Planning Board - Regular Meeting

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Good evening, and welcome to the September 2026 Pitt County Planning Board meeting. And we'll start by having our roll call.

Fred Austin.

Present.

Michael Best. Present. Lisa Ellison. Here. Lyman Hardy. Here. Steve Little. Here. Charles McLaughlin. Here. And Michael White. Mr. Chairman, we received notice that Thompson Fords, Sharon Gray, and Rita Jackson Gilbert will not be present tonight.

Thank you, ma'am. At this time, we'll go right into our prayer, led by Mr. Lyman Hardy, and then our Pledge of Allegiance, led by Mr. Michael Best.

Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you, Father, for this beautiful day you give us today. We thank you for the privilege that each one of us, Lord, to come out tonight to discuss the business of the county. We ask your strength in God's name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

and to the republic of which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate that. I would say again, welcome to our staff. Welcome to each one of our board members. Thank you for being here. And we'll go right into the approval of the minutes of our last meeting. I have a motion that we accept the minutes from the last meeting. A motion? Is there a second? Motion and second, let's all vote by the usual sign of the right hand. All in the right hand, approve. All opposed, like sign. The minutes have been approved. Thank you very much. At this time, we'll go into our public addresses to the board. And seeing that there are none, we'll move straight on. I'll close the public addresses to the board. Mr. Jonas Hale, I believe you have the first matter of business for us.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good evening, members of the board. Tonight we do have an administrative matter that I wanted to bring to the board. That is the fact that we've received a letter from Minnie Anderson Stewart informing us that she is resigning from this board. Her term was due to expire this month. However, we received the letter effective July 20th of this year. We are actively seeking applicants to fill that role. She was District A, which is a combined district between District 1 and 2. So if you know anyone, District 1 is West Greenville area, District 2 is all area north of the river. So if you know anyone interested in that or if anyone's watching this meeting and is interested in applying, they can go on our website, apply for that seat. Or they can call the manager's office at 252-902-2950 to get more information on that. Also along those same lines, Ms. Anderson Stewart and Mr. Austin came on the board at the same time, so Mr. Austin's seat is, he served his two-year term, so he now has to rotate off. However, we don't have anyone that's interested in filling that role either, so he is allowed to continue to serve on this board until we find a replacement. He has graciously agreed to do so until someone qualified does apply for that. We'll keep you posted on that, but want to thank Mr. Austin for his willingness to continue to serve and thank him for his terms that he has served already. So that's all I have, Mr. Chairman, unless you have any questions. So let me also add, uh, uh, Mr. Austin is in district four. Um, so we're actively advertising for district four for the planning board. That is the formal area. down and it does go into Aiden. Um, so anyone in district four that's interested, same process to apply for that position. So that's all I have.

Thank you, sir. And Mr. Austin do thank you for your service, sir, thus far and continuing on. We appreciate you continuing to work with us. All right. And this time we'll call on Mr. Ben Rogers to come and share with us.

Yes, sir. Good evening, everyone. We do have one zoning ordinance amendment request this evening. And just briefly, since we don't get as many of these as we do, our rezoning request, which is what this board sees more frequently, this is a request to amend the zoning ordinance. I'm going to get into that in just a second. But we get these kind of occasionally. Either staff will propose an amendment to the zoning ordinance. In this situation, we have received a request from the public. So again, plaintiff staff is in receipt of a request by will broadly to amend the pick County zoning ordinance to allow live auctions that sell farm and construction implements as well as vehicles, altering vehicles and other small miscellaneous items in the rural agricultural zoning district. Um, again, there's no language currently in the zoning ordinance of staff is recommending the creation of a new use. Um, and we've kind of titled that outdoor farm and construction equipment auction and proposes specific development standards for the use. With this, we did want to first amend Section 15 to add a definition for this use. Again, outdoor farm and construction equipment auction. And our proposal is a public or private sale conducted by competitive bidding for new or used farm construction equipment and other real goods on a reoccurring basis. And that was one of the main things we want to make sure that we add a reoccurring basis since the applicant in this situation, he does want to have a couple of these a year. Right now, there's just no means for him to do that regularly. With the amendments, the second one is to amend Table 5-1, which is our list of permitted uses. We would have to add this, and this table is a list of all of our uses in Pitt County. It kind of lays out where they are permitted and which zoning districts. In this situation, staff is proposing that only in the RA, Rural Agricultural Zoning District. These are more rural areas outside the areas that are kind of closer to the municipalities are usually zoned RR areas. The R a zoning district is kind of further out within the county. That is the only zoning district you see there. Um, the D stands for, uh, it's allowed by right with development standards, which I'll get into here shortly. Um, The next proposal is to add section eight, WWW. Um, and this is the development standard. So we're required, um, in the RA zoning district, as I just mentioned, the use separation, um, any structure or outdoor display of items for all up for auction shall be a setback, a minimum of 50 feet from any property line. the minimum area requested to establish this type of facility shall be two acres. And I will note that we work with the applicant in this situation to make sure that, um, he was comfortable with this so that he could meet him, but also bigger picture, this use or this proposal is not just for his specific site. He does want to do this. However, this text amendment would apply to any property in the county's jurisdiction that is currently zoned RA. So we want to make sure we customize it for the county and not just his specific use. but since this is his request we did work with him to make sure that he was happy with these and he is satisfied with what we're proposing again two acres shall be the minimum lot size screening the entire perimeter of the facility shall be screened from any adjoining property by a buffer yard that does comply with the requirements of section 10 h of the zoning ordinance proposed hours of operation 7 a.m 7 p.m seven days a week As far as noise, the amount of noise generated by the facility shall comply with the requirements of the Pitt County noise ordinance and shall not disrupt the activities of the adjacent land uses. Parking, the zoning administrator shall not grant the permit unless he finds that the parking generated by the event can be accommodated without undue disruption to or interference with the normal flow of traffic or with the right of adjacent and surrounding property owners. Parking spaces are not required to be improved. However, the parking area must be clearly identified on the day of all auctions and designed to not disrupt the normal traffic flow. Parking shall not be allowed with any public right of way. And then finally, the use shall comply with all applicable health department and emergency management department requirements for sanitation and public health and safety. So if this is proposed or approved by the Board of Commissioners once they hold their public hearing, this would just set the standards for the specific use. If we get an applicant, the one we're currently dealing with or anybody in the future, they would have to come in, submit a site plan, obtain required permits for it. So again, this is kind of laying out the framework for what would be required for this type of use if it is proposed. And the final amendment is to Table 10-1, which is our off-street parking and stacking requirements. Currently, we had flea markets and other open sales requiring one parking space per 1,000 square feet of lot area used for storage, sales, and display. And we felt comfortable with staff with that just to add this outdoor farm and construction equipment auction to that use within the parking requirements. So planning staff does find that the proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance are consistent with the Envision Pitt County 2045 Comprehensive Land Use Plan because they will allow planning staff to continue to promote an effective jurisdiction-wide land use regulatory program that encourages quality development and reduces impact on existing uses. And staff also finds that the proposed amendments are reasonable and in the public interest because they establish regulations that reduce or mitigate impacts of the proposed use on a neighboring residence and maintains Pitt County's rule character. So staff does recommend approval of the request. This board will be making a recommendation to the board of commissioners. And if approved, staff would be recommending an effective immediate or immediate effective date. The planning board will now entertain comments from the public and then make a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners, and the commissioners are currently scheduled to hold a public hearing on October 19th. So I will turn that back over to you, Mr. Little.

At this time, then, we will open the floor for public comments. I don't believe we have anyone signed up, so we'll move forward. I'll close those public comments at this time. Any questions from the board?

I'm sure you've studied this, but my concern is what is to stop the next applicant who gets this permission for this use or operates in a zone that permits it from having a full-time junkyard since they'll be selling equipment and vehicles

Yeah. So, and we had that conversation as well. Um, the screen is kind of what we came into with that. And I think to your point, we've had that concern internally as well. And the best resolution we have with that is just to monitor these, like we do any other, um, permitted use. Um, we've talked with this applicant specifically, and as I kind of mentioned, this language isn't site specific to him, whether his intentions of doing these twice a year, somebody could do it across the county and won't do it every other weekend and have stuff out there all the time. So, um, I think to answer your question, we would just handle it like any other use. As far as the complaint, we monitor these types of uses that are kind of more intense if they happen regularly. Um, and if it is something, that it is just what we classify as junk. You know, we try not to call people stuff junk, but that junkyard salvage our type of facility. Then we would go through and violation letter and go through our standard process that you have a bunch of vehicles out here that are not operating. This is not What the definition says, basically, if that makes sense.

So do we have an independent rule regarding what junk is?

So we have the one we deal with most regularly is what we call just the salvage yard. And there's pretty extensive regulations on that from setbacks off of property lines. And we allow in the county, we deal with this regularly as two vehicles that we consider junk either are not licensed or cannot be operated on their own power. We deal with that pretty regularly. So if you have two or more, that third one is what constitutes a junk yard. So if we were dealing with one of these and maybe not the first time we saw them out there, but if it's a month later or if we get a complaint, maybe more aggressively, look, this is the intent for re in a auction for this sale of this different equipment. You just got these five cars just sitting out here and this is not what you were permitted for. We would go through the violation process like we would for any other complaint is really our best method for that.

Right. And I don't have any concern about the legitimate use, but I have the concern about opening the door for abuse. And somebody recognizes this as, they may look at it as an exception to the rule, and we don't want to judge them.

And that was one of our first questions as well. And in dealing with the applicant in this situation, we explained that and told him we'd keep an eye on it. And of course, that's not his intent, et cetera. But we would do that. And probably have the same conversation with any other future. Because we can put kind of these development standards, but also the site should not be used for salvage art. And that way we have that means when we're issuing the actual permit for it. look, we're sending you a violation letter per our permit. You were not supposed to do this and we'll just have to go through our regular, um, enforcement procedures with staff as well as legal. So, um, to answer your question, that was one of the first things we thought about as well. We don't want to sit out there and have 50 junk cars until your next auction. It needs to kind of be cleared out until the next one. Um, But the screening will hopefully help with that as well, because sometimes there is going to be equipment that may not be sold at the auction until they have another one, if that makes sense. But staff would just have to determine on a case-by-case basis, this is three tractors versus 15 just junk yards that you're just putting there because you have the property. Right. So that's how we would handle that.

Yes, and I would be just concerned, just to take it to the extreme, that somebody would say, this is a solid auction that I'm having, and my stuff is going to sit here until I sell it.

Yes, sir.

Anyway, that's all I have, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman. Michael. So is this something that your office would monitor consistently, or is this something that we would be relying on the public to come and notify your office?

We're complaint-driven, but also now that Will Lauer with our office, he's been hired the last couple years, he's out doing inspections, and we kind of – had properties where we had one this week where somebody put a complaint in because there was two junk cars on a piece of property there was no violation at that time we kind of have a we'll continue to monitor that was out in grounds and so there's other properties in grounds and we kind of keep an eye on those while we're out there we're not necessarily out there the first of every month for every non-commercial or non-residential commercial use Our office in general is very much complaint driven so we would kind of rely on the public in that situation to answer your question. We do do a follow-up inspection 90 days after the permits been issued to make sure that the screening has been installed any parking requirements or otherwise for specific uses but in general we are complaint driven unless we do see something as we're riding down the road if that makes sense. Correct. Yeah, we're usually out there within a day or two if we get a complaint from the public. Yes. Yes, sir.

Great. Great questions, gentlemen. And in fact, my concern with this one, I think being you probably know and we'll notice, too, that right now we do have in the county. I know several locations that have had complaints and you guys are. as you said, complaints driven. Uh, the only thing is, I think when it comes to it, I'm not sure how much bite we have in doing anything about it so that things get cleaned up to what Mr. McGloin was speaking.

I probably know a couple. Yes, sir. And, um, To add to that separately, Eric's going to be presenting some information about our upcoming UDO project. And we've identified that process with the junk cards in general is kind of lax. If it has tags or if it can operate, it's kind of up to user discretion. So we've kind of identified that for this update, how we want to handle that with that going forward. Because I think sometimes a property can look like a junkyard. But if we go out there and the vehicle operates, currently the ordinance just says if it can operate or if it has a tag, then it's not a junk vehicle. However, Most folks would say it's kind of a junkyard salvage yard. But that is something we've identified with our UDO project coming up. I'll let Eric get into that a little bit further. But to your point, we might not have a lot of teeth right now.

I think you guys are aware, because I have been one of those folks that's been complaining because of citizens that have called me and said, Steve, what can we do? And there again, it goes back to where's the meat that we can do something with, okay? And you say that we're going to be hearing more from...

about that UDO project, which is a big project to the county. And again, I'll let Eric get into it, but we're going to be making some significant changes for different screening parking, other requirements. Um, but that's one of the issues we identified how to deal with salvage, our junk cars in general. So hopefully that project will identify some of those lacking areas.

So I guess if this were to be passed on to the commissioners and it does pass, then we still, as individuals, need to make sure we realize that we have somebody to carry our complaints to. Please do.

Anytime we're welcome to them. And like I said, we try to get out there as quick as possible and identify violation letters, meet with property owners as needed to pursue those potential violations. So we're doing that regularly. So any complaints, please forward to our office. We're happy to look at them.

Mr. Chairman, with the UDO in mind, aren't there other zoning classifications that would be more appropriate for this type of business activity?

So for us, the RA is just mostly these larger rural lots out further out in the county away from the municipalities. I wish I had a copy of the zoning map of regularly available, but Typically, we have the municipalities with their city limits, town limits, their ETJ, and then most likely RR, which is more dense, and then the larger RA zoning districts, again, with our two-acre minimum for this type of project. And realizing that Pitt County is a rural eastern North Carolina county, you know, staff supports this type of use, especially out in the areas. We just didn't have a mechanism in place to permit it. Um, so that's why our recommendation to the applicant was to come in and help us craft language, working with him that worked for him, but as well, potential future auction farm type auctions. Um, but staff feels like based off of the minimum lot size requirement of two acres out in the RA zoning district was, was the most appropriate.

I was thinking more of the industrial commercial type zonings.

And with that, we just don't have any out in the county. Um, unless somebody was to come in and rezone the property, um, Pretty much all are commercial. There's very little industrial. Otherwise, that isn't currently occupied. And most of the general commercial is occupied as well. So that would require the applicant coming in and through the rezoning process and certainly open a conversation about that The staff just feels like that type of use out in the rural or the farm areas, a farm-type agricultural auction makes sense out there. So that's kind of where staff landed. And like I said, we went back and forth a decent amount, several meetings with the applicant. And this kind of is just what staff landed on. But happy to hear anything else if there's other recommendations that support wants to push to the commissioner so we can have that conversation as well.

And because there's going to be part just an amendment to an existing zone in classification, we won't be able to make that a conditional district. Is that correct?

As presented, it's a staff level review with those development standards. Again, if this board feels like that would be more appropriate and you want to make that your recommendation to the commissioners, we can go that route. completely up to the office of staff's recommendation to just have a staff level review. Again, they're going to have to have a site plan that shows the parking, the storage area, fencing, screening, things like that, that staff feels comfortable that we can manage that review. But if this board feels like that's supposed to be their recommendation to go to the commissioners, that some type of conditional district rezoning, we can entertain that.

That may give us a level of strength in allowing this type of activity to where it can very easily get out of control and turn into a salvage yard situation.

Yeah, I absolutely understand it. Again, that was our major concern when this first came in, that we don't want it to turn into that quickly because we've seen with a lot of the properties that we deal with is one, two, three cars turns into 15 cars. Overnight sometimes, you know. So I certainly understand that point. If that's the direction of the board, we can make that as their recommendation from the planning board.

And I'd like to make, Mr. Chairman, a general observation that people who do this kind of, it's been my life experience, I've lived a long time, people who do this kind of business are hard to wrestle with. They're not role followers. So I agree with Mr. Austin.

Point taken, and I'm just wondering, too, in this particular scenario, this gentleman is going to be on Ramshorn Road. Is that what I remember?

It is. That's where he's proposed his property, where he's leasing the property for this. So, again, the text amendment is for the entire RA, but that is site-specific where this gentleman is proposing to have it.

And just curious, then, who are his neighbors? I mean, what?

Um, so his direct neighbor is going to be a Sandman that this board heard six months ago, maybe. And then the other side is his family. So he's leasing it from a cousin. Um, but If somebody wants to do this across the county, they might have a subdivision right beside it. So I think to your point, otherwise, if we went that route, I think we still make it the zoning district. But as a conditional district, much like sand mines are right now, they're allowed in the district, but they have to come before the planning board and board of commissioners that rezoning process as a conditional district, if that is the route that is eventually approved. But yes, sir, that's the location they're looking at. But again, trying to look at as a whole picture, the entire county might not have your family living next door and a sand mine beside it so

Well, even then, that may give us a little bitter feeling for the citizens of the county. If at least we get a chance to take another look before somebody can just go to the staff and it just happened before any of us know what's going on or we ask about it, at least we'd be aware of what's about to happen. So to Mr. Austin's point, that may be something we want to consider as a board. to try to put some more. Yeah, absolutely.

And that's why this process requires this going from the planning board of commissioners as well so that more eyes can get on it. And if that's what this board feels comfortable with, we can certainly make that change is make sure it's the planning board recommendation if you're happy with the language, but making it a conditional district in that already zone and district. So kind of a y'all's discretion at this point.

If I may. May I speak? Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry. Are there existing auction places that are captured by this amendment that are already in existence?

Not that I'm aware of. I know sometimes these things pop up, and somebody from out town might come and have one, and then they're gone by Monday. In those situations, we have not got a complaint. But if we did, there would not be much we could do about it. This gentleman wants to do it on a regular basis, and that's why he wanted to get a permit for it one time so that I'm here, I'm established, I have a permit, I'm following the rules. So that's kind of what led to this. He could have easily gone and just done it one weekend and hit the road. But since he wants to do it, and he's just intended to do it two to three times a year, he wants to be able to, to his credit, do it right. He came in and talked to us. And this was kind of the mechanism we had in place to add it to the zoning ordinance. Again, somebody else across the county could do it more regularly and be a bigger operation. Um, there's none that come to mind. Like I said, I've seen some of the past few years where maybe there was something over the weekend. Um, but again, they're gone with all their equipment. He wants a storage yard so he can kind of maintain and keep everything organized, um, and have it more permanent than just, uh, going into a farm field, selling everything and being out by Sunday afternoon. So

And just to clarify, as it's written, this amendment as a permitted use, people wouldn't have to come for permission to operate this sort of auction place.

It wouldn't have to come before the board. They still have to get a permit from the from the county. So any He's not proposing anything, but if somebody wanted to put a permanent office out there, they have to get environmental health permits for that, building inspections permits for the structure. He's kind of going and set up on the day of everybody comes and leaves, and he's not having a permanent building. Last I talked to him, that could change, obviously. They have to get a site plan, professional site plan prepared by a surveyor engineer showing the layout of the property with everything on it. Our standard process for any non-residential use in the county, he'd still have to come through and get permits. As we presented it, it would just be a staff level review and would not have to come before the board through that rezoning process. And again, if that's the way the board wants to go, we can certainly make that update and presentation to the commissioners that it was the planning board's recommendation to make it a conditional district. But staff's recommendation is for the internal staff level review.

And Mr. Chairman, may I say one more thing? RA is no less precious than any other part of Pitt County. That's right. And we need to protect it as much as we can. And I feel like we're, even though this applicant may be a fine person and they may do everything just right, I feel like we're opening a door that is not open right now. And that's my concern. Because our job is to set policy, not to judge individual applicants. We don't have the power to do that, as Ms. Allison just pointed out. But I would just make the point that R.A. is just as precious as any other part of our county.

Point taken. Other comments, please. And at the same time, please consider, board members, that, yeah, let's – I'd like to see us put as much teeth in it, and I keep using that terminology, but anyway, to be able to make sure that we know what's happening to our citizens and consider, hey, if I were living next to it or what happens, you know? And for future projects.

I mean, for things that aren't in view right now. I mean, I'm talking about for all time. That's right. That's what I'm talking about. Yep, I understand. Right. So...

So if I may, is everybody happy with the language, the standards outside of potentially making it a conditional district? Is the actual requirements everybody satisfied with? Because what I'm hearing is I have not heard any disagreement with those, but potentially making it a conditional district, I think it sounds like it's the main decision this board needs to make. The staff is fine either way, just to be clear. Thanks.

Comments? I do have an additional comment in pro of making it a conditional district. Is it also give the people who are using the facility or that land It gives them more of a guidelines of where they should and should not, you know, conduct that type of business. Yes, sir. And how they go about it specifically. If it did not have that conditional, it would be open game. Oh, wait a minute, you didn't say, you didn't tell me if an issue comes arise, should arise in the future. You know, so this way there will be very specific conditions that they must meet.

And the board in that scenario could add additional conditions. Right now, we would just use kind of the language we propose with the as a conditional district. The board can always add additional conditions as such. And another argument for so I guess that staff is fine either way with that.

And in that regard, Mr. Chairman, we could even put a more strict rule than what our general rule is about junk cars. I mean, if we wanted to. I'm just saying that.

Okay. So, board members, the chair will entertain a revision or revised, added terminology to the recommendation?

Mr. Chairman, I would like to go ahead and make a motion to approve this text amendment with the additional conditional zoning requirements. Um, I'm not sure how you would word that.

We can put that up in the main thing. Um, if the PIO can pull this up real fast, is that this table right here, instead of D which is for development standards, that would be amended to CD, which would be that conditional district. So it would still be allowed in the RA zone and district as a conditional district that comes up for the board. So if I'm hearing correctly, that's the main thing we want to see change, but happy with everything else is that we're revising it to add as a CD conditional district instead of allow it. Yes. I write with development standards. Yeah. Okay.

Do I see a nod right now that each board member agrees with what we just said as far as how the motion will read? Yeah, I think we can. And that is your motion?

Yes, sir.

We have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Deb, you want to read it back the way maybe you recorded it, or I want to let Mr. Olsen do it again, okay? All right. Basically, we're going with this one with adding a conditional.

And we'll make that the official recommendation from the planning board. Yes, sir. Good deal.

All in favor of that motion, then let it be known by raising the right hand. All opposed, like signed. The motion passes as amended.

Great. Thank you all.

Mr. Gooby.

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, how are you tonight?

Good to see you, sir.

Good. Lots of good discussion and leads very well into our next item here, which is the development of the unified development ordinance. Just here to kind of give you an update real quickly on where we stand currently. As a reminder, the county commissioners recently adopted their five year strategic plan, and one of those main priorities in that plan is balanced growth and intentional well planned development. And so as part of that, it recommends not only continue to implement the recommendations of our land use plan, but also the adoption of a year or unified development ordinance. And that is in order to consolidate, modernize and streamline our existing development regulations and processes. And so that is going to take that ordinance. The UDO will take our ten existing development ordinances that are listed here and it will compile them into one document. That document, that way we'll have consistent regulations, we'll have consistent processes and things across all those ordinances as opposed to the zoning ordinance requiring one thing, subdivision ordinance requiring something else, or repairing buffers requiring another process. All those will be compiled and streamlined and hopefully all work very well together. So just in terms of where we're at, we did issue an RFQ or request for qualifications on July 22nd. That is in order to seek a qualified planning consultant to help us with that drafting of this document. Those qualifications were due back August 28th. We did get four submittals. We've conducted interviews with two prospective firms. We did those last week. And we are working to get through some of we hope that we were hoping to be able to announce who we had selected tonight but we were still working through getting references and things from those folks and kind of making that final determination of who we want to try to pursue or try to bring on for this project so the planning process itself was expected to last approximately 18 months We're hoping it's going to be quicker, a little quicker than that, but we're thinking it should not go much longer than 18 months. So in your packet, you have a copy of that RFQ. It's a pretty thick document along with the memo we sent out. And in that RFQ, there's a fairly extensive scope of work of what we're looking to have done. Just as a kind of To paraphrase a lot of it, the first part is to look at our existing ordinances and maps, do an analysis of those, evaluate those, things like our code enforcement procedures, our inspection procedures, all of those development review processes and steps that we go through to approve these land uses. Are other standards necessary? Do we need additional setbacks for certain things? Do we need to limit where they can be located? We're going to look at all those things and not just zoning, but also subdivision orders, manufactured home park orders, all those all those existing development orders. We're looking at those standards and seeing how we can better refine those. With the zoning, we're going to be looking at permitted uses. The permitted use table see is are there are there districts that do we need new districts? Do we need to move certain uses like these types of auctions? Do they need to be more of an industrial category? We're going to look at all of that. as well as some of the newer and emerging land uses, even ones that we've had issues with recently, such as sand mines, solar farms, things that this board has already kind of heard some of the issues with, but also new uses like data centers. There's a lot of discussion around those. Our ordinance does currently have data center regulations, but as part of this process, we're going to look to see is that, are those regulations enough? Do we need to add more Do we need to give them a little bit more scrutiny than what the current ordinance allows for? So we're going to be taking all that in consideration. A lot of things also like our open space and buffering and screening requirements. One of the things we've run into recently with a lot of our projects is is just the vegetative buffering. And is it enough? Are there things that maybe don't need as much buffering? Do we need to ensure we're getting more buffering between certain types of uses? Those are the kinds of things we're going to look at. Also trying to provide more active and passive recreation opportunities, particularly like in subdivisions, and then also making sure that all our rules are consistent with with state and federal regulations as well as model ordinances. So things like our floodplain ordinance, you know, a lot of the regulations in our floodplain ordinance directly affect our CRS, which is our community rating. And that has a direct correlation and effect on the insurance rates that people pay for flood insurance. So the higher the rating we get, the lower the lower their insurance rates are, they get a discount. Um, so are there things we can implement to try to help the citizens out with those rates? Um, also things like with, um, our soil erosion, uh, our stormwater, those are all based off of model ordinances from the state. And so we want to make sure that we're consistent with those ordinances as well. And then also lastly, agricultural preservation, like Mr. McClung, we're talking about RA is a very precious commodity farmland in the county is very precious commodity. We're, If we don't do something to preserve it, we're going to run out of it. So how can we at least preserve some of the agricultural land? How can we protect it from encroaching development around it? So those are things we're going to be looking at as part of this process. And following all that analysis and evaluation, we're going to get into developing the actual document itself. We are going to have a steering committee or an advisory group of some sort that will sort of oversee this process. We're envisioning probably between 10 to 12 folks on that board. We would love to have a member of this board appointed to it. And that group, again, will just kind of oversee things. They'll get more down into the weeds of the development of the regulations and the rules. And so, again, we're looking to have that. That'll be a mix, hopefully, of citizens, of members of this board, as well as developers, engineers, surveyors, folks that are dealing with these regulations on a daily basis and that we can get good input from to craft these regulations. We want the document to be user friendly and in a more plain language format to kind of take away some of the jargon. I mean, I will fully admit that even from a staff level, sometimes it's hard to interpret the ordinance and to then also give that interpretation and make it clear to the folks that that have questions about it. So we want to make sure that it's it's user friendly, that's understandable and from all sides. We want to make sure also that we're including a lot of graphics. Like I said, a picture is worth 1,000 words. So if we've got a graphic that will clearly illustrate what the regulation is, hopefully that will just help with our administration and, again, getting that information out to the folks who need it. And then finally, we want to make sure it aligns with our land use plan, with the county strategic plan, as well as North Carolina general statutes. So there's a there is a statute that's currently on the books that we can't down zone property without permission from the property owners. So we're kind of limited, we think, in what we can do with the zoning map. There might be some things we can do, but in the meantime, You know, we want to make sure that we're we're following the state law and the advice of our esteemed county attorney here so that we're not getting the county in trouble with with with this idea right off the bat. Following that, it's also stakeholder and public engagement. We're looking to get a lot of input from folks. We are doing, we're planning to have some stakeholder groups. So specific folks like our utility providers, our other developers and engineers and surveyors that aren't going to be on that steering committee to get their input, maybe other municipal folks. And again, also our elected officials and our appointed officials. So we'll be sure to try to get state, you know, good representative of all the folks that will have their hands in this document and we'll be putting it to use. We're also looking at having a project website. We'll be pushing information out on our social media platforms, and we're also going to be doing some surveys. So as we get more into that, as the project continues on, we'll we'll be sure to keep the board aware of all that because we're going to need some some cheerleaders and some champions to kind of get information out and to kind of drum up support for the plan for for the UDO as as we're doing it. So And then through adoption implementation, we want the consultant to be very present and help make presentations to this board as well as the board of county commissioners when needed. We've also got some interlocal agreements that we need to work through because we've got agreements with various municipalities in the county to do things like our soil erosion and our floodplain. And so we want to make sure that Those agreements are referencing the correct documents because there are some towns that we enforce some things and some we don't. And so we've got to be very careful about how those agreements are crafted to make sure that we're not basically imposing the whole document on these folks when they don't need to. Then as far as the expected deliverables, what we're hoping to get back at the end of this project is a final draft document. digital format. We've got new accessibility requirements for our county website, so we want it to be fully accessible. And then also all the GIS files and the mapping and everything that goes along with it. This is our tentative project schedule. The red dot you see there, that is where we're at in the process. We're at the very beginning of this. Hopefully, like I said, this this this this schedule kind of projects it out to 18 months. But again, we're hoping we can get it done quicker than that. And we're hoping that as we get the consultant in, get them under contract, we can refine this schedule a lot more, kind of identify when exactly those public input sessions are going to be, how often the steering committee is going to meet, that sort of thing, so that we'll be able to present that to this board so everybody knows where we are in the process. So like I said, for our next steps, uh, again, we've got to get under contract with the consultant. We're going to request permission from the board of County commissioners in October to, uh, to enter into a contract and to do our, our negotiation with them for the budget. Um, and then following that, we'll be looking to establish that steering committee and identify who's going to serve on that group. And again, we would love to have, um, one, maybe even two people from from this board to serve on that as well. And then looking to really hopefully get this project kicked off in the new year in January. So with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have or any if you need any other information on anything.

Sounds like an aggressive venture, okay? And I would suspect down the road as we go into this project, there's probably going to be a couple or three folks on this board who would like to be able to take part. So you may be able to get some volunteers.

And like I say, even if even if you can't serve or if you're not going to serve on the steering committee, we're going to be providing regular updates to this board on a monthly basis. So you'll be up to date on everything and know exactly where we are in the process and how things are coming along.

I saw on your calendar you're looking for our first update to be somewhere around February, right?

Probably so. Yes, sir.

Board member comments. Unified Development Ordinance, okay? Yes, sir. A lot of work. Can I – now, this is basically for information right now, right? Yes. Nothing that we need to – There's no action tonight, no, sir. No action to be taken. But can I ask a question? And you may say, well, that's not related, Steve. But I noticed one of the categories we talk about is shooting range regulations, okay? Mm-hmm. Is there, are there regulations that pertain to, and let me just tell you where I'm going. For instance, in our part of the county, there's a section that's been planted with some sunflowers. And of course, sunflowers, I'm assuming, draw birds for hunters to hunt, okay? And just recently... All at once, bird season came in and there was guns going off back there behind some folks' houses, close to their houses. Do we in the county? Do we have any regulations or anything that tells us any distances?

Not currently. The only thing we regulate is just a for-profit commercial shooting range. So in that instance, they would have setbacks. They have certain backstops designed to certain standards and things like that. There's distances they have to be from a house, but... if it's just somebody on private land that is shooting, we don't have any regulations. There was some, there was some effort, I think last year, wasn't it last year? I think it was last year to try to get some shooting regulations, like in subdivisions, but that ended up not going anywhere. No. So, and if it's a, if it's a hunting activity, the state has a run, the state has statutes that give folks the right to hunt. Um, and so, uh, wildlife, North Carolina wildlife, they regulate that. And they typically have certain standards when you're hunting, like how far off a highway or how far away you can be and what times you can hunt. But we don't, we don't control any of that. That's under the purview of the state.

It is a concern right now. And it's behind some homes that have children and it's, um, that is a concern.

Yes, sir.

Any other questions for Mr. Cooby? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You've done a fine job. Thank you, sir.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Mr. Hill?

All right, just to close things out, a couple of information items in your agenda packet that I wanted to bring you up to speed on. You might remember our last meeting in July. We heard the Stacy Eastwood resigning request along with the Jason Hardy resigning request. Both of those went before the commissioners and were both approved. You'll see the information in your packet pertaining to that. Also, recently the commissioners approved some, or adopted a resolution of support for some safety improvements along Highway 118, which is just south of Grifton at Cannon Price Road and also at Stokestown St. John's Road. There was a fatality that occurred at Cannon Price Road and they have DOTs reworked that intersection and actually removed it and made it a cul-de-sac and rerouted traffic back through Stokestown-St. Johns Road. And along with that project, they saw the need, since they were closing off that intersection, to install a roundabout at Stokestown-St. Johns and Highway 118 to accommodate the increase in traffic at that intersection and make it safer. So there was a resolution adopted by the commissioners in support of those projects. Also, at our meeting Monday night, Planning staff presented a grant opportunity for a community development block grant for the neighborhood revitalization program. We're looking at replacing four homes within the county that are dilapidated and in need of reconstruction. We identified those four houses along with three alternates in case one of those houses falls through. We can move forward with replacement. Their action last night was just to approve the grant application. So we'll wait. The application is due in October and hopefully we'll hear something by the end of the year on whether or not we were approved for that $950,000 grant with no matching funds. So great opportunity to address some affordable housing needs in the community and make sure we have quality homes. Also included in your packet is the subdivision activity report as well as your monthly report for the planning department from July and August as well as some various articles and correspondences those articles include anything from the recent article in the daily reflector regarding growth and the amount of growth that pick county is receiving and seeing, uh, to, uh, Lake Glenwood grant that we applied for, uh, to repair the dam out there as well as, uh, the hot topic that Eric mentioned data centers. Um, that is a nationwide movement that is, uh, taken by storm right now. And there's a lot of, uh, different varying opinions on data centers and how they should be treated. Um, and, uh, so some articles pertaining to that. So I saw I have for you, Mr. Chairman, uh, unless there's any questions you have for me.

Questions from the board for Mr. Hill.

Has there been interest in Pitt County from data centers?

So our commissioners have expressed interest and requested me to go before them at their October meeting to present what our current regulations are pertaining to data centers with the caveat of possibly if they don't feel it's sufficient of placing a moratorium on data centers until we can address uh, holes in our ordinances, if you will. Um, so I'll be doing that presentation on October 5th as later right now. Um, again, as Eric said, uh, We plan on looking at this through our UDO process. However, we're looking at 12 to 18 months. So if the commissioners don't feel we have the sufficient regulations in place, they can certainly put a moratorium on until we assess and make sure we're uh, comfortable with the language we have, uh, in place. Um, we were, we're fortunate, uh, unlike some other communities around us. Uh, if many of y'all may remember, uh, compute north, back around 2021 timeframe. That was the Bitcoin, uh, center that was going up near Belvoir, uh, near the elementary school at the time, much like you heard tonight, the auction, uh, the more routine auction was not included in our ordinance, nor was a Bitcoin at the time or a data center or anything like that. So, When we were approached with the request, we had to come up with some standards, uh, for that type of view. So back in 2021, we developed those standards. Um, I feel like, uh, based on my review of those standards, we're in a lot better shape than those who have absolutely no standards right now. Um, so I'll be presenting what those standards are, um, to the commissioners and they will decide on whether or not to possibly. schedule a public hearing for a moratorium because it does take a process to go through in establishing that moratorium so and also data centers across the state the state is actually looking at at one time possibly a statewide moratorium on data centers that you know if the state state laws take precedence over local laws so there's been some talk about that statewide and that gets more into uh, you know, if, if, uh, local governments may not be equipped to assess these data centers and make sure they're, uh, meeting the regulations. So there may need to be some state oversight, much like our mining operations mines are required to get a state permit. Data centers could possibly have to get a state permit, um, after they've gone through the review process at the state level. So a lot of, a lot of moving pieces, a lot of conversations going on regarding data centers. And we'll take a look at that with our, uh, regulations and see if we feel like they're sufficient.

Um, I have a question for you, Jones. Isn't the obverse of that, that when the study regulates it, they will bring up the counties. So the county won't be able to have a higher standard. I mean, that's the law. The legislature fixed that, and they said counties can't have any higher standard than the state, period.

Correct.

I don't care how nice they want to be. I'm just pointing that out.

Absolutely.

That's the underbelly of regulation by the state.

Now the way it works for mines, you guys are aware, um, the, the land use is still in the local government's hands as to whether or not it's an appropriate place for that specific use. However, the actual permit is obtained by the state. So, um, it could go that way. It could go full control of the state. Uh, the state could very well come back and say, we can't regulate, uh, data center locations. Um, so, I don't think that will happen, but everything's possible at this point.

Your presentation to the commissioners is on October 5th?

October 5th, yes, sir.

Any other comments from the board to Mr. Hill? No. Just a question. I'm trying to bring the subject up again, but any status update as far as the mega site or any?

So the mega site is still under environmental review. We should be hearing back from that probably towards the end of the year, that report and study. So we'll be sure to update you guys once we get that report.

Do you remember the company that got that?

The Timmons Group is doing that assessment. Yes, sir. And that is in coordination with our economic development department. Kelly Andrews is overseeing that contract.

Okay.

Thank you, sir. Any other comments from the board? If not, the chair will entertain a motion.

So moved.

And what is your motion? Motion to adjourn. We have a motion to adjourn. All in favor?

By the right hand.

We are adjourned.

Thank you. Staff, thank you.