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Zoning – Zones & Uses – Horse Farm & Subdivision – Ambiguity – Text & Table
A table in the respondent-county’s uniform development ordinance (UDO) would require a buffer between a horse farm and a neighboring subdivision. However, the text of the UDO says no buffer is required between properties that have the same zoning designation – like a horse farm and a rural subdivision. The UDO § 1.1.12 says that, […]
Zoning – Municipal – Real Property – Nonconforming Use – Short-Term Rental – Ambiguous Ordinances
Although the respondent-Town had an enacted ordinance in 1984 to regulate “tourist homes and other temporary residences renting by the day or week” and amended the ordinance in 2000 to regulate rentals for “less than 28 consecutive days,” the Town expressly recognized the confusion caused by its ordinance when it enacted another amendment in 2019, […]
Municipal – Zoning – Civil Practice – Standing – Constitutional
Since plaintiffs lacked standing to protest the defendant-city’s zoning decision under a former law, they also lack standing to seek a declaratory judgment that the city should have made its zoning decision in conformity with the former law rather than a new law. We affirm summary judgment for defendants. Plaintiffs had no legal right to […]
Civil Practice – Standing – Zoning – Special Damages – Adjacent Property
Cherry Community Organization v. City of Charlotte (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-023-18, 18 pp.) (Hunter Murphy, J.) (Robert Hunter Jr., concurring in the result only) (Mark Davis, J., concurring in the result only without separate opinion) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court (Daniel Kuehnert, J.) N.C. App. Holding: Even though plaintiff’s complaint alleged facts that would […]
Zoning – Court Upholds Zoning Limitation Provision
Quinn v. Board of County Comm’rs for Queen Anne’s County, Md. (Lawyers Weekly No. 001-153-17, 19 pp.) (Wilkinson, J.) No. 16-1890, July 7, 2017; USDC at Baltimore, Md. (Russell, J.) 4th Cir. Holding: A district court did not err in dismissing a landowner’s suit challenging a county’s comprehensive plan to extend sewer service, including a […]
Municipal – Zoning – Storage Building Permit – Commercial Use Finding – Standard of Review
Thompson v. Town of White Lake (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-076-17, 15 pp.) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from Bladen County Superior Court (James Gregory Bell, J.) N.C. App. Holding: The respondent-town’s zoning inspector gave three reasons for the town’s intended revocation of petitioner’s permit to build a storage building on her property, but the town’s board […]
Municipal – Zoning – Storage Building Permit – Commercial Use Finding – Standard of Review
Thompson v. Town of White Lake (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-076-17, 15 pp.) (Lucy Inman, J.) Appealed from Bladen County Superior Court (James Gregory Bell, J.) N.C. App. Holding: The respondent-town’s zoning inspector gave three reasons for the town’s intended revocation of petitioner’s permit to build a storage building on her property, but the town’s board […]
Municipal – Zoning – Improvements Bond – New Developer – Enforcement
Brookline Residential, LLC v. City of Charlotte (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-019-17, 18 pp.) (Mark Davis, J.) Appealed from Mecklenburg County Superior Court (Hugh Lewis, J.) N.C. App. Holding: A developer obtained a bond to guarantee construction of the roads in its planned development, but the developer lost its land to foreclosure. The successor developer cannot […]
Municipal – Zoning – Notice & Hearings – Process Resolution
Pittsboro Matters, Inc. v. Town of Pittsboro (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-018-17, 27 pp.) (Wendy Enochs, J.) Appealed from Chatham County Superior Court (Paul Ridgeway, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: The defendant-town could adopt its small-area-plan review and approval process without the notice and public hearings required by G.S. § 160A-364 because the adopted process merely […]
Municipal – Zoning – Truck Stop – Recused Council Member
Campbell v. City of Statesville (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-193-16, 14 pp.) (Ann Marie Calabria, J.) Appealed from Iredell County Superior Court (Mark Klass, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Statesville City Council member Michael Schlesinger lived half a mile from a proposed truck stop, his home value might be affected by the truck stop, and – […]
Civil Practice – Rule 11 – Zoning – Preliminary Injunction Motion – Voluntary Dismissal
Pittsboro Matters, Inc. v. Town of Pittsboro (Lawyers Weekly No. 012-151-16, 14 pp.) (Wanda Bryant, J.) Appealed from Chatham County Superior Court (Paul Ridgeway, J.) N.C. App. Unpub. Holding: Plaintiffs did not violate N.C. R. Civ. P. 11 when they moved to enjoin a development project based on deficiencies they pointed out in the defendant-county’s […]
Municipal – Zoning – Civil Practice – Standing – Aggrieved Neighbor – Historic Neighborhood
Cherry v. Wiesner (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-051-16, 27 pp.) (Donna Stroud, J.) Appealed from Wake County Superior Court (Elaine O’Neal Bushfan, J.) N.C. App. Holding: A homeowner in Raleigh’s historic Oakwood neighborhood lacked standing to challenge the Raleigh Historic Development Commission’s approval for construction of a “modernist” house across the street from her because she [&helli[...]
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