(A) (1) It shall be the function and duty of the Planning Board to make and adopt a suggested master plan for the physical development of the municipality or modified parts of the plan as the Planning Board and Board of Commissioners may deem best.
(2) The plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts, and descriptive matter, may show the Planning Board's recommendations for the development of the territory, including, among other things, the general location, character, and extent of streets, viaducts, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds, squares, parks, aviation fields, and other public ways, grounds and open spaces, the general location of public buildings and other public property, and the general location and extent of utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, light, sanitation, transportation, communication, power and other purposes; also the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the foregoing ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, property, utilities or terminals, as well as a zoning plan for the control of the height, area, bulk, location and use of buildings and premises.
(3) The Planning Board may from time to time recommend amendments, extensions, or additions to the plan.
(Prior Code, § 2-7005)
(B) (1) Before the adoption by the Planning Board of the plan or any part, amendment, extension, or addition, the Planning Board shall hold at least one public hearing thereon.
(2) The Planning Board shall have power to promote public interest in any understanding of the plan and to that end may hold public hearings, publish and distribute copies of the plan or of any report and may employ other means of publicity and education as it may determine.
(3) Members of the Planning Board, when duly authorized by the Planning Board, may attend town planning conferences or meetings of town planning institutes or hearings upon pending town planning legislation, and the Planning Board may, by resolution spread upon its minutes, pay the reasonable traveling expenses incident to the attendance.
(4) All officers and employees of the town shall render reasonable assistance and any information to the Planning Board as may be requested by the Planning Board for its work.
(5) The Planning Board shall from time to time, and at least annually, submit reports in writing to the Board of Commissioners giving information regarding the condition of the town and any plans or proposals for the development of the town and estimates of the cost thereof, and these reports shall contain other recommendations as the Planning Board feels should have immediate attention.
(Prior Code, § 2-7007)
(C) In the preparation of the plan or modified plan or parts thereof, the Planning Board shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth of the municipality and with due regard to its relation to neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the municipality and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, including, among other things, adequate provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient expenditure of public funds, and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.
(Prior Code, § 2-7006)
Statutory reference:
Authority for a municipality to create a planning board, see G.S. § 160A-361