1400 Authority - This ordinance, including the Official Zoning Map/Atlas of Lenoir, North Carolina, may be amended from time to time by the City Council as herein specified, following a review by and a written recommendation from the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall have thirty (30) days from the regularly scheduled meeting after having received an amendment request, within which to submit its recommendation.

1401 Requirements for Change - When public necessity, convenience, general welfare, or good zoning practice justify such action, and after the required review and report by the Planning Board, the City Council may undertake the necessary steps to amend the Zoning Ordinance and the Official Zoning Map. Action of the City Council in their consideration of proposed amendments to the Zoning Ordinance shall be by a simple majority vote.

1402 Procedure for Amendment - Requests to amend the Zoning Ordinance shall be processed in accordance with the following requirements:

1402.1

Initiation of Amendments - A proposed amendment to the Zoning Ordinance may be initiated by the City Council, the Planning Board, Planning department staff, or by application filed with the Planning department by the owner or owners of the property or by the holder of an option to the property proposed to be changed or by citizens with a critical interest in the property. No amendment to zoning regulations or a zoning map that down-zones property shall be initiated nor is it enforceable without the written consent of all property owners whose property is the subject of the down-zoning amendment, unless the down-zoning amendment is initiated by the City.

1402.2

Application Procedure - An application for a proposed text or map amendment may be obtained from the Planning Department. Completed forms, plus any additional information the applicant feels to be pertinent, will must be filed with the Planning Department who shall forward such to the Planning Board. Any communication purporting to be an application for an amendment shall be regarded as mere notice to seek relief until it is made in the form required. A pre-application meeting with Planning Department staff is recommended, but not required, prior to submittal of an amendment request.

Applications for amendments must be submitted in proper form, by Friday falling at least twenty (20) days prior to a Planning Board meeting in order to be heard at that meeting and a fee paid as set forth by City Council to defray administration and publication expenses.

1402.21

Community Meeting - The Planning Director may require the applicant to hold a community meeting or otherwise notify and communicate with neighbors and impacted citizens, prior to taking a proposed amendment to the Planning Board. When such a requirement is made, the Planning Department shall provide names and addresses as appropriate to facilitate noticing for the meeting, but mailed notice shall be the responsibility of the applicant. When requiring a community meeting, the Planning Director shall take into consideration the scale of the proposed amendment, the differences in intensity between the existing and proposed districts or regulation, the consistency of a proposed amendment with the future land use map, the history of the property, and the characteristics of the surrounding properties. Generally, community meetings will only be required for amendments with (1) the potential to substantially alter or depart from the community's reasonable expectations for development under the existing zoning classification; and (2) the impacts are anticipated to occur within or immediately adjacent to an established residential area or are anticipated to create a demand for additional services or infrastructure improvements that haven't already been identified in the City's Capital Improvements Plan, Comprehensive Plan or other small-area plan.

1402.22

A community meeting shall not be required for the following types of amendments:

(1)

Requests to down-zone property

(2)

Requests amending less than 20,000 sq. ft.

(3)

Requests for re-zonings on properties specifically identified for the proposed zoning on the Future Land Use map

1402.3

Planning Board Review - The Planning Board shall review all proposed amendments and shall advise and comment on whether the proposed action is consistent with the City's adopted Comprehensive Plan and any other officially adopted plan that is applicable. The Planning Board shall provide a written recommendation to the governing board that addresses plan consistency and other matters as deemed appropriate by the Planning Board. A comment by the Planning Board that an amendment is inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan shall not preclude consideration or approval of the proposed amendment by the City Council. For map amendments that qualify as "large scale re-zonings" under G.S. 160D-602(b), the Planning Board statement describing plan consistency may address the overall re-zoning and describe how the analysis and policies in the relevant adopted plans were considered in the recommendation made.

The Planning Board shall also call for and set the date of a legislative hearing during which the City Council shall receive public comments on the application.

Meetings of the Planning Board shall be open to the public, and mailed notice shall be sent in accordance with G.S. 160D-602 to the owner of the affected parcel(s) and to the owners of all abutting properties. For the purposes of this section, properties are "abutting" even if separated by a street, railroad, or other right-of-way or easement. In cases where the abutting properties are substandard due to not meeting the minimum lot size or width requirements, the notice shall also include the next abutting property(s). In cases where the applicant or owner of the subject property also owns or has an interest in the abutting properties, the City may send notice to the next abutting property, such that the intent of this Section to provide written notice to abutting land owners is met.

1402.4

Legislative Hearing by the City Council - Before enacting an amendment to this ordinance or amending the Official Zoning Map, the City Council shall hold a legislative hearing thereon. Notice of the hearing must be published in accordance with G.S. 160D-601(a), and mailed noticed shall be shall be sent in accordance with G.S. 160D-602(a) to the owner of the affected parcel(s) and to the owners of all abutting properties, except that large-scale zoning map amendments may be noticed through publication instead of mailed noticed in accordance with G.S. 160D-602(b). For the purposes of this section, properties are "abutting" even if separated by a street, railroad, or other right-of-way or easement. In cases where the abutting properties are substandard due to not meeting the minimum lot size or width requirements, the notice shall also include the next abutting property(s). In cases where the applicant or owner of the subject property also owns or has an interest in the abutting properties, the City may send notice to the next abutting property, such that the intent of this Section to provide written notice to abutting land owners is met.

When a zoning map amendment is proposed, the City shall prominently post a notice of the legislative hearing on the site proposed for rezoning or on an adjacent public street or highway right-of-way, in accordance with G.S. 160D-602(c). When multiple parcels are included within a proposed zoning map amendment, a posting on each individual parcel is not required, but the City shall post sufficient notices to provide reasonable notice to interested persons.

1402.5

Decision of the City Council - When adopting or rejecting any zoning text or map amendment, the City Council shall approve a brief statement describing whether its action is consistent or inconsistent with the City's adopted Comprehensive Plan, in accordance with G.S. 160D-605(a). When adopting or rejecting any petition for a zoning map amendment, the City Council shall also approve a statement analyzing the reasonableness of the proposed rezoning. This statement of reasonableness may consider, among other factors, (i) the size, physical conditions, and other attributes of the area proposed be rezoned, (ii) the benefits and detriments to the landowners, the neighbors, and the surrounding community, (iii) the relationship between the current actual and permissible development on the tract and adjoining areas and the development that would be permissible under the proposed amendment; (iv) why the action taken is in the public interest; and (v) any changed conditions warranting the amendment. If a zoning map amendment qualifies as a "large-scale rezoning" under G.S. 160D-602(b), the City Council statement on reasonableness may address the overall rezoning. The statement of reasonableness and the plan consistency statement required by this section may be approved as a single statement.

State Law reference— G.S. 160D-605

1402.6

Changes in the Zoning Map and Future Land Use Map - Following the final action by the City Council, any necessary changes shall be made in the Zoning Map/Atlas. A written record of the type and date of such change shall be maintained by the Planning Department. If a zoning map amendment is adopted and the action was deemed inconsistent with the adopted plan, the zoning amendment shall have the effect of also amending any future land-use map in the approved plan, and no additional request or application for a plan amendment shall be required.

1402.7

Pending Amendments - Upon the receipt of a request for amending the Zoning Ordinance Text or Zoning Map/Atlas as initiated under Section 1402 of the Lenoir Zoning Ordinance and upon the calling for a public hearing by the Lenoir City Council, the Planning Department or representative thereof shall then "stay" the issuance of any permits for land use or construction that would render said land use or construction nonconforming by any means (i.e., yard requirements, land usage, etc.), should said amendment be confirmed by the City Council at a duly advertised public hearing.

1403 Resubmission of Rezoning Applications - When an application for a change in zoning classification for a piece of property has been acted upon by the City Council, a new application for rezoning of the same property or any part thereof shall not be accepted within a period of one (1) year from the date of the submission of the application.

However, if the property owner (or his designated agent) was not the party originally submitting the application for rezoning, the restrictions on the submission of a new application shall not apply.

(Ord. of 4-20-2004; Ord. of 1-16-2006; Ord. of 6-16-2015(1), § 5; Ord. of 1-19-2021, § 8)