Recording Closed Sessions

North Carolina’s open meetings law allows any person to “photograph, film, tape-record, or otherwise reproduce any part of a meeting required to be open.” G.S.143-318.14(a) (emphasis added). What about meetings that are not required to be open? Does a person attending a closed session have a right to record it? If the public body decides to record the meeting, what is the status of that recording and how long must it be retained? This blog post addresses these and other related questions about recording closed sessions.

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Did the General Assembly Repeal City Privilege License Tax Authority Last Year?

Yes. But they didn’t mean to. And the repeal doesn’t affect privilege license taxes levied for the current fiscal year. (We think.) And they will (probably) fix the mistake this session. At the same time they might drastically change (in other words, limit) cities’ authority to levy these taxes. Or they might do nothing and let the (mistaken) repeal stand.

Does that all makes sense? If not, join the club. It’s been a confusing few months for folks who work in the area of municipal privilege license taxes. Here’s my best effort to explain where we are now, how we got here, and where we might go next.  Read more »

Stay What? Placing Development on Hold While Appeals Are Pending

Controversy regarding a new house in a Raleigh historic district has garnered national and even international attention.  Work on the house came to an abrupt halt when permits for it were revoked.  A key element of the controversy – sparking outrage from the casual observer — is the fairness of having work on a nearly complete house halted.  A number of press reports characterized this as the board of adjustment (BOA) yanking the proverbial regulatory rug from underneath the owner.

The substantive question of whether this particular house design is appropriate for the site and procedural issues about the BOA review are now before the courts.  But what about the fairness of halting work so late in the construction process, after so much money has been sunk into the house?

Should construction on the house have been stopped immediately upon the appeal being filed?  Is the choice left to the owner to proceed after an appeal has been made?  Do the neighbors or the city have a role in making that choice?  Who bears the risks and costs of proceeding or halting development?  In short, how and when is development work or enforcement put on hold pending an appeal? Read more »

New Property Tax Deferral Aimed at Economic Development Properties

[UPDATE:  S.L. 2014-39 amended the site infrastructure deferral by eliminating the requriement that the property have previously been participating in the present use value deferral program for farmland and by changing the deferral calculation.  The updated post below reflects these changes.]

This past year witnessed several milestones for deferred property taxes.  We celebrated the 40th birthday of the first deferred tax program, the present-use value deferral aimed at farmland and forestland that debuted in 1973 (G.S. 105-277.4).  We welcomed the newest member of the family, the “site infrastructure” deferral aimed at land that might be ripe for economic development (G.S. 105-277.15A; more on this new arrival below).  And we said goodbye to the home builders’ inventory deferral (G.S. 105-277.1D), which sunset in 2013.  Read more »

It’s Almost Time For The Short Session

This post is co-authored with Christine Wunsche, the Director of the School of Government’s Legislative Reporting Service.

The pace in Raleigh is about to pick up this week as the North Carolina General Assembly returns to town on Wednesday for the 2014 “short” session. Below is some information about the upcoming session to help you prepare for and get excited about the weeks and months to come. We’ve also highlighted some changes to our Legislative Reporting Service website for the coming year. Read more »

Can Outside Material be Incorporated by Reference into Local Development Regulations?

Simplicity and clarity are laudable objectives when drafting a zoning ordinance or other development regulation.  One way this is accomplished is to cross-reference other material rather than repeating it in the ordinance.  This is often referred to as “incorporation by reference.”  For example, rather than having a detailed definition of “adult businesses” that are subject to zoning restrictions, the ordinance can just borrow and apply the same definition used in state statutes regulating these businesses.

Is it permissible to do this?  If so, what types of material can be incorporated into a local development regulation by reference?  State laws and regulations?  What about federal laws?  Technical codes published by government agencies?  Standards adopted by national non-governmental agencies?  Maps published by others?  What happens when the material that is incorporated is updated after the local ordinance is adopted?  Read more »

Quorum Calculations: The Impact of Vacancies and Members Who Don’t Vote

The Town of Bomont has a problem:  for several weeks now large numbers of teenagers have been meeting on downtown sidewalks every Saturday morning to form “dance mobs.”  The youths make it almost impossible for pedestrians to access many of the stores located in the downtown area, and the merchants who own those establishments have seen a big drop in Saturday sales since the weekly dance mobs began.

Councilmember Shaw Moore believes that the teenagers who take part in the dance mobs are “hooligans” in need of a comeuppance.  He and five other councilmembers make up the town council’s committee on public safety, of which Mr. Moore is the chairman.  With input from the town attorney, Mr. Moore drafts an ordinance that would prohibit dancing on downtown streets by groups of more than three people.  He wants the committee to endorse the proposed ordinance at its upcoming meeting so that the council will be in a position to adopt the ordinance next month.  On the night before the committee meeting, one of the six members unexpectedly resigns, effective immediately.  When Mr. Moore arrives for the meeting the following day, only two other members are in attendance.  One of them informs Mr. Moore that she needs to be excused from any action on the proposed ordinance because she owns an ice cream stand that – unlike other downtown businesses – profits handsomely from the weekly gatherings of teenage dancers.  Despite his eagerness to proceed with the meeting, Mr. Moore concludes that the committee lacks a quorum.  Is he correct? Read more »