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Mills River council sends letter, plans delegation to oppose part of SB 1074 that would nullify local UDO
Summary
Council read into the record a formal letter opposing part two of SB 1074 (the Mills River UDO provision) and expressed consensus to send a delegation to the House Finance Committee meeting. The letter documents the town's community engagement and asks legislators to amend or remove the town from part two.
At a regular meeting the Mills River Town Council read into the public record a formal letter to House Finance Committee Chair Rep. Julia C. Howard opposing part two of SB 1074, which the town says would nullify the actions taken by the council and the community in adopting the town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO).
Town Manager Matthew McCarahan read the letter, which states in part: "We the town council of Mills River, North Carolina formally oppose part two of SB 1074 titled Mills River Unified Development Ordinance." The letter asks the committee to remove Mills River from part two or at minimum amend the bill so the town’s UDO reflects the will of the community.
The letter documents the town’s public-engagement process: multiple public forums and sessions totaling dozens of hours (the letter references five public forums with seven sessions, approximately 20 hours; 10 office-hour sessions totaling 34 hours; 11 council meetings and code review sessions over ~1.5 years; 16 steering-committee meetings totaling ~39 hours; thousands of mailings and viewable zoning map drafts). The letter notes the town adopted Ordinance 2026-09 (the UDO and official zoning map) on June 11, 2026, by a 4–1 vote and stated the UDO is effective Sept. 1, 2026.
Council members said there was consensus to send the letter and to form a delegation to attend the House Finance Committee hearing, scheduled at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. Council discussed travel logistics (overnight stay Monday) for those attending. The meeting transcript records agreement to proceed, though no formal roll-call vote was recorded on the delegation.
The letter lists the town manager as a contact for additional information and cites SL2025-32 as the state exemption that enabled Mills River to adopt its UDO before part two of SB 1074 would take effect.
Next steps: staff will transmit the letter to legislators and coordinate a delegation to the House Finance Committee hearing in Raleigh.
