Title
Review and vote to adopt Recode Chatham Unified Development Ordinance
Abstract
Introduction & Background:
The County entered into a contract with White & Smith, LLC to develop a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). The goal of the UDO is to combine the County’s existing development regulations into one cohesive and user-friendly ordinance. The new UDO aims to simplify and clarify development standards, ensuring that the process is easier to understand for the public, elected officials, and appointed boards, while creating a more predictable development review process. The primary result of the project is the new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), which serves as the primary regulatory document that guides all development and land use in the county.
This project began in late 2021 and has included multiple meetings with the Board of Commissioners (BOC) & Planning Board to gather input and direction. A UDO Planning Board Subcommittee was formed, composed of Planning Board members and Ex-Officio members from other Advisory Boards and Committees. Their feedback, alongside staff contributions, has been essential in shaping the UDO to reflect the County’s policy guides, including Plan Chatham <https://www.chathamcountync.gov/government/departments-programs-i-z/planning/adopted-plans/comprehensive-plan>, Plan Moncure <https://www.recodechathamnc.org/planmoncure>, & the Recode Chatham Health & Equity Assessment. <https://www.recodechathamnc.org/healthandequity>
The consultants began with a code audit <https://www.recodechathamnc.org/_files/ugd/1d382f_cffe6f3183844bafa1cf62e03d699abf.pdf> in May 2022, which informed the draft revisions. Module 1 (Zoning) was released as a Public Review Draft in March 2023. Following this, the team worked on Module 2 (Development Standards), which was presented in May of this year. Module 3 (Administration & Procedures) and Module 4 (Definitions) were finalized and presented in mid-July of this year. The full consolidated draft of the UDO was released to the public on September 6th, with public comments accepted through October 10th via Konveio <https://recodechathamnc.konveio.com/>. Staff and the consultants will review the feedback for consideration by the BOC. A special Planning Board meeting was held on September 24th to review the document with the consultant team, address concerns, and identify top priorities. The Planning Board concluded the meeting by directing each member to identify their top five issues with the draft, which was further discussed at their next special meeting on October 8th.
The BOC met on October 7th to receive a presentation during the work session from the consultant team and staff about the UDO’s consolidated draft and changes that have occurred since they last reviewed each of the modules. Following that, the legislative public hearing was held during the regular session the evening of Octobert 7th, and the BOC received public comment as well from about 6 people. During the October 8th Planning Board meeting the board formalized their key issues with the UDO. They passed several motions and votes to determine whether there was sufficient support for each concern to be included in their recommendations to the BOC. Ultimately, the Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend adoption of the UDO, with their list of motions to be included as part of their recommendation of the UDO to the Commissioners. The board also voted 7-1 to recommend a consistency statement that the UDO complied with all ten goals listed in Plan Chatham. After that meeting, the Board of Commissioners (BOC) convened on October 21 to review the Planning Board’s UDO recommendations and public feedback, and to discuss remaining topics that needed direction for the UDO. Using insights from this meeting, staff prepared a series of agenda attachments for the November 4th meeting’s work session, aimed at clarifying decisions on key topics, addressing the Planning Board’s UDO motions along with staff input, and reviewing any additional public comments received.
At the November 4 meeting, the BOC dedicated the entire work session to the UDO. They confirmed their alignment with staff’s recommendations on the Planning Board’s UDO motions, provided guidance on outstanding topics, and reviewed project scenarios under the new UDO regulations to understand how these would affect project outcomes compared to current regulations. The BOC ultimately directed staff to incorporate their feedback into a revised UDO draft, which is scheduled for tentative adoption at the November 18th meeting.
Discussion & Analysis:
The consultant team, together with County staff, will attend the November 18 meeting to guide the UDO adoption process. The revised UDO draft will incorporate the changes directed in previous meetings, and staff will review these updates with the BOC. The goal is to reach consensus and move forward with adopting the new UDO at this meeting.
How does this relate to the Comprehensive Plan:
The UDO implements the policies, goals, and vision of Plan Chatham, ensuring that the comprehensive plan’s guidelines are reflected in the County’s land use regulations.
Budgetary Impact: N/A
Recommendation/Motion:
A motion to adopt the Unified Development Ordinance, with an effective date of July 1, 2025, and a motion to approve a consistency statement.
The Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend adoption of ordinance approving the Unified Development Ordinance after amendments are made based on the items they discussed during their October 8th meeting.
The Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend adoption of a resolution approving the following consistency statement:
The Unified Development Ordinance complies with the ten goals listed in Plan Chatham.