Rutherford College City Zoning Code
AMENDMENTS
§ 152.285 ACTION BY THE APPLICANT.
(A) Initiation of amendments. Proposed changes or amendments may be initiated by the Town Council, Planning Board, Board of Adjustment or by one or more owners or lessees of property within the area proposed to be changed or affected.
(B) Application. An application for any change or amendment shall contain a description and/or statement of the present and proposed zoning regulation or district boundary to be applied, and the names and addresses of the owner or owners of the property. Such application shall be filed at the Town Hall with the Zoning Enforcement Officer or a designated representative not later than three weeks prior to the meeting at which the application is to be considered.
(C) Fee. A fee of $75 shall be paid to the Town Clerk for each application for an amendment to cover the necessary administrative costs and advertising costs. If additional advertising costs and the like arise, the cost will be paid by the applicant.
(D) Every proposed amendment, supplement, change, modification or repeal to this chapter shall be referred to the Planning and Zoning Commission for its recommendation and report (G.S. § 160D-604(c), (e)). The owner of affected parcels of land, and the owners of all parcels of land abutting that parcel of land, shall be mailed a notice of the hearing on a proposed zoning map amendment by first class mail at the last addresses listed for such owners on the county tax abstracts. For the purpose of this section, properties are “abutting” even if separated by a street, railroad, or other transportation corridor.
Additionally, the town shall prominently post a notice of the public hearing on the site proposed for rezoning the amendment or on an adjacent public street or highway right-of-way. The notice shall be posted within 25 days prior to the hearing until ten days prior to the hearing. When multiple parcels are included within a proposed zoning map amendment, a posting on each individual parcel is not required, but the town shall post sufficient notices to provide reasonable notice to interested persons (G.S. § 160D-602).
(E) Plan consistency. When adopting or rejecting any zoning text or map amendment, the Town Council shall approve a brief statement describing whether its action is consistent or inconsistent with an adopted comprehensive plan. The requirement for a plan consistency statement may also be met by a clear indication in the minutes of the Town Council, that at the time of action on the amendment, the Town Council was aware of and considered the Planning Board’s recommendations and any relevant portions of an adopted comprehensive plan. If the 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. A plan amendment and a zoning amendment may be considered concurrently. The plan consistency statement is not subject to judicial review. If a zoning map amendment qualifies as a “large-scale rezoning” under G.S. § 160D-6-2(b), the Town Council statement describing plan consistency may address the overall rezoning and describe how the analysis and polices in the relevant adopted plans were considered in the action taken.
(Ord. passed 4-5-2010; Ord. passed 11-3-2014; Ord. passed 5-3-2021)
§ 152.286 ACTION BY THE PLANNING BOARD.
The following action shall be taken by the Planning Board: the Planning Board shall consider and make recommendations to the Town Council concerning each proposed zoning amendment. The Planning Board may hold separate public hearings or may sit concurrently with the public hearing held by the Town Council.
(Ord. passed 4-5-2010; Ord. passed 11-3-2014; Ord. passed 5-3-2021)
§ 152.287 ACTION BY THE TOWN COUNCIL.
(A) Town Council consideration. The Town Council shall consider changes and amendments to this chapter as often as necessary; provided, however, that should the Town Council deny a request for a zoning amendment, it shall not thereafter accept any other application for the same change of zoning district affecting the same property, or any portion thereof, until the expiration of one year from the date of such previous denial.
(B) Notice of public hearing. No amendment shall be adopted by the Town Council until after public notice and hearing. Notice of public hearing shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the town at least once a week for two successive weeks prior to hearing. Notice may also be made by posting the property concerned or by mailing notices to the owners of surrounding property.
(C) Town Council action. Before taking such lawful action as it may deem advisable, the Town Council shall consider the Planning Board’s recommendations on each proposed zoning amendment. If no recommendations are received from the Planning Board within 30 days after public hearing by the Town Council, the proposed amendment shall be deemed to have been approved by the Planning Board.
(D) Protests.
(1) In case, however, of a protest against such changes signed by the owners of 20% or more either of the area of the lots included in such proposed change or of those immediately adjacent in the rear thereof extending 100 feet therefrom, or of those directly opposite thereto extending 100 feet from the street frontage of such opposite lots, such amendment shall not become effective except by favorable vote of three-fourths of all members of the Town Council.
(2) No protest against any change in or amendment to the zoning map shall be valid or effective unless it be in the form of a written petition actually bearing the signatures of the requisite number of property owners and stating that the signers do protest the proposed change or amendment, unless it shall have been received by the Town Clerk in sufficient time to allow the town at least two normal working days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, before the date established for a public hearing on the proposed change or amendment to determine the sufficiency and accuracy of the petition (G.S. § 160D-604). A person who has signed a protest petition may withdraw his or her name from the petition at any time prior to the vote on the proposed amendment.
(D) Generally. The Town Council may amend, supplement or change the text regulations and zoning district lines according to the following procedures. Under no circumstances shall the Town Council adopt such amendments that would cause this chapter to violate the watershed protection rules as adopted by the State Environmental Management Commission. Amendments affecting the watershed protection portions of this chapter shall be filed with the State Division of Environmental Management, the State Division of Environmental Health and the State Division of Community Assistance.
(Ord. passed 4-5-2010; Ord. passed 11-3-2014; Ord. passed 5-3-2021)