Zoning 101 Explainer: General Use and Conditional Use Rezoning
“Part 2: The Rezoning Process in 10 Steps,” breaks the rezoning process down into 10 steps. North Carolina General Statutes and Raleigh’s Unified Development Ordinance (“UDO”) contain the rules regulating the rezoning process. In Raleigh, there are two kinds of zoning districts: Conditional Use and General Use. This post explains the differences between the two.
When Raleigh adopted the UDO, it assigned every piece of property a base zoning district. The base zoning is designated by the first two letters of a parcel’s zoning designation. For example, if a property is zoned NX-3, the “base zoning” is “NX” and stands for Neighborhood Mixed Use. Since NX is a mixed use zoning district, the intensity of the proposed development is regulated by the size and layout of the buildings that can be built on a specific piece of property. In this example, the “3” in the NX-3 zoning designation indicates a maximum building height of 3-stories.
In a general use rezoning case, the applicant is not offering any zoning conditions so any use permitted under the proposed zoning district is allowed if the rezoning request is approved by City Council. Once a general use rezoning application is filed, the applicant is not allowed to include conditions with the request. Because conditions are not permitted in general use rezoning cases, these rezoning cases tend to be simpler because they are not allowed to change during the Planning Commission and City Council review process. A common general use case is to increase the number of houses allowed on a piece of land. This might be done through a general use rezoning to change a property zoned Residential-4 to Residential 10 to allow small apartments or townhouses (sometimes referred to as “Missing Middle” housing). The number of houses allowed in a given area is known as the residential density.
Commercial development is regulated in a similar way. In a mixed use district, commercial intensity is regulated primarily by building size. Regulating intensity by building size provides more flexibility because it does not limit the number of businesses allowed within a building located on a specific piece of property. The zoning also regulates the spacing between buildings and distance from streets. All of these restrictions taken together determine the intensity of development allowed on specific properties.
Because businesses are often near, and often within the same building as apartments and condos, the UDO contains regulations that minimize conflicts between different uses. One example of this is dumpster location. Businesses need a place to dispose of their trash, but residents don’t want to see or smell it. The UDO regulates where dumpsters are located and requires they be screened to address these kinds of concerns.
The General Use Rezoning Process
A General Use Rezoning request is one that does not have zoning conditions. A zoning condition is an extra restriction that an applicant can offer.
An applicant can always convert from a general use rezoning to a conditional use request. The process to switch is simple and requires a new application and payment of a higher application fee. This often happens if unanticipated community opposition develops and the rezoning applicant feels it necessary to add conditions to address such concerns. The conversion process does add additional delay depending on where the case is in the process when the conversion takes place.
The Conditional Use Rezoning Process
The conditional use rezoning process is one that has zoning conditions. Examples of rezoning conditions may include:
Adding a new greenway connection
Restrictions on the types of businesses (i.e., no drive throughs, adult establishments, etc.)
Limitations on density (i.e., no more than 200,000 square foot of retail)
Restrictions on the number and/or types of houses allowed within a development
As briefly mentioned above, a zoning condition is an extra rule or restriction put on a zoning case. Only the property owner is allowed to offer a zoning condition. This means the Planning Staff who review the applications can’t make the applicant add conditions. The Planning Staff’s role is to analyze the rezoning request for consistency with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. (For more information on the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, see Land Use and Zoning 101: Comprehensive Plan). The 2030 Comprehensive Plan is a policy guidance document that establishes Raleigh’s vision for how the City should look and feel by 2030. While every rezoning case is reviewed for consistency with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan policies, a consistency finding is not legally required to order for a rezoning case to be approved.
While rezoning conditions can’t be required, they are often suggested by City Councilors and/or Planning Commission members. When these City officials ask for specific conditions, it can create difficulty in determining whether such conditions are truly voluntary. Community members also often ask an applicant to add rezoning conditions to address specific concerns during neighborhood meetings (see discussion of neighborhood meetings in “10 Steps of the Rezoning Process”).
In a typical rezoning, the process looks like this:
Applicant presents initial plan to neighbors at the first neighborhood meeting.
Applicant receives feedback and concerns from neighbors.
Applicant changes initial plan by adding or changing a rezoning condition to address concerns.
Applicant presents changes to community at second neighborhood meeting.
Applicant goes to the Planning Commission.
The more specific the community is about its concerns, the easier it is for an applicant to craft zoning conditions to address those concerns. Zoning conditions must be more restrictive than the UDO (see Land Use and Zoning 101: Zoning 101). The applicant’s development proposal must comply with the UDO. The UDO contains stormwater regulations, parking requirements, sidewalk connections and much more. Zoning conditions can tailor regulations to a specific property to help address situations and/or concerns not covered by the UDO. Zoning conditions should also be consistent with the 2030 Comprehensive Plan.
Rezoning is a legislative process that allows City Council broad discretion in deciding whether or not to approve a specific application. Since the chances of successfully rezoning property are often uncertain, site plans and construction drawings are generally not finished until a rezoning application is approved. Additionally, given City Council’s broad discretion, applicants often seek the support of stakeholders and neighbors by offering to add conditions to the rezoning application to address specific concerns. Community support is important to applicants because it increases the chances that City Council will approve a rezoning request. Whatever conditions are added to a successful rezoning case must then be incorporated into site plans and construction drawings.
Neighbors and other stakeholders often want to work with a rezoning applicant to agree on a set of acceptable rezoning conditions. When such an agreement is reached, it allows property development to move forward in a way that is acceptable to everyone involved. Neighbors and other stakeholders often see this as beneficial because it reduces the uncertainty when there is property nearby that is targeted for development or redevelopment. To increase the chances of reaching agreement about how a particular property will develop through the rezoning process, it’s important to establish effective communication among everyone that may have a stake in the outcome early in the process.