TITLE
A request by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners to adopt revisions to the Chatham County Subdivision Regulations.
ABSTRACT
Action Requested:
Vote on a request by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners to adopt revisions to the Chatham County Subdivision Regulations.
Introduction & Background:
In 2015 and 2017, the Legislature adopted new legislation narrowing local governments' ability to regulate zoning and subdivisions. In 2017, the Legislature also adopted new legislation which added another category of legal subdivision. The new pieces of legislation became effective October 1, 2015, July 1, 2017, and October 1, 2017, and have implications for the County's Subdivision Regulations.
In addition to the revisions needed due to changes in state law, Planning staff has also added some minor revisions that largely deal with improving process facilitation and language clarification.
On February 19th, 2018, the Chatham County Board of Commissioners held a Public Hearing to discuss revisions to the Chatham County Subdivision Regulations. No one spoke at the hearing, but one citizen submitted written comments against proposed changes to the maintenance guarantee portion of the Subdivision Regulations. The proposed amendment, which would eliminate maintenance guarantees for developers, was included by Planning staff because S.L. 2015-187 has already proscribed counties from requiring or allowing maintenance guarantees. Planning staff has not allowed maintenance guarantees since the law was passed by the General Assembly in 2015.
On March 6th, 2018, the Planning Board discussed this item, tabled a vote on it, and asked Planning staff to review whether S.L. 2015-90 removes the County's authority to require Environmental Impact Assessments to include "indirect or secondary impacts" of a project. The County Attorney's Office had initially recommended amending the Subdivision Regulations to remove the requirement of "indirect or secondary impacts" on the ...
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