MILLS RIVER – In a major rollback of Mills River’s power to regulate development, the town’s new unified development ordinance, in the works for about two years, was nullified by the General Assembly July 2.
Mills River was, for a time, the only municipality in North Carolina granted an exemption from a statewide ban on downzoning — or reducing allowed density or land uses. Under the ban, cities, towns and counties cannot tighten restrictions on land by, for instance, reducing the size or number of houses or apartments allowed per acre.
That’s particularly important in a place like Mills River, which many residents say is defined by its rural character and which, like much of Western North Carolina, is facing rising development…