Note: Post updated 11/19/21 to incorporate statutory updates and make modest clarifications. Local governments make hundreds of decisions every day under local development regulations. Permits are issued or denied. Enforcement actions are initiated. Ordinance provisions are interpreted. Property is rezoned. Ordinances are amended. Do local governments have to provide notice that one of these decisions […]
Posts Tagged ‘Notice and public hearing’
Criticizing Public Employees in Public
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013An incident involving the police department has riled up the citizens. The manager and the police chief are coming under heavy criticism. Several people have signed up to speak at the regular public comment period at the next council meeting and have indicated that they will speak about “the need for the firing of the […]
Can We Continue this Zoning Hearing?
Tuesday, July 10th, 2012The county board of commissioners is holding a public hearing on a controversial rezoning. The hearing has been going on for an hour and there are many interested citizens waiting to speak. The board chair knows the agenda for the meeting following the hearing is packed with a number of other important items that will […]
Can We Hit the Pause Button on Development Approvals?
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010On Monday morning the River City newspaper contains a story on the new phenomenon of internet sweepstakes cafes – how they operate, how they are technically different from video poker, and their rapid proliferation around the state. Towards the end of the article there is a brief quote from the owner of a chain of […]
Just Say No: The Denial of a Rezoning Petition
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009The proposed rezoning makes poor planning sense. The neighbors oppose it. The petitioner is unpopular. So the governing board votes down the proposal. How may the petitioner challenge this action (or lack of action)? If adoption of a zoning amendment is a legislative action, then how can a petitioner challenge the refusal of the governing […]
What needs to be in the notice of a zoning hearing?
Friday, September 25th, 2009State law requires a public hearing before a zoning ordinance can be amended. Notice of the hearing must be published twice in a local paper. If the amendment proposes to change the zoning of property, notice of the hearing must also be mailed to the property owner and owners of adjacent property (and for good […]
Local Police-Power Ordinances: Whatever Has Happened to Them?
Monday, August 10th, 2009UPDATE September 2013: Click here for an analysis by my colleague Trey Allen of the general police power as interpreted by the 2013 North Carolina Court of Appeals case of King v. Town of Chapel Hill. In North Carolina some of these ordinances may be in peril, at least to the extent they are […]