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Planning Board

Orange County · Planning Board
Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Regular meeting Environment and sustainabilityPolice and public safetyZoning text amendmentBroadband and technologyHousing and affordability

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved 3Approval of April 9, 2025 ORC Minutes Approved unanimously

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

The Orange County Planning Board recommended two rewrites of the Unified Development Ordinance on 7 May 2025, both headed to a commissioners' public hearing on 3 June. The telecommunications amendment repeals Section 5.10 outright and replaces it, because the county's rules have not changed since the ordinance was adopted on 5 April 2011 and no longer match federal or state law. The solar amendment rewrites the standards for roof- and ground-mounted arrays as an accessory use, last touched on 8 November 2012.

The emergency services director also presented the county's hazard mitigation plan.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Both amendments were recommended to the commissioners. Staff said the telecommunications rules were so far out of line with federal and state law that repealing and replacing Section 5.10 was cleaner than amending it. Maps shown to the board put existing tower sites along the highways and urban corridors, thinning to almost nothing in the north of the county, which staff described as a coverage gap, an equity problem for rural residents and a public safety shortfall. The amendment also aims to allow lower-impact towers and shorten the approval process. A neighborhood information meeting was held although not required; two people attended, from American Towers and AT&T.

The vote on the telecommunications statement of consistency was 7-3, and the disagreement was over a single word. A member moved to change protection of to protect in section 5.10.1(A)(1). Three members opposed, saying they saw no need for the change. One added that amendments and statements of consistency should be moved separately in future rather than folded into one motion. The planning director said the county does not let staff make inline grammatical corrections after adoption, because the attorney's office requires those to go through a hearing.

On the solar amendment, the board gave staff leeway to include or drop the word accessory in one line of the use table depending on the staff attorney's advice, then approved the statement of consistency unanimously. On the hazard mitigation plan, a member asked whether building codes should require masonry or concrete rather than wood frame given wildfire risk. The emergency services director said no: for this county that would prohibit development and reduce affordable housing, and buildings that follow the North Carolina building code meet the risk.

How the votes went

The telecommunications statement of consistency passed 7-3, with three members opposing a one-word grammatical amendment. The solar amendment and the leeway given to staff on the use table both passed unanimously, as did the minutes and adjournment.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Procedural · 4Ordinance · 2Presentation · 1Minutes approval · 1
  1. 1 Call to Order and Roll Call
    Procedural
  2. 2 Information Items and Hazard Mitigation Plan Presentation
    Presentation Environment and sustainabilityHousing and affordabilityPolice and public safety
    The emergency services director presented the county's hazard mitigation plan. Asked whether wildfire risk justifies requiring masonry construction, he said it would prohibit development and reduce affordable housing, and that the state building code meets the county's risk.
  3. 3 Approval of April 9, 2025 ORC Minutes
    Minutes approval
    Approved unanimously
  4. 4 Consideration of Additions to Agenda
    Procedural
    None
  5. 6 Chair Comments
    Procedural
  6. 7 UDO Text Amendment - Telecommunication Facilities
    Ordinance Broadband and technologyPolice and public safetyZoning text amendment
    Repeals UDO Section 5.10 in whole and replaces it, with revisions to the table of permitted uses in Section 5.2 and the Article 10 definitions. The existing rules date from 2011 and no longer match federal or state law. Staff aim to allow lower-impact towers, shorten approvals, and address coverage gaps in the north of the county.
    Recommended to the commissioners 7-3, with a one-word amendment to section 5.10.1(A)(1)
  7. 8 UDO Text Amendment - Residential Solar Arrays
    Ordinance Environment and sustainabilityZoning text amendment
    Rewrites UDO Section 5.9.6 and the related definitions for roof- and ground-mounted solar arrays used as an accessory use. Public utility solar, the large arrays once called solar farms, is not touched. The standards have not been updated since November 2012.
    Recommended unanimously, with staff given leeway on one line of the use table
  8. 9 Adjournment
    Procedural
    Approved unanimously

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