Note: This post has been replaced by this updated post:   Calculating the Majority Vote Required for Variances and Development Regulation Amendments    

Hector Peabody is fuming.  Several months ago one of his neighbors called town hall and complained that he was running an illegal kennel in his backyard.  Sure, he raised plot hounds, kept them in a pen out back and the … Read more

In 2015 the General Assembly abolished the supermajority requirement for adopting zoning map amendments if a protest petition had been filed. S.L. 2015-160 created G.S. 160D-603 as an alternative to the protest petition. It allows written protests to be filed … Read more

Many folks have never heard of zoning board of adjustment, but this is a critically important piece of the local development regulation machinery.  Every year these boards hear and decide hundreds of appeals of the interpretation of ordinances made by … Read more

A small restaurant on the edge of town has been in operation for many years.  Rick’s Cafe Carolinian was built in the 1940’s by Vic and Ilsa Laszlo at a time when the surrounding land was only woods and fields.  … Read more

Rick Grimes is a sheriff’s deputy residing in a crossroads community out in the county.  For a number of years he has supplemented his income with a small business repairing RVs.  He usually has three or four old RVs parked … Read more

Cell tower construction is a hot zoning topic.  The proliferation of connected devices has substantially increased the demand for wireless data transmission.  Everyone wants good cell reception and high quality access for their mobile devices.  But no one wants to … Read more

Hershel Greene runs a small animal hospital out on the edge of town. When the business first opened thirty years ago, he had a large billboard advertising the business installed out by the road.  Herschel had been heavily involved with … Read more

The board of adjustment is hearing a hotly contested appeal.  The zoning administrator interpreted a somewhat ambiguous provision in the zoning ordinance to allow a controversial land use.  Irate neighbors appealed that determination to the board of adjustment.  The case … Read more

The county zoning inspector received a call from a citizen complaining about a large accumulation of junk in a neighbor’s back yard.  The caller said there are several old refrigerators, some discarded furniture, and “a whole bunch of other junk” … Read more