(A) Hearing with published notice. Before adopting, amending, or repealing any development regulation authorized by this chapter, the governing board shall hold a legislative hearing. 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) Ordinance required. A development regulation adopted shall be adopted by ordinance.
(C) Down-zoning. No amendment to zoning regulations or a zoning map that down-zones property shall be initiated nor is it enforceable without the written consent of all property owners whose property is the subject of the down-zoning amendment unless the down-zoning amendment is initiated by the local government. For purposes of this section, "down-zoning" means a zoning ordinance that affects an area of land in one of the following ways:
(1) By decreasing the development density of the land to be less dense than was allowed under its previous usage.
(2) By reducing the permitted uses of the land that are specified in a zoning ordinance or land development regulation to fewer uses than were allowed under its previous usage.
(D) Mailed notice. The owners 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 in the county tax records. Properties are "abutting" even if separated by a street, railroad, or other transportation corridor or public right-of-way. This notice must be deposited in the mail at least ten but not more than 25 days prior to the date of the hearing. If the zoning map amendment is being proposed in conjunction with an expansion of municipal extraterritorial planning and development regulation jurisdiction 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.
(E) Optional notice for large-scale zoning map amendments. The first-class mail notice is not 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, and the local government elects to use the expanded published notice under G.S. §§ 160D-601 and 160D-602(b).
(F) Posted notice. When a zoning map amendment is proposed, the local government shall prominently post 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 the local government shall post sufficient notices to provide reasonable notice to interested persons.
(Res. 2022-23, passed 8-1-2022)