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Rowan County moves to update hazardous-materials ordinance and adopts fire-code language change
Summary
County staff requested and the commissioners approved updates to the hazardous-materials ordinance and adopted a fire-code text amendment to tie county code to the current state fire code rather than a 2006 edition; a public hearing was set for the hazardous-materials revisions.
Rowan County commissioners on Jan. 20 approved updates to two local ordinances: a hazardous-materials ordinance correction and a text amendment to the county fire code.
TJ, a county staff member, told the board the hazardous-materials ordinance adopted in 2025 contained duplicative or inconsistent language that needs removal so the county can clearly establish authority and procedures to recover hazardous-material response and cleanup costs. TJ said staff is asking the board to hold a public hearing on the proposed corrections and remove four redundant sections.
On the fire code, TJ recommended removing a 2006-year citation and replacing it with language tying the county to the "current" edition adopted by the state of North Carolina, so the county can apply whatever state edition is in force. "What we're asking is to change and remove the 2006 and just include the word current so that we can use the current addition of whatever's adopted by the state of North Carolina," TJ said.
Commissioners asked whether the county attorney had reviewed the changes; the chair confirmed attorney review. The board opened and closed the public hearing and approved the fire-code text amendment by voice vote. For the hazardous-materials ordinance, the board moved to approve the update (as presented) and voted in favor.
What this means: The hazardous-materials corrections are intended to clarify county authority to recover cleanup costs and remove inconsistent wording. The fire-code change aligns local code language with the state's current code without listing a specific past edition.
Next steps: Staff will schedule and publish the public hearing for the hazardous-materials ordinance corrections and implement the fire-code language change into the county code.
