the most recent property tax listing for the affected property, shall be notified via first-class mail.
(G) Actual notice. Except for a town-initiated zoning map amendment, when an application is filed to request a zoning map amendment and that application is not made by the landowner or authorized agent, the applicant shall certify that the owner of the parcel of land as shown on the county tax listing has received actual notice of the proposed amendment and a copy of the notice of the hearing. Actual notice shall be provided in any manner permitted under G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 4(j). If notice cannot with due diligence be achieved by personal delivery, certified mail, or by a designated delivery service authorized pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7502(f)(2), notice may be given by publication consistent with GS § 1A-1, Rule 4(j1). The person or persons required to provide notice shall certify to the town that actual notice has been provided, and such certificate shall be deemed conclusive in the absence of fraud.
(H) A
adopted pursuant to this section shall be adopted by ordinance.
(Ord. 2021-O3, passed 5-24-2021)