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Currituck commissioners adopt resolution opposing House Bill 765 that would limit local zoning powers
Summary
The Currituck County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution opposing House Bill 765, citing provisions in the proposed law that would curtail local planning and zoning authority and impose new penalties and minimum density requirements.
The Currituck County Board of Commissioners adopted a resolution opposing House Bill 765 and similar legislation that the board said would strip essential local authority to regulate planning and zoning.
County staff read the resolution into the record before the board and the board discussed the item at length. The resolution states that HB 765, titled "An Act to Reform Local Government Development Regulations in this state," would "significantly limit or eliminate a local government’s ability to protect the public" by making sweeping changes to planning and zoning standards.
The resolution lists several specific provisions it opposes, including mandatory fiscal notes on impacts to housing costs before changing ordinances; disqualification of commissioners from rezoning votes for prior undisclosed conversations or opinions; removing a local government's ability to establish parking requirements and certain street and sidewalk standards; elimination of a county's ability to set minimum lot sizes and residential zoning districts; mandated minimum densities tied to county population (the resolution cites a proposed floor of no fewer than four dwelling units per acre for Currituck County); increasing the duration of vested rights from two years to five; judicial review of local consistency statements; and the elimination of a county's ability to reserve water and sewer capacity for proposed development.
Public comment on the bill included a statement from Connie Hendrick, who told the board she had reviewed HB 765 and urged commissioners and residents to read the bill and contact legislators. Hendrick said the bill "covers the state controlling certain aspects of zoning" and warned that if it passed "there are certain aspects that may not have any control of it." She asked whether the county would do more than adopt a resolution.
During discussion, commissioners expressed concern about the bill's potential effects on local control, farmland protections and county services, and raised the prospect that newly imposed minimum densities or removed setbacks could increase demands on schools and county infrastructure. Commissioners also expressed concern about a provision described in the resolution that would introduce civil penalties and liabilities for counties and individual commissioners, including punitive damages; the resolution states that the loss of governmental immunity could expose individual officials to personal liability.
A motion to adopt the resolution was made and seconded. The board adopted the resolution and directed the clerk to forward a copy to the county’s legislative delegation. The resolution also encourages citizens, businesses and neighboring counties to communicate with their representatives about HB 765.
The county attorney read that the resolution "is effective upon adoption." The board did not amend the resolution on the floor. Commissioners encouraged residents who oppose the bill to contact representatives in Raleigh and the governor’s office.
The board’s action is symbolic and does not itself change local ordinances; the resolution is a statement of opposition and a request that the county’s legislative delegation and the governor be made aware of the county’s concerns.
