On December 11, state lawmakers enacted Senate Bill 382, a bill that provides disaster relief funds to Western North Carolina. However, tacked onto the last two pages of the 132-page bill is an alarming provision for local municipalities on the Outer Banks.
The provision, entitled, “No Local Government Initiated Down-Zoning Without Consent of Affected Property Owner,” prohibits local government from downzoning property, creating nonconformities or reducing uses unless they have the permission of landowners.
At the December 4 commissioners’ meeting, Nags Head town manager Andy Garman called the provision alarming and astonishing, stating that almost everything the town does would meet the definition of downzoning.
“Zoning is downzoning,” he said. “Before there was zoning, there were no rules. The adoption of zoning is downzoning because why do you need rules unless you’re trying to protect something?”
Garman explained how zoning has benefited the town of Nags Head. For example, restricting development around Nags Head Woods; running lot lines perpendicularly between the beach road and the ocean, which allows homes to be moved back in the event of erosion; higher standards for large residential dwellings; and removing and then reimagining the multi-family standards to protect the historic district in town.