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Durham officials warn proposed state land-use bills could upend UDO rewrite and housing plans
Summary
County and delegation members said a proposed state bill that would limit local rezoning and penalize local officials (discussed as House bill 765 and related measures) could create nonconformities in Durham's Unified Development Ordinance and make transit-oriented and affordable housing goals difficult to implement.
Durham County leaders and legislative delegates discussed proposed state legislation that county staff and the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) have been tracking because it could remove elements of local land-use control.
County officials said a package of bills and fix proposals (delegation members referenced what they described as House bill 765 and a Senate measure, SB587, among related drafts) initially moved quickly through the legislature but did not complete crossover. Delegation members warned, however, that provisions from those measures could reappear as amendments in other bills or gain a fiscal attachment that keeps them alive.
County staff said the practical effect of some proposals would be to prevent local governments from adopting zoning changes that downzone property, which in turn would create widespread nonconformities under a new UDO and limit the county's ability to implement transit-oriented development and affordable-housing incentives. "That will really not permit us to move forward with our unified development ordinance and implementing our land use plan because it will create nonconformities everywhere," a county official said.
Why it matters: Durham's UDO rewrite is intended to reduce barriers to higher-density and mixed-use development in areas targeted for transit and for affordable housing. Delegation members and staff said that state-level constraints on local rezoning could undercut those policies and have downstream effects on housing supply and county capital planning.
Delegation members urged county leaders to press representatives on the conference committee and to coordinate with other counties; they also recommended county visits to key committee members next week during County Assembly Day.
Ending: County staff asked legislators for continued alerts about draft amendments and for help building coalitions across counties; delegation members said they would continue to monitor amendments and fiscal packages that could revive parts of the preemption proposals.
