Johnston Commissioners Schedule Special Meeting On Unified Development Ordinance
SMITHFIELD, N.C. — Johnston County commissioners will hold a special meeting to continue discussions on the county’s proposed Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), a comprehensive rewrite of the regulations that govern growth and development in unincorporated areas of the county.
The special meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17, in the Commissioners Meeting Room at the Johnston County Courthouse, 207 E. Johnston Street in Smithfield. The meeting is not a public hearing, but it will be open to the public.
The draft UDO has been under development for months and is intended to modernize and consolidate the county’s land use and development regulations into a single document.
Earlier this year, Planning Director Braston Newton told commissioners that a committee made up of farmers, developers, county officials and other stakeholders had been reviewing the proposed ordinance line by line with assistance from a consulting firm.
During that review, committee members backed away from proposed restrictions on farm animals in subdivisions and discussed increasing setbacks for homes in new subdivisions. Another major topic has been the width of landscaped buffer areas that developers would be required to install between new residential subdivisions and adjacent farmland.
The proposed ordinance has generated significant public interest, with residents raising concerns about residential growth, farmland preservation, property rights and future development standards during recent Board of Commissioners meetings.
The next opportunity for public participation will be a Community Input Session on Sept. 9, followed by a Planning Board review and recommendation on Sept. 15.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to hold its official public hearing on Oct. 5, with a final review and possible action on Nov. 2.
The Aug. 17 special meeting is expected to give commissioners another opportunity to review the draft ordinance before it advances through the remaining public review process.
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The Johnston County commissioners are the biggest board of inept, Incompetent and idiotic people I’ve ever seen.
Agree
@TP: And the sheep keep re-electing the same group year after year. Maybe it’s time to try something (anything) new?
What they need to do is make developers pay for the new services, highways and infrastructure they require.
What they will do is further limit what legacy homeowners can do on their own unincorporated property.
Developers do pay for the new streets, utilities, and infrastructure that is installed in subdivisions and developments. The only time the county pays is when a large business comes in and the county either upgrades their infrastructure or installs new that should have already been in place.
You don’t honestly believe that the infrastructure inside the subdivision is all they need or will use.
@GenEcks: Thanks to Phil Berger and Tim Moore (and now Destin Hall), it is illegal for municipalities to charge impact fees to developers to cover infrastructure costs. If you want a change, you’ll need to stop voting for the same people & party. #voteOutIncumbents
This should be tabled until the new year.
One current county commissioner has already been ejected because of the UDO. Mike Rose shouldn’t have any say at all on this. He should resign and the board should appoint Adam Caldwell to serve out the rest of the term.
Ramrodding the UDO through before the election is disgusting, arrogant, and just what we have come to expect from our so-called leaders.
It’s a disgrace.
Why can’t folks just tend their own business and stay out of everyone else’s ?
Something about a government by the people….that tends to get in the way of it, PaPa