This is the project webpage for the Advance Morehead City project – an effort to update the City’s Unified Development Ordinance (or “UDO”).  A UDO is a regulatory document that controls the use of land through zoning, subdivision, flood damage prevention, and rules for parking, signs, landscaping, and similar matters.  Every lot within Morehead City’s planning jurisdiction is subject to the rules in the UDO.  It controls how land may be used and the process of review for new development.

 

The City’s current Unified Development Ordinance was adopted in 2001, and while it has been amended many times over the last 20 years, it has not been comprehensively reviewed and updated since its initial adoption.  It is important to regularly review and update development regulations to make sure that landowners and business owners are properly protected by modern best practices in land use regulation.  State and federal laws affecting land use are not static and can change frequently.  All local governments are required to maintain consistency with State and federal laws.  Court precedent also evolves over time and its important for the City to maintain conformity with the latest jurisprudence to help avoid expensive litigation against the City.  There are also benefits from updating the development regulations, like the opportunity to modernize them with new  technology - illustrations, navigational aids like indexes, and language improvements that make them more clear and predictable.

 

Perhaps the most important reason to update the development regulations is to implement land use policy.  All coastal governments in North Carolina, including Morehead City, must prepare and adopt a comprehensive land use plan to govern growth and protect the environment.  The State requires that land use plans be amended and kept up-to-date.  Morehead City adopted its most recent comprehensive land use plan, the Morehead City Plan 2032 in August of 2023.

 

The Plan describes the community’s vision for the future that embraces the City’s culture, history, and small-town feel.  The Plan seeks to recognize natural resources as an asset (and liability), and to ensure the City is more intentional about decisions regarding growth.  The Plan calls on the City to seek solutions for attainable housing and the establishment of a multimodal transportation network.  To accomplish these goals, the Plan identifies five Planning Principles and divides the City into seven different neighborhood planning areas (with goals for each).  The first Action listed in the Plan’s Action Matrix (the list of tasks necessary to implement the Plan starting on Plan Page 125) is to update the current UDO and modernize local development regulations.  Advance Morehead City is the effort focused on updating the City’s current UDO.

 

The UDO is the City’s primary tool for implementing its adopted land use policy guidance and helping ensure that growth and development:

 

• Improve the quality of life for City residents;

• Support property values;

• Promote downtown redevelopment;

• Broaden the range of housing options;

• Protect natural resources

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Learn more about Morehead City HERE