Executive summary 8 I. Introduction 26 II. State government capability 28

LOCAL GOVERNMENT POWERS

Local governments, like the state and federal levels, have the legal responsibility to protect their citizens from natural hazards. Enabling legislation in North Carolina grants a wide array of powers to its cities, towns, and counties. Many of the powers enumerated in the North Carolina General Statutes can be wielded to craft hazard mitigation measures at the local level. This section describes briefly the major types of powers available to local governments in North Carolina: regulatory powers (including a brief description of the general police power, building code enforcement and inspection, and various land use regulatory tools); acquisition; generating local revenue (including taxation, user fees, special assessments, and impact fees); spending and services (including local government services such as emergency management and public schools, as well as capital improvement programming); economic development; and planning.

Regulatory Powers

General Police Power

Local governments in North Carolina have been granted broad regulatory powers in their jurisdictions. The North Carolina General Statutes bestow the general police power on local governments, allowing them to enact and enforce ordinances that define, prohibit, regulate or abate acts, omissions, or conditions detrimental to the health, safety, and welfare of the people, and to define and abate nuisances (including public health nuisances). Nuisances may include, by local definition, any activity or condition making people or property more vulnerable to hazards. (See, e.g., N.C.G.S. Ch. 160A Art. 8 (Delegation and Exercise of the General Police Power to Cities and Towns); Ch. 153A, Art. 6 (Delegation and Exercise of the General Police Power to Counties)).
To regulate an activity, the local governing board must first gain the appropriate authority from the State. Local governments have been given authority to regulate many kinds of behavior. If state law does not already permit local government regulation of an activity, local officials must request the General Assembly to pass a bill granting that authority. Next, the local governing board must adopt an ordinance. The ordinance is a legal description by the board of the behavior that is being regulated and the actions the government will take against people who do not follow the regulation. Except for a few cities (like Greensboro) that have initiative and referendum, an ordinance can be adopted only by the board.
Local government regulation can be very controversial. In general, counties and municipalities have no right to pass rules that are stricter than those set by the State. The ultimate authority in all regulation is the North Carolina General Assembly. Towns and counties are all creatures of the Legislature, which can control or change the situation as it sees fit. In addition, all arms of the State (including state agencies, commissions, universities, etc.) are subject to local regulations, but the State holds the power to over-ride local decisions. Zoning and other local regulatory powers over state entities can be stripped from a local government by the General Assembly.
The authority of local governments to regulate behavior and land uses is limited to the area within the boundaries of that local government. However, the State has established extraterritorial jurisdictions as a way to give towns control over development just outside the town and over areas that eventually could be annexed. The extraterritorial jurisdiction usually extends one mile beyond the city limits. With the approval of the county commissioners, a city may extend its extraterritorial land use planning jurisdiction even farther. Often people do not like the idea of living in extraterritorial jurisdictions, where they don’t pay town taxes, receive town services, or vote for town officials, but must abide by town zoning and development rules.
Counties have authority to regulate land use only over the parts of the county not subject to city planning. Because of cities’ extraterritorial jurisdiction for land use planning, the county land use planning area is even smaller than the unincorporated area of the county.

Annexation

Cities and towns in North Carolina may extend their municipal boundaries through annexation. When territory is annexed to a city or town, that territory comes within the municipality’s jurisdiction and its residents become part of the town’s population. Voters in the annexed territory automatically become eligible to vote in the municipality’s elections, and the municipality must provide services to the new residents. Cities and towns may annex territory through an act of the General Assembly, by petition of the owners of the property to be annexed, or by ordinance. Annexation by ordinance requires that the territory is adjacent to the municipality and that it has already reached a certain level of urban development. Also, the municipality must show that it will provide services to the annexed territory.

Building Code Enforcement and Building Inspection

[This subsection describes the role of local government in implementing and enforcing North Carolina’s building code laws. For a description of building code provisions promulgated at the state level, please refer to the subsection describing the North Carolina Department of Insurance in the State Capability section of this Appendix.]
Many structural mitigation measures involve constructing and retrofitting homes, businesses, government buildings and other buildings and facilities according to standards designed to make the buildings more resilient to the impacts of natural hazards. Many of these standards are imposed through the building code. North Carolina has a compulsory building code that applies throughout the State that regulates for fire resistance, seismic, flooding and high wind resilience. In addition, local governments may adopt codes for their respective areas if approved by the State as providing “adequate minimum standards” (N.C.G.S. 143-138(e)). Local regulations cannot be less restrictive than the State code, nor more restrictive without specific authority from the General Assembly.
Local governments in North Carolina are empowered to issue building permits and to carry out building inspections. The North Carolina General Statutes authorize cities and counties to create an inspection department, and enumerates its duties and responsibilities, which include enforcing State and local laws relating to the construction of buildings, installation of plumbing, electrical, and heating systems; building maintenance; and related matters. (N.C.G.S. Ch. 160A, Art. 19, Part 5, and Ch. 153A Art. 18, Part 4). Some smaller incorporated areas in the state rely on the county inspections department to provide building code enforcement services.
Since permitting, inspection and code enforcement are the primary responsibility of local governments in North Carolina, it is imperative that inspectors and code enforcement officials receive adequate support and training. This is particularly true of inspections related to the hazard resilience of structures and facilities. Training and certification of building inspectors is conducted through the North Carolina Department of Insurance. While the vast majority of the builders and contractors operating in the state are reputable and would never knowingly place people’s lives in jeopardy through shoddy workmanship, the construction industry cannot be relied upon to regulate itself sufficiently. Strict adherence to code requirements ensures safer buildings, protecting lives and property values alike. Despite overall respect and adherence to the state building code, a small number of counties in North Carolina are known to be less rigorous in carrying out routine inspections. It is incumbent upon the North Carolina Department of Insurance to ensure that every local jurisdiction in the State fulfills its legal obligation of inspections and enforcement.
While limited in their ability to require additional or stricter building code standards without special authority from the General Assembly, local governments can provide economic incentives to local builders and contractors through voluntary programs. Project Blue Sky, a private-public partnership active in North Carolina until recently, created one of the first model homes to research hurricane-resilient construction practices and promote voluntary standards that exceeded current code specifications. The test house was located in Southern Shores, North Carolina.
Strict compliance with the letter as well as the spirit of the building laws is especially critical in the aftermath of a disaster. It is only natural for residents and property owners to want to return to normal life and rebuild their homes and businesses as quickly as possible following a hazard event. However, this urge to get back to normalcy must not be indulged at the sacrifice of public health and safety. Nor should the rebuilding process take place so quickly that valuable mitigation opportunities are lost. As recent disasters in North Carolina have indicated, most local government officials withstand the considerable political pressure that is often exerted in the post-disaster environment to expedite or circumvent the permitting process. The majority of local government leaders have remained committed to the long-term good of the community as a whole during the redevelopment phase.
Some local jurisdictions in North Carolina have a building moratorium on the books, which can be activated during a state of emergency following a natural hazard event. Moratoria give local officials time to assess the damage and set priorities for response, planning and mitigation efforts. They are often used to prevent property owners from rebuilding damaged structures before an acquisition program can go into effect. Moratoria can also allow officials to expand high-hazard designated areas to reflect the actual damages from a hazard event.
The town of Nags Head on the Outer Banks of North Carolina has building moratoria of various lengths that are activated following a disaster. An initial, 48-hour moratorium goes into effect immediately. Replacement of destroyed structures is halted for 30 days. In the meantime, planners and the Board of Commissioners may adjust the zoning code to reflect new inlets or eroded areas or to incorporate mitigation tools. All replacement construction must comply with the new ordinances established during the 30-day moratorium. Building permits issued prior to the storm are revoked for at least 30 days.

Land Use Regulations

Regulatory powers granted by the State to local governments are the most basic manner in which a local government can control the use of land within its jurisdiction. Local governments regulate the use of property to protect the physical environment, to encourage economic development, or to protect the public’s health and safety. Through various land use regulatory powers, a local government can control the amount, timing, density, quality and location of new development. All these characteristics of growth can determine the level of vulnerability of the community in the event of a natural hazard. Land use regulatory powers include the power to engage in land use planning, enact and enforce zoning ordinances, floodplain ordinances, subdivision controls, and stormwater management. Each of these regulatory tools is described below.
The duty to protect the heath and safety of community residents is indisputable. In fact, the argument can be made that a local government could possibly be held liable for permitting uses in high-hazard areas that result in death or serious injury. Development decisions that do not take into account known risk factors in terms of flooding, seismic activity, or other natural hazards could place people and property in danger. Identifying, analyzing, and mapping natural hazards, and then referring to the analysis when crafting land use regulations is key to keeping people and property out of harm’s way.
North Carolina does not require local governments to enact any type of land use controls. However, all the larger municipalities as well as most of the smaller incorporated places do have some type of land use regulations in place. About two thirds of all counties have some type of land use regulations. Some of the residents in less urbanized, conservative areas of North Carolina are more adverse to government controls over private land, zoning in particular. A few of these counties have enacted subdivision controls but have refused zoning regulation. Other counties do not have any sort of development controls at all. However, the majority of these are located in rural areas that are not subject to widespread hazards.
It has been speculated that one reason the property rights movement has not taken firm hold in much of North Carolina may be that counties are not required to enact land use regulations, when they choose to do so at all, for the entire county. Unlike municipalities, which must impose uniform zoning and subdivision across the whole jurisdiction, county governments are permitted to institute land use controls in selected parts of the county (such as in those areas that are more developed and urbanized), while the remaining less densely populated portions remain unencumbered by government controls over private property.
NCDEM encourages local governments that are preparing hazard mitigation plans under the Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative (HMPI) to carefully study their regulatory regime to evaluate various ordinances and provisions for their effectiveness in terms of hazard mitigation. Plans, regulations, ordinances and policies that are consistent with hazard mitigation goals can be incorporated by reference into the local mitigation plan. Those regulations and policies that are determined during the review process to be detrimental to mitigation efforts or that could exacerbate vulnerability levels should be targeted in the local hazard mitigation plan’s proposed strategies as slated for change.

Zoning

Zoning is the traditional and nearly ubiquitous tool available to local governments to control the use of land. Broad enabling authority for municipalities to engage in zoning is granted in N.C.G.S. 160A-381. The statutory purpose for the grant of power is to promote health, safety, morals, or general welfare of the community. Land “uses” controlled by zoning include the type of use (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial), as well as minimum specifications for use such as lot size, building height and set backs, density of population, and the like. The local government is authorized to divide its jurisdiction into districts, and to regulate and restrict the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, or use of buildings, structures, or land within those districts (N.C.G.S. 160A-383). Districts may include general use districts, overlay districts, and special use districts or conditional land use districts. Zoning ordinances consist of maps and written text.
Zoning applies to both existing and new uses of property. A use that exists before the zoning ordinance takes effect in a particular area is considered a legal non-conforming use. If a non-conforming use is enlarged or modified in a defined manner, it is no longer considered legal, and must come into conformance within a specified time period.

All of North Carolina’s larger cities and towns have zoning regulations that the city council has adopted by ordinance. A municipality’s zoning authority covers its extraterritorial planning jurisdiction, as well as the area within the municipality.

Zoning can be used to keep inappropriate development out of hazard-prone areas and to designate certain areas for such low-intensity uses as recreation, open or green space, conservation, public use, or agriculture. Zoning can also be used to control construction by dedicating areas for cluster development or planned unit development.

Flood Hazard Regulation

During the 2000 Session, the North Carolina General Assembly overwhelmingly passed the Flood Hazard Prevention Act, which authorizes local governments to prohibit landfills, hazardous waste management facilities, junkyards and chemical storage facilities in the 100-year floodplain within their jurisdiction. This act is still in effect as of the 2013 update of this plan.
The Flood Hazard Prevention Act declares that the channel and the adjoining 100-year floodplain of all of the state’s streams are designated as a “flood hazard area.” Structures and other artificial obstructions may not be placed in the channel of a stream or in the adjoining floodplain. The legislatively declared purpose of designating these areas as a flood hazard area is to help control and minimize the extent of floods by preventing obstructions which inhibit water flow and increase flood height and damage and other losses (both public and private) in flood hazard areas, and to promote the public health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of North Carolina in flood hazard areas.
The procedures that are laid out for issuing permits for flood hazard area use require the local government to consider the dangerous effects a proposed artificial obstruction may create by causing water to be backed up or diverted; or the danger that the obstruction will be swept downstream to the injury of others; and by the injury or damage that may occur at the site of the obstruction itself. Local governments are to take into account anticipated development in the foreseeable future that may be adversely affected by the obstruction, as well as existing development.
Many local governments in North Carolina have stringent flood damage prevention ordinances on the books, and use them effectively for regulating the flood hazard areas within their jurisdictions. Most of these communities are also participants in the NFIP. However, a large proportion of local flood damage prevention regulations are outdated, and provide minimal protection against losses in certain areas. This is particularly true in areas where flood maps are old, and do not reflect current flood zones or new development that has taken place. The process of updating these inaccurate documents is being greatly enhanced by the North Carolina Flood Mapping Program as counties are remapped using the latest technology and current data. It is incumbent upon local governments to revisit their flood prevention ordinances and make any necessary modifications to the regulatory provisions contained in them as soon as updated maps are available for their jurisdictions. (See also discussion of “The North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program” and “Local Participation in the NFIP” in this section of the Appendix.)

Subdivision Regulation

Subdivision regulations control the division of land into parcels for the purpose of building development or sale. They set construction and location standards for subdivision layout and infrastructure. Flood-related subdivision controls typically require that subdividers install adequate drainage facilities, and design water and sewer systems to minimize flood damage and contamination. They prohibit the subdivision of land subject to flooding unless flood hazards are overcome through filling or other measures and prohibit filling of floodway areas. In addition, each lot must be checked to see that it includes a safe building site. They require that subdivision plans be approved by the local government prior to the sale of land. Subdivision regulations are a more limited tool than zoning and only indirectly affect the type of use made of land or minimum specifications for structures.
Broad subdivision control enabling authority for municipalities is granted in N.C.G.S. 160A-371, and in 153-330 for counties outside of municipalities and municipal extraterritorial areas. Subdivision is defined as all divisions of a tract or parcel of land into two or more lots and all divisions involving a new street (N.C.G.S. 160A-376). The definition of subdivision does not include the division of land into parcels greater than 10 acres where no street right-of-way dedication is involved (N.C.G.S. 1160A-376(2)).
Subdivision regulation is intended to prevent developments on land that cannot support them (because it floods, for example, or because the soil will not accommodate septic tanks and no sewer system is available). Subdivision regulation is intended to ensure that adequate streets and drainage are provided by the developer, so that residents (or the local government) are not left with the expense of building adequate roads or drains. Because many of these problems occurred in earlier subdivisions, subdivision regulation is being used more widely throughout North Carolina.
About two thirds of the 100 counties in North Carolina have enacted subdivision regulations. In some areas, subdivision plays the role of zoning at the county level. This is particularly true in areas of the state that are more conservative, and are adverse to strict government controls on privately held land. For the most part, those counties that do not have subdivision (or zoning) regulations in place are rural in nature, and do not experience widespread flooding (for example, Ashe County in the western part of the state).
Subdivision regulations set construction and location standards for subdivision layout and infrastructure. They typically contain standards for such things as stormwater management and erosion control. Some communities have required that new subdivisions in flood hazard areas cluster homes outside of the floodplain; greater flexibility is given in using varied densities within the buildable area of the subdivision. Several communities in North Carolina include setback requirements in their subdivision ordinances. Fewer local governments, however, have incorporated regulations on the amount and type of impervious surfaces used by developers. Such limitations can greatly aid the regulation of stormwater runoff in developed areas; North Carolina communities should consider the addition of impervious surface regulations in their subdivision ordinances.

Stormwater Management

In 1972 the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program (NPDES) was established under the authority of the federal Clean Water Act. The federal program is administered in North Carolina by the Division of Water Quality in the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Implementation of the program for municipal sources of stormwater was broken into two phases. Phase I was established in 1990. It required NPDES permit coverage for large or medium municipalities that had populations of 100,000 or more. In North Carolina, there are six Phase I communities: Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville-Cumberland County, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem.
Federal rules for Phase II were finalized in 1999. This regulation builds upon the existing Phase I program by requiring smaller communities, also known as small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s), to be permitted. Although similar, the requirements for Phase II were different from those of Phase I.
Those communities permitted under Phase II are required to develop and implement a comprehensive stormwater management program that includes minimum measures: public education and outreach on stormwater impacts; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction site runoff control; post-construction stormwater management for new development and redevelopment; and pollution prevention/good housekeeping for municipal operations.
Federal regulations named several North Carolina municipalities and counties as having to comply with these regulations. These communities were named based on population characteristics taken from the 1990 census, and were required to have submitted an application for permit coverage by March 2003. As a consequence of the subsequent census, several other communities have been brought into the program and were required to submit their applications by March 2004. Other communities will be brought into the program based upon both these federal criteria and those developed by the State of North Carolina.
Based on the experience of the Phase I cities, obtaining a stormwater permit was a challenging and costly process. Although requirements for Phase II compliance differ somewhat, it is proving to be a challenge as well.
Local governments can amend the regulations promulgated by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality (15 NCAC 2H.1003) with requirements that are more stringent in a local stormwater management ordinance. Such ordinances regulate the density of development and mandate standards for engineered stormwater controls. Regulations in local stormwater ordinances provide local governments the ability to restore and preserve water quality and the natural ecological functions of surface waters that are included in their planning area. Stormwater management ordinances regulate existing development, future developments, and construction activities, as well as institute mandatory requirements to prevent careless pollution of surface waters. Such local ordinances also limit the amount of impervious surfaces. Regulations can also control the quality of stormwater runoff and the maintenance of septic systems.

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