North Carolina § 160D-101 - Application.

§ 160D-101. Application.

The provisions of this Article shall apply to all development regulations and programs adopted pursuant to this Chapter or applicable or related local acts. To the extent there are contrary provisions in local charters or acts, G.S. 160D-111 is applicable unless this Chapter expressly provides otherwise. The provisions of this Article also apply to any other local ordinance that substantially affects land use and development. The provisions of this Article are supplemental to specific provisions included in other Articles of this Chapter. To the extent there are conflicts between the provisions of this Article and the provisions of other Articles of this Chapter, the more specific provisions shall control. Local governments may also apply any of the definitions and procedures authorized by this Chapter to any ordinance that does not substantially affect land use and development adopted under the general police power of cities and counties, Article 8 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes and Article 6 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes respectively, and may employ any organizational structure, board, commission, or staffing arrangement authorized by this Chapter to any or all aspects of those ordinances. This Chapter does not expand, diminish, or alter the scope of authority for planning and development regulation authorized by other Chapters of the General Statutes. History (2019-111, s. 2.4; 2020-3, s. 4.33(a); 2020-25, s. 51(a), (b), (d).) Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2019-111, s. 2.4, enacted this Chapter as G.S. 160D-1-1 through 160D-14-5. The sections herein were renumbered as G.S. 160D-101 through 160D-1405 at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. For effective date and applicability, see below the editor's notes for Session Laws 2019-111, s. 3.2, as amended by Session Laws 2020-3, s. 4.33(a), and as repealed by Session Laws 2020-25, s. 51(a), (d), and for Session Laws 2020-25, s. 51(b). Session Laws 2019-111, s. 2.8, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2019-111, s. 2.10, provides: "If Part II of this act becomes law in 2019, it is the intent of the General Assembly that legislation contained in Part I of this act or in other acts enacted in the 2019 Regular Session of the 2019 General Assembly, or that affects statutes repealed and replaced by similar provisions in Chapter 160D of the General Statutes, as enacted by Part II of this act, also be incorporated into Chapter 160D of the General Statutes. It is the further intent of the General Assembly that legislation contained in the telecommunications provisions of Part II of this act makes no substantive policy changes from the statutes repealed. The North Carolina General Statutes Commission shall study the need for legislation to accomplish this intent and shall report its findings and recommendations, including any legislative proposals, to the 2020 Regular Session of the 2019 General Assembly." Session Laws 2019-111, s. 2.1(a)-(f), provides: "(a) The General Assembly finds that a coherent organization of the statutes that authorize local government planning and development regulation is needed to make the statutes simpler to find, easier to follow, and more uniform for all local governments. "(b) The General Assembly finds that the parallel system of separate city and county statutes regarding planning and development regulation has led to redundancy and unintended differences in the wording of planning and development regulation statutes on the same subject. "(c) The General Assembly finds that numerous specialized statutes affecting local planning and development regulation have been added in disparate Chapters of the General Statutes over past decades, and that antiquated and confusing language exists in the planning and development regulation statutes. "(d) The General Assembly finds that, other than collecting some of these statutes into Article 19 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes in 1971 and Article 18 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes in 1973, no comprehensive reorganization of North Carolina's planning and development regulation statutes has been undertaken. "(e) The intent of the General Assembly by enactment of Part II of this act is to collect and organize existing statutes regarding local planning and development into a single Chapter of the General Statutes and to consolidate the statutes affecting cities and counties. "(f) The intent of the General Assembly by enactment of Part II of this act is to neither eliminate, diminish, enlarge, nor expand the authority of local governments to exact land, construction, or money as part of the development approval process or otherwise materially alter the scope of local authority to regulate development and any modifications from earlier versions of Part II of this bill should not be interpreted to affect the scope of local government authority." Session Laws 2019-111, s. 2.9(a)-(c), provides: "(a) Any otherwise valid permit or development approval made prior to January 1, 2021, shall not be invalid based on inconsistency with the provisions of this act. The validity of any plan adopted prior to January 1, 2021, is not affected by a failure to comply with the procedural requirements of G.S. 160D-5-1(b). "(b) Any special use district or conditional use district zoning district that is valid and in effect as of January 1, 2021, shall be deemed a conditional zoning district consistent with the terms of this act, and the special or conditional use permits issued concurrently with establishment of those districts shall be valid as specified in Section 2.9.(a) of this act. Any valid 'conditional use permit' issued prior to January 1, 2021, shall be deemed a 'special use permit' consistent with the provisions of this act. "(c) Any local government that has adopted zoning regulations but that has not adopted a comprehensive plan shall adopt such plan no later than July 1, 2022, in order to retain the authority to adopt and apply zoning regulations." Session Laws 2019-111, s. 3.2 provided for the delayed enactment of this Chapter, effective January 1, 2021, and applicable to local government development regulation decisions made on or after that date, and further provided that "Part II of this act clarifies and restates the intent of existing law and applies to ordinances adopted before, on, and after the effective date." Session Laws 2020-3, s. 4.33(a), extended the delayed enactment date of this Article, making it effective August 1, 2021, and applicable to local government development regulation decisions made on or after that date. Session Laws 2020-25, s. 51(a), (d), repealed Session Laws 2019-111, s. 3.2, and Session Laws 2020-3, s. 4.33, effective June 19, 2020. Session Laws 2020-3, s. 5, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2020-25, s. 51(b), provides: "Part II of S.L. 2019-111 [which enacted this Chapter] is effective when this act becomes law [June 19, 2020.]. Part II of S.L. 2019-111 clarifies and restates the intent of law existing on the effective date of this act [June 19, 2020] and applies to ordinances adopted before, on, and after that date. Valid local government development regulations that are in effect at the time of the effective date of Part II of S.L. 2019-111 remain in effect but local governments shall amend those regulations to conform to the provisions of Part II of S.L. 2019-111 on or before July 1, 2021. Part II of S.L. 2019-111 applies to local government development regulation decisions made on or after the earlier of: "(1) The effective date of the amendments to local development regulations made to conform to the provisions of Part II of S.L. 2019-111 or "(2) July 1, 2021."