Morganton kicks off UDO planning with closed-door discussions

How land can be developed in Morganton for years to come will be shaped by a new ordinance, and the process begins next week with private stakeholder meetings.

On Monday and Tuesday, those stakeholders, which include members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Adjustment, will begin the first steps of creating the city’s future Unified Development Ordinance. The ordinance will outline requirements for subdivisions, zoning, flood damage prevention, and more.

In March, the city council awarded a $238,000 contract with a $7,500 contingency to Kimley-Horn, an engineering and planning firm that will be handling the project. At the time, Project Manager Cindy Szwarckop noted that creation of the UDO is expected to be adopted around September 2027.

Some aspects of the city’s current development guide are expected to be updated because they are outdated. These include the watershed protection chapter, which hasn’t been updated since 1994, and the flood damage prevention chapter, which dates back to 2007.

The goal is to regulate the norm, not the exception; provide a user-friendly, easy-to-navigate document; make the ordinance understandable to all; clarify regulations and standards with graphics and tables; and emphasize that ordinances are laws based on the North Carolina General Statutes.

Early next week, the select group of stakeholders will answer a variety of questions involving Morganton’s development in a meeting with Szwarckop and Planner Greg Feldman.

The questions ask whether current rules on zoning and subdivisions strike the right balance between community goals and flexibility for developers. Szwarckop and Feldman will also be asking if the current development ordinances give clear, objective criteria for decision-making on development applications, or if too much is left to judgment.

While the meeting will be closed to the public, the community will have additional opportunities to provide input, similar to the process used for the IMAGINE 2040 Comprehensive Plan, according to the city's Public Information Officer Jonelle Sigmon.

“The purpose of the stakeholder meetings is to get feedback from individuals about their personal experiences with the ordinances,” Sigmon noted, adding that there will be no quorums of city council members and no decisions will be made at any of the meetings.

The comments that Kimley-Horn staff receive during the stakeholder meetings will be summarized and available during the UDO creation process. During Szwarckop’s presentation to the city council and staff at the city’s winter budget workshop, she noted that Kimley-Horn staff will log comments into a matrix that will be posted on the project website for the public to see the types of concerns and how they will be addressed.

Kimley-Horn is expected to hold three community meetings before a public hearing, according to Kimley-Horn’s outlined schedule. These community meetings are expected to be held during the development and drafting of the UDO and zoning map phases.