Title
Review and discuss public input and Planning Board recommendations on the Unified Development Ordinance and facilitate discussion to offer guidance for the final draft
Abstract
Introduction & Background: he 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.
Discussion & Analysis: The White & Smith consultant team, along with County staff, will attend this meeting to facilitate the UDO adoption process. Their role includes answering questions, documenting requested revisions, and addressing all the public input that was received for BOC consideration of incorporation into the document. While there is an opportunity for the Board of Commissioners to adopt the UDO with revisions during this meeting, if additional time is needed to review the document, the adoption can be postponed to one of the November meetings.
The Planning Board voted 7-1 to recommend adoption of the UDO 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 the following consistency statement: The Unified Development Ordinance complies with the ten goals listed in Plan Chatham.
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: Review and discuss public input and Planning Board recommendations on the Unified Development Ordinance and facilitate discussion to offer guidance for the final draft.