Spot Zoning

The Court of Appeals recently reviewed three issues in a Randolph County rezoning: was the decision “spot zoning”? Was it arbitrary and capricious? And was it adopted with appropriate procedures?  On spot zoning the law was slightly expanded. On the other two issues the court reminds us of the distinction between judicial and legislative functions.

            Boring title, I know, but in land use this is big stuff, especially considering that both topics came out of a recent N.C. Supreme Court case. Let’s look at both topics, discuss their relevancy and review how the opinion was written.

 The Facts

             Two weeks ago the N.C. Supreme Court published one of its rare

             My June 9 post on solar farms (“Destroying the Environment to Save It”) discussed the world’s largest solar farm – a 3,600 acre project in the Mojave Desert.  Little did I suspect that two weeks later the place I live – Guilford County – would be a “finalist” for one even larger.

             I say “finalist”