The Franklin Town Council is joining other local governments across the state in asking the North Carolina legislature to repeal a part of Senate Bill 382 passed at the conclusion of the last legislative session. The bill was titled as Disaster Recovery Act of 2024, but also included sections making changes to state government.
Tucked into the bill was an amendment to prevent “down-zoning.” Board attorney John Henning discussed the change during the Town Council retreat last month. Down-zoning is when a property’s zoning is changed in a way that limits it uses.
Under the SB382 amendment, local governments cannot adopt a down-zoning without consent from all impacted property owners. This would apply to a decrease in permitted density of a development, reducing the range or permitted uses of the property, or creating any type of nonconformity on land not in a residential zoning district.
Mayor Jack Horton said he and Vice Mayor Stacy Guffey had talked to local representatives and others in the legislature about the amendment. Horton said it was initially brought up as a way to protect the rights of property owners affected by the flooding from Hurricane Helene.
“What I understand from our legislators is there’s been a lot of blowback,” Horton said. “It appears it is probably going to have some modifications, if not repealed in the upcoming session.”
A House bill has been filed to repeal the down-zoning amendment statewide. A bill introduced in the Senate would only repeal it in 10 counties – Bertie, Camden, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Tyrrell.
Horton said it is important for Franklin and other towns to let the General Assembly know how they feel about the change. “I’m not sure it’s going to be beneficial to everybody concerned,” he said.
The resolution the council approved on March 3 stated the “overarching effects of the provision are likely to damage economic development in many places across the state, including Franklin, as planners attempt to determine whether current land use regulations have been invalidated.”
The resolution points out that local governments have always had the ability to allow nonconforming uses when making zoning changes by allowing “grandfathered” uses.
The change “could invalidate entire zoning changes and Unified Development Ordinances in addition to allowing a single property owner the ability to veto those changes for all property owners,” the resolution states.
The council approved the resolution with a 5-1 vote. David Culpepper cast the opposing vote asking, “Does nobody else see the hypocrisy?” He said when people come to the council opposing a zoning change, the board says, “We know what’s best.”
“We want local control. It’s like the little guys asking us for control of their property. And we’re the little guy here saying, ‘No, state, we want control of this property.’ There’s just a bit of irony or hypocrisy there or something. So, I’m going to vote against it.”
“If we could just be a little more balanced in our deliberations, our decision making and our legislative actions, I think we could stop a lot of local, regional, statewide and ultimately national tug of war that is happening to people in the middle,” Culpepper continued.
Guffey related a story shared by a state legislator who said that issues like this bubble up from a conflict at a local level and then someone in the legislature wants to jump in to help. “Often times, they don’t understand what they’re voting for,” Guffey said.
“Any kind of legislation like this, I think, needs to be weighed really heavily on a state level before it is passed. They should understand what they’re voting for,” Guffey said. “And the control ought to be left in local hands, again, where the public has the most contact with the people who represent them. So, I’m 100% in favor of this.”
More coverage from the Franklin Town Council meeting is in the March 12, 2025, print edition of The Franklin Press or in the e-edition online.