Shelby’s simplicity gives it the edge over Morganton in development-friendly processes

A side-by-side comparison of Morganton and Shelby’s fee schedules for their development and design departments reveals one reason why area commercial and residential developers, builders, and contractors continually name Shelby as one of the easiest municipalities to work with and Morganton one of the most difficult.

This and other comparisons give Shelby an edge over Morganton in ease of doing business due to its straightforward price sheet, clearer upfront costs, and fewer conditional elements while Morganton lists additional fees, conditions and extra costs that could complicate planning.

Morganton and Shelby are similar small North Carolina cities. About 40 miles apart, with Morganton in Burke County and Shelby in Cleveland County, Shelby’s population is 21,918 and Morganton’s is 17,474, according to 2020 US Census reports. Shelby’s median household income is $50,705 and Morganton’s is $49,434, according to the same reports.

Morganton’s fee schedule for permits, reviews, and administration of construction development is five pages, most of it in tiny 8-point type. The first page lists 13 line items related to zoning, and several of those have subcategories.

Within those five pages are detailed breakdowns and extensive sub-categories, additional charges for advertising, re-inspections, and other incremental fees. They contain complex fee calculations for building permits involving area-based formulas. And certain fees involve potentially confusing multiple components, such as Zoning Permit Application fee variation based on review complexity and acreage.

Shelby’s fee schedule for permitting and planning is two pages, in easy-to-read 12-point type. It lists two line items for zoning, one for a verification letter and another for a permit.

The Shelby document is straightforward with easy-to-understand terminology that avoids overly technical jargon, and pricing with flat rates or simple per-unit charges. There are few conditions or additional charges.

Morganton’s fee schedule complexity might be intimidating to smaller businesses or those unfamiliar with development processes. Shelby’s simpler fee structure could reduce barriers to entry and encourage small business growth, according to developers.

“I can submit the same type of plan to Shelby, Lenoir, Marion, Forest City, Statesville, and have a plan approved everywhere before the City of Morganton even gives back the rejection (of the) first review,” said one professional actively engaged in local development. “Most of these cities we are competing against will review and you get approval that week after some minor revisions.”

This professional, along with other developers, contractors and builders, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they have active business in front of Morganton’s development and design department and do not want to jeopardize progress.

The simplicity of fee documentation is a contributing factor to Shelby’s economic development growth, said Brian Burgess, the city’s Planning and Development Services director. The fee schedule is easy for the developer, he said, and “it’s simpler on our end to keep track of that information. There’s enough to keep up with that is complicated.”

“We’re seeing an amount of growth that is astronomical,” he said. “We have 6,200 housing units in the pipeline.”

Burgess said there are currently 46 active planning applications and 400 active permitting applications in his office. The simple, streamlined fee structure expedites the process.

“We’re processing 13 permits an hour with three folks that handle those,” he said. His department roster lists a staff of 10: three planners, three code enforcement officials, three inspectors, and an administrator.

The average processing period for the initial review is two weeks, he said. Some applications are more complicated and take longer, depending almost entirely on the speed with which applicants can provide additional data.

“My goal is to reduce resubmissions,” he said, “and try to set these folks up for success.”

Municipalities develop zoning and permitting development guidelines to manage land use effectively, ensure orderly growth, public safety, and preservation of community character, municipal leaders say.

Meeting the needs of entrepreneurs and respecting development policies can be a delicate balancing act.

“A community shouldn’t throw out the baby with the bath water,” Burgess said. “The community has to look good (and) there has to be a clarity of processes … a process of getting from Point A to Point B that is very well laid out.”

Burgess said his team works closely with developers, and one of the first meetings is defining a “roadmap of process. We walk you through.”

Morganton’s Director of Development and Design, Wendy Smith, oversees a staff of 15, including four inspectors, a city engineer, two civil design technicians, a project manager, a surveyor, a code enforcement officer, a stormwater administrator, and an administrative manager.

Smith was unavailable for comment on her department’s processes for this story. However, during Monday’s Morganton City Council meeting, she told the council that the internal engineering staff, while an advantage, typically adds “a month” to the review process.

In an email on Wednesday she addressed the department’s fee structure:

“For fees common to other municipalities, the current Development and Design Services fee schedule was developed through an assessment of the fees of 17 different local governments, plus the City’s current fees,” she said in the email. “We have a baseline of similar sized cities with similar characteristics from across the state that the City regularly uses for comparisons. We also utilize the fees of immediately surrounding cities and counties for comparisons, including Hickory/Marion/Lenoir and Burke, Catawba, Caldwell, and McDowell counties.”

In a separate email received from Morganton’s Public Information Officer Jonelle Sigmon in response to a question to Smith regarding active permits in her department, Sigmon wrote, “Unfortunately, that is not an answer that our system will easily provide us, due to the different stages of different types of applications and the way the computer system logs the applications.

“However, our Development and Design Department is still actively working on applications and their development projects that were originally lodged in 2023. What we are able to easily pull is the number of applications lodged and worked on since then, which will give you an idea of the permitting workload for D&D.”

Sigmon added that from Jan. 1, 2023, through May 8, 2025, Morganton’s Development and Design Department “has been in some stage of processing over 5,500 applications.”

“I lose money when I work in the city,” a contractor said. “It takes multiple reviews and more details than any project I have ever done in Charlotte or Greensboro or Durham. The sheer number of reviews and iterations required to satisfy the City of Morganton is beyond belief.”