At the last meeting of the Unified Development Advisory Committee on Nov. 9, 2011, Holland Consulting Planners presented the committee with an improved draft of the unified ordinance after revisions were made in response to comments from the committee, staff, county attorney and other individuals.
The UDO has been structured into chapters, some of which apply only to the zoned areas of the county. Each chapter in the updated UDO states in which townships the regulations apply. There has been no increase in the area of zoning within Polk County.
Chapters one and two are the general provisions and administration procedures of the document, which apply to all the Polk County townships.
Chapter three includes the subdivision regulations. Polk County currently has a subdivision ordinance that applies to every township within the county and this does not change.
Chapter four is the zoning ordinance. This chapter contains articles related to zoning and applies only to the currently zoned areas of Polk County located in the Columbus, Saluda, Tryon and Green Creek townships.
Chapter five includes the performance standards. This chapter contains existing Polk County stand-alone ordinances including sign regulations, sexually oriented business ordinance, manufactured home ordinance, manufactured home park ordinance, salvage yard ordinance and telecommunication facilities ordinance. All these ordinances already apply to all Polk County townships.
Chapter six contains environmental regulations. Some of these regulations are mandated by the State of North Carolina, such as the flood damage prevention ordinance and the watershed ordinance, and are currently enacted in all townships within Polk County. The mountainside and ridgeline protection ordinances are two current Polk County ordinances, one for the zoned areas and one for the unzoned areas in Polk County. The Land Preservation Overlay District is an addition that will apply only to the zoned areas located in the Columbus, Saluda, Tryon and Green Creek townships.
The UDO advisory committee received the first complete draft of the ordinance on Nov. 18, 2010. Since that date, the committee has been conducting public meetings to discuss the draft. The next meetings will be Thursday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Polk County Senior Center, and Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Polk County Library in Columbus. The UDO committee welcomes public comment at every meeting and encourages anyone interested to attend.
For more information or to review the revised draft of the complete unified ordinance, go to the Polk County website, www.polknc.org.
– article submitted by
the Polk County UDO
Advisory Committee