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· Cleveland County <br />Cleveland County enacted a three-month moratorium, from 4/15/97 through <br />7/15/97, that prohibits development of, or expansions to, subdivisions, <br />manufactured home parks or multi-family developments in a geographically <br />defined 13,000 acre area in the northeast part of the county. The county received <br />a petition to rezone the 13,000 acre area to a Rural/Agricultural zoning district <br />that would allow one dwelling unit per three acres of land. This district did not <br />exist in their zoning ordinance and they do not have county-wide zoning. The <br />county found some procedural problems with their ordinance for creating a new <br />district, so they are first revising the procedures in the ordinance and then will <br />hear the rezoning petition. <br /> <br />Many small towns in Cleveland County have passed moratoria on the <br />development of new mobile home parks in order to give them time to write <br />mobile home park ordinances. <br /> <br />RECOMMENDATION <br /> <br />We recommend that the Board of Commissioners consider the following options. <br />Each suggestion includes a review of the expected positive and negative effects <br />of that action. <br /> <br />1. Adopt an ordinance that suspends issuance of all residential zoning <br />pe~-~its for a period of 60 to 90 days. <br /> <br />Positive <br />Temporarily limits residential growth throughout the County. <br /> <br />Requires action only by the Board of Commissioners to be effective since permits <br />for the entire County are issued by the Development Services Division. <br /> <br />Negative <br />Building permits are valid for six months and once an inspection has been <br />completed (such as a footing inspection) the permit is valid for another twelve <br />months. Many developers will simply request the permits they need prior to the <br />moratorium. <br /> <br />The moratorium can be challenged based on the vested rights statute and case <br />law. Subdivision maps that have final or preliminary approval may have <br />already met the statutory requirements for a vested project or it can be proven <br />that the development is based on good faith reliance with substantial <br />expenditures made. <br /> <br /> <br />