Economic development appropriations pursuant to G.S. 158-7.1 have long required a properly-noticed public hearing prior to approval. When the appropriations involve business location incentives, the notice and hearing requirements take on constitutional significance as a result of North Carolina Supreme … Read more

Opportunity Zones are the latest effort by the federal government to encourage investment in low-income census tracts. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, enacted at the end of 2017, grants significant tax benefits to investors who reinvest their capital gains … Read more

Municipalities across North Carolina have long employed code enforcement tools to address problem properties and abandoned structures. A prior blog post describes the code enforcement options for repair and maintenance of commercial buildings. A book on housing codes describes the … Read more

UPDATE 2021: Some statutory provisions referenced in the original post were relocated to new Chapter 160D of the North Carolina General Statutes, effective January 1, 2021. This post has been updated with the new statutory references. The downtown buildings in … Read more

Federal tax reform is likely to be enacted before the end of the year. While the final form of the bill has not been determined, it is nearly certain that federal historic preservation tax credits—an important financing mechanism for preservation … Read more

Dr. Blaine Beeper is a retired hospital administrator who was recently elected to council in the Town of Bushwood. Dr. Beeper thinks he has figured out how to jumpstart revitalization of Bushwood’s historic downtown. He proposes for the Town to … Read more

[UPDATE: Effective January 1, 2021, G.S. 160A-458.3 was moved to new Chapter 160D and the powers were made available to counties as well as municipalities. The new statute pertaining to downtown development projects is G.S. 160D-1315.] Downtowns across America are … Read more

Update: The statutes referenced in this post were moved to G.S. Chapter 160D in 2021. See the Chapter 160D resource page and the cross-over chart to identify new statute numbers. Local governments establish residential rental property inspection, permit, and registration … Read more

The Town of Renewville has ambitious redevelopment plans for several key—but tired and/or underdeveloped—properties along its Main Street. As we know from a prior post examining the limited situations in which a local government may discuss property acquisition in closed … Read more

On October 20, 2015, the Governor signed Session Law (S.L.) 2015-277, placing into effect several “clarifications” to the primary economic development statute used by local governments, G.S. Chapter 158, Article 1, “The Local Development Act of 1925.” The modifications fall … Read more