Blight City is looking to revitalize a portion of its downtown. Over the past ten years the area has fallen into disarray and contains many abandoned, dilapidated buildings. Working with a couple of local developers, the city has developed plans … Read more
A really hot topic is occupying the city council: to allow food trucks or not to allow food trucks, that is the question. Local restaurants are opposed, but the trucks are really popular and may revive downtown foot traffic. The … Read more
Having received lots of emails and phone calls after my earlier post on this topic, it seems worthy of a sequel. Here’s a few of the more interesting questions from across the state this past week. How creative can a … Read more
The town council makes decisions on special use permit applications under the Macomb zoning ordinance. The council is in the midst of a hearing on an application from Malcolm Tucker for a special use permit to build a new shopping … Read more
UPDATE October 5, 2015: The legislature enacted S.L. 2015-246, which, effective August 1, 2016, prohibits a city, county, sanitary district, and water and sewer authority from mandating connection to its water system (and prohibits a city from assessing an availability … Read more
Students of local government law learn first and foremost that all local governments get their powers from the state. In North Carolina, local authority comes primarily from local and general laws enacted by the General Assembly. A particular city may … Read more
Voting for president is weird. When we go to the polls at the general election in November and think we are voting for one candidate or another, we’re not. Not a single North Carolinian voted for John McCain or Barak … Read more
It’s February, which means that tax lien advertising season is right around the corner. Early this month tax collectors must report to their governing boards the delinquent taxes that are liens on real property. Governing boards then issue orders to advertise … Read more
My blog from December 15 of last year (“Preoccupied with Occupancy Certificates: Part I”) was intended to provide an introduction to the use of a certificates of occupancy (CO) by local inspections agencies to ensure that a development project is … Read more