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The citizens at the past several City Council meetings have watched as housing developers have made last second changes to their applications to simply try to get an approval. To the average citizens it looks like a negotiation for a used car.

These major changes are made without the proposal being returned to the Planning Board for a review and public opinion and comment.

Several citizens have commented to the City Council that they are confused as to why these changed rezoning applications are not sent back to the Planning Board and are frustrated to learn that City Council can’t send them back. The problem is that neither the current, nor the proposed Monroe UDO, requires or gives the City Council the ability to send the proposal back to the Planning Board.

The solution to this problem is to amend the current UDO and to make sure that the new UDO (coming up for discussion in March 2022) has the proper language in it so that re-zoning proposals that undergo major changes go back to the Planning Board for review and public comment.

This online petition is to encourage the City Council to
create a way so that they avoid these issues in the future. The approval process should encourage a developer to bring his best proposal at the beginning.

The following are just a few of the cities and counties who already have this ability: Charlotte, Concord, Indian Trail, Raleigh, Weddington, Greensboro, Huntersville, Durham, Cary, High Point, Durham County, and Brunswick County. If you are bored feel free to read the actual text of those UDOs.

If these growing cities and counties can manage sending re-zoning proposals back to planning board, I know Monroe NC can too.