Whiteville City Zoning Code
PLANNING BOARD
§ 155.220 APPOINTMENT AND TERMS OF PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS.
(A) There shall be a Planning Board consisting of ten members. Six members shall be appointed by the City Council and four members shall be appointed by the County Board of Commissioners. The county appointments must reside in the extraterritorial planning area. If the Board of Commissioners fails to make the appointments requested by resolution from the City Council within 90 days, the Council shall make them. Members may be removed by the appointing authority at any time for missing three consecutive regular meetings, for missing more than 50% of regular meetings of the Planning Board within a 12-month period or for other good cause determined by the appointing authority.
(B) Planning Board members shall be appointed for three-year staggered terms, but members may continue to serve until their successors have been appointed. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms only.
(C) Members may be appointed to successive terms without limitation.
(D) All members may participate in and vote on all issues before the Board, regardless of whether the issue affects property within the city or within the extraterritorial planning area.
(E) All members appointed to the Planning Board shall, before entering their duties, qualify by taking an oath of office as required by G.S. § 160D-309.
(F) Proportional representation of populations within the extraterritorial area shall be provided by appointing residents of the entire extraterritorial planning and development regulation area to the Planning Board with a minimum of one resident appointed from the extraterritorial area. The population estimates for this calculation shall be updated no less frequently than after each decennial census.
(2009 Code, § 155.190) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992; Ord. 2017-O-57, passed 11-14-2017; Ord. 2021-Z-19, passed 6-22-2021)
§ 155.221 MEETINGS OF THE PLANNING BOARD.
(A) Regular meetings of the Planning Board shall be held at the call of the Chairperson and at the other times as the Board may determine. Called or special meetings as called by the Chair, or the City Manager after consulting with the Chair, shall be arranged to ensure that business related to petitions, requests and applications will proceed expeditiously.
(B) The Planning Board shall conduct its meetings so as to obtain necessary information and to promote the full and free exchange of ideas.
(C) Minutes shall be kept of all Board procedures and the vote of every member on each issue shall be recorded.
(D) All Board meetings shall be open to the public, and whenever feasible the agenda for each Board meeting shall be made available in advance of the meeting.
(2009 Code, § 155.191) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992; Ord. passed 1-24-2006)
§ 155.222 QUORUM AND VOTING.
(A) A quorum of the Planning Board shall consist of six members and if there are one or two vacancies, a quorum may consist of three members. A quorum is necessary for the Board to take official action.
(B) All actions of the Planning Board shall be taken by majority vote, a quorum being present.
(C) A roll call vote shall be taken upon the request of any member.
(D) Members of the Planning Board shall not vote on any advisory or legislative decision regarding a development regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter where the outcome of the matter being considered is reasonably likely to have a direct, substantial, and readily identifiable financial impact on the member. An appointed board member shall not vote on any zoning amendment if the landowner of the property subject to a rezoning petition or the applicant for a text amendment is a person with whom the member has a close familial, business, or other associational relationship.
(2009 Code, § 155.192) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992; Ord. passed 1-24-2006; Ord. 2021-Z-19, passed 6-22-2021)
§ 155.223 PLANNING BOARD OFFICERS.
(A) The Planning Board shall designate one of its members to serve as Chairperson and one member to serve as Vice-Chairperson. The Chairperson shall be a city appointee. These officers shall be selected annually at the Board’s first regular meeting in August and shall serve for terms of one year unless their terms of appointment to the Board expire sooner. The Chairperson may serve unlimited successive terms. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired terms only.
(B) The Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson may take part in all deliberations and vote on all issues.
(2009 Code, § 155.193) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992)
§ 155.224 POWERS AND DUTIES OF PLANNING BOARD.
The Planning Board may:
(A) Make studies of the area within its jurisdiction and surrounding areas;
(B) Determine objectives to be sought in the development of the study area;
(C) Prepare and adopt plans for achieving these objectives;
(D) Develop and recommend policies, ordinances, administrative procedure and other means for carrying out plans in a coordinated and efficient manner;
(E) Advise the Council concerning the use and amendment of means for carrying out plans;
(F) Exercise any functions in the administration and enforcement of various means for carrying out plans that the Council may direct;
(G) Advise the City Council concerning the implementation of plans, including, but not limited to, review and comment on all zoning text and map amendments as required by G.S. § 160D-604.
(H) Perform any other related duties that the Council may direct; and
(I) The Planning Board may adopt rules and regulations governing its procedures and operations not inconsistent with policies of the City Council.
(2009 Code, § 155.194) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992; Ord. 2021-Z-19, passed 6-22-2021)
§ 155.225 ADVISORY COMMITTEES.
(A) From time to time, the City Council may appoint one or more individuals to assist the Planning Board to carry out its planning responsibilities with respect to a particular subject area. By way of illustration, without limitation, the City Council may appoint advisory committees to consider the thoroughfare plan, bikeway plans, housing plans, economic development plans and the like.
(B) Members of the advisory committees shall sit as nonvoting members of the Planning Board when the issues are being considered and shall lend their talents, energies and expertise to the Planning Board. However, all formal recommendations to the City Council shall be made by the Planning Board.
(C) Nothing in this section shall prevent the City Council from establishing independent advisory groups, committees or commissions to make recommendations on any issue directly to the City Council.
(2009 Code, § 155.195) (Ord. passed 10-27-1992)
§ 155.226 STATEMENTS REQUIRED TO BE GIVEN CITY COUNCIL ON REFERRED MATTERS.
When conducting a review of proposed zoning text or map amendments pursuant to this section, the Planning Board shall advise and comment on whether the proposed action is consistent with any comprehensive plan that has been adopted and any other officially adopted plan that is applicable. The Planning Board shall provide a written recommendation to the City Council that addresses plan consistency and other matters as deemed appropriate by the Planning Board, but a comment by the Planning Board that a proposed amendment is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan shall not preclude consideration or approval of the proposed amendment by the City Council. If a zoning map amendment qualifies as a "large-scale rezoning" under G.S. § 106-602(b), the Planning Board statement describing plan consistency may address the overall rezoning and describe how the analysis and policies in the relevant adopted plans were considered in the recommendation made.
(2009 Code, § 155.196) (Ord. passed 1-24-2006; Ord. 2021-Z-19, passed 6-22-2021)