UPDATED: Dec. 9, 2024 – 11 PM
The Henderson City Council adopted a unified development ordinance – UDO – which updates a number of zoning and subdivision ordinances, many of which have been in place since the 1970’s.
City staff and planners have spent the last year working with Insight Planning Consultants to develop the UDO. The price tag for the contract with the consultants is $99,000, which included the UDO the comprehensive plan adopted in July 2022.
The UDO is designed to be a comprehensive document that brings together the full complement of, in this case, city regulations regarding zoning and subdivisions as one way to bring consistency to regulations with regard to property development, design guidelines, sign regulations among others.
In a 4-3 vote, Council members decided to end a decades-long agreement with the county to provide building code services. City Manager Terrell Blackmon explained that the termination should take place Dec. 31, 2024, meaning the services would end in June 2025.
Blackmon said currently, the county collects the fees, and the next six months would be used to determine whether the city can undertake code enforcement on its own, or whether it could contract the services of another provider.
Blackmon also said the city could choose to renegotiate with the county to provide services.
Fees would generate revenue to help offset the costs of having city personnel do the work that now is being done by the county.
Council members Garry Daeke, Lamont Noel and Sam Seifert voted against the move.
During the discussion before the vote was taken, Mayor Melissa Elliott called the current situation “antiquated” and said the city “shouldn’t stay in a chokehold with the county.”
In other business before the Council:
- Finance Director Joey Fuqua and auditor Alan Thompson shared information about the annual audit, which included no findings – good news for the city’s accounting of funds. In fact, Blackmon remarked that in addition to having no findings, the city managed to put about $4.7 million in fund balance.
- A recommendation passed to place 2 all-way stops on West Young Avenue, following a traffic study to look into safety and visibility concerns. The signs will go up at the High Street and McBorne Street intersections.
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Original Update Dec. 9, 2024 – 12 Noon
The Henderson City Council will meet at 6 p.m. tonight for its regular monthly meeting. There will be a public hearing to receive comments about the unified development ordinance – UDO – before the Council considers whether to adopt a plan that updates to a number of zoning and subdivision ordinances, many of which have been in place since the 1970’s.
City staff and planners have spent the last year working with Insight Planning Consultants to develop the UDO. The price tag for the contract with the consultants is $99,000, and included the UDO the comprehensive plan which was adopted in July 2022.
The UDO is designed to be a comprehensive document that brings together the full complement of, in this case, city regulations regarding zoning and subdivisions as one way to bring consistency to regulations with regard to property development, design guidelines, sign regulations among others.
Attend the meeting in person or view via livestream at https://henderson.nc.gov/. Click on City Council Meeting on the right side of the page to find the link.
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