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Council hears strong public support for Green Growth Audit; formal adoption scheduled for later vote
Summary
City planning staff presented a Green Growth Audit addendum to the Building Brevard 2030 plan and received unanimous planning‑board support and multiple public comments endorsing stronger erosion, stormwater and habitat protections; council praised the work and will consider formal adoption at a later meeting.
City planning staff presented the Green Growth Audit addendum to the Building Brevard 2030 comprehensive land use plan during a public hearing on March 16. The document, prepared in collaboration with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, recommends strategies across four themes — conservation, mitigation (stormwater and sedimentation controls), preservation of sensitive areas (steep slopes, riparian buffers), and restoration of natural ecosystems — and includes an implementation roadmap.
Senior Planner Emily Brewer summarized key actions such as reframing certain GR4 areas as conservation zoning, tailoring stormwater applicability to impervious surface and impact rather than simply unit counts, strengthening erosion and sedimentation controls, refining tree‑canopy and buffer standards, and incentivizing native landscaping. "This audit emphasizes protecting natural habitats and concentrating development in already built‑out areas to limit sprawl," she said.
Speakers from the Brevard Sustainability Council and local conservation experts urged council to adopt the audit as an addendum to the comprehensive plan. "Sedimentation is the single most pollutant to our fresh water systems in North America," said Destiny Pettit, a hydrologist, who called for robust erosion and sediment controls and mandatory environmental assessments for large disturbances.
Councilmembers praised the thoroughness of the draft and asked staff to preserve scalability and assess fiscal impacts when individual ordinance changes are proposed. Several members stressed that the audit is guidance: subsequent UDO (Unified Development Ordinance) amendments will be subject to coordinated public process and state law constraints. Brewer said the planning board had recommended approval and that council would be asked to take a formal adoption vote at an April meeting.
Next steps: staff will return with ordinance language and project‑specific proposals where necessary; council will consider adoption of the audit addendum at an upcoming meeting and any implementing UDO amendments thereafter.
