Nash County officials unveil draft overhaul of land-use rules, highlighting buffers, connectivity and data-center standards

Nash County planning staff and their consultant on June 24 outlined a proposed rewrite of the county's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), a nearly year-long effort to modernize rules first adopted in 1998. Planning Director Adam Tyson and project manager Adam Culpepper of Withers Ravenel said the steering committee produced 33 recommended updates that will be translated into ordinance text and returned for public hearings.

The proposed changes are intended to make the code clearer and to give elected officials clearer regulatory tools for locating and conditioning development. Culpepper said the rewrite focuses on reformatting and simplifying permitted-use tables, clarifying lot types, improving diagrams and adding development standards where none exist today.

Key technical proposals explained at the meeting include linking setbacks to NCDOT roadway classifications; tying lot-width requirements for minor subdivisions to DOT driveway spacing (a 200-ft width for roads with higher traffic volumes); clearer minimum lot-size standards for multi-family developments; and adding landscape and streetscape buffers tied to roadway class.

On subdivisions, the consultant reviewed multiple infrastructure proposals: adjusting internal-subdivision pavement width (a steering-committee recommendation to widen 20 ft to 24 ft was discussed but the joint meeting had earlier voted to retain 20 ft), reducing maximum block length from 1,200 ft to 1,000 ft, and requiring stub roads roughly every 1,000 ft of developable edge to improve future connectivity. The draft also defines by-right minor subdivisions as four or fewer lots and major subdivisions as five or more lots, which triggers additional utility and infrastructure requirements.

Utilities and stormwater: staff proposed tying mandatory water/sewer connection requirements to the major-subdivision threshold (five lots or more) and described a 100-ft-per-unit metric for requiring line extensions, with a practical cap of 3,000 ft for required public extension. The county will continue to enforce state stormwater rules and recommended increasing residential freeboard from 1 ft to 2 ft for new construction in flood-prone areas.

Data centers and EV charging: the draft would explicitly list data centers as a land use and require mandatory development standards (separation distances, noise, screening, utility-usage restrictions). Culpepper and Tyson emphasized the draft is not an endorsement of data centers; rather, it would create a clear review pathway and allow stricter local standards than currently exist. The draft would require EV charging infrastructure for larger commercial and multi-family projects but not for typical single-family neighborhoods.

Procedures and review: the proposal shifts some administrative by-right subdivision approvals from the Planning Board to the technical review committee (TRC), which includes planning staff, utilities, fire, NCDOT and environmental health, on the rationale that technical compliance is best evaluated by those agencies. Staff said this change would not alter minimum code standards but would change the body that issues administrative approvals.

Timing and next steps: staff said detailed ordinance language must still be drafted; both the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners will hold public hearings on the final draft. Culpepper suggested the county may hold an open house prior to those hearings. Tyson estimated adoption could occur in late summer or early fall but emphasized the timeline depends on public input and elected officials' direction.

The meeting materials and the draft summary are available online; residents were invited to join an email list for further notifications.