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.
Spot Zoning
Case Law Update – Spot Zoning and Consistency Statements
By Tom Terrell on
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…
Solar Farms – In the News Again
By Tom Terrell on
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”…
Case Law Update — Standing and Spot Zoning
By Tom Terrell on
Last week the N.C. Court of Appeals issued a new zoning decision in Musi v. Town of Shallotte. Musi brought to light two problems that have plagued land use jurisprudence for decades and only get worse: 1) the evolution of land use law has taken so many odd twists and turns that on some issues …