BRUNSWICK COUNTY — The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to send the General Assembly suggested revisions to a house bill that grants the board authority over major developments.
House Bill 1222 passed in July of this year to ensure the planning board only recommends passing or denying development projects proposed after July 2, 2026. Then final decisions land on elected board of commissioners.
The law also requires TIAs for a preliminary subdivision plat with 25 or more lots, a major site plan, planned development and special use permits. The commissioners want to revise the legislation to remove TIAs for special use permits because they don’t envelop large developments or high volumes of vehicular travel; the requirements for subdivisions and major planned developments would remain as they normally generate a lot of traffic.
TIAs are addressed in Brunswick County’s unified development ordinance, only mandating them when there are 100 vehicle trips at morning and evening peak hours or 1,000 vehicle trips per day. According to county staff, North Carolina Department of Transportation won’t even evaluate TIAs for the kinds of developments that need special use permits in the county because of the fewer traffic counts often prompted by them.
“Even if the county requires it because of special legislation, they’re not gonna review it,” attorney Bryan Batton confirmed to commissioners during a special use permit hearing in August.
County staff and TRC will review them instead of DOT.
The county does not use special use permits for large developments, which attorney Batton said was what the bill intended to target; so commissioners voted unanimously to ask legislators to remove that portion. Developments that fall under special use permits are daycare and commercial garages, though a group living facility and mobile home park is allowed, both considered larger developments.
Applicant Jennifer Anderson, with Salty Paws Dog Daycare, applied for a special use permit in August and said her business would bring around 10 cars a day at most. The business is located in commercial low density zoning and a kennel is not allowed by-right there, requiring the special use permit.
Anderson did not complete the TIA, which spurred a discussion among commissioners and staff about the rules outlined in H.B. 1222. Commissioners voiced concerns about small businesses having to front TIA costs, priced anywhere between $7,000 and $15,000. They agreed to vote in favor of Anderson’s business, largely because they thought the new legislation was an overreach that treated small business owners unfairly.
In addition to changing the TIA mandates for a special use permit, commissioners also are asking legislators to remove their authority from hearing the permits; they instead want them to go to the board of adjustment, already trained to handle quasi-judicial hearings. These court-like proceedings have strict rules that ask for witnesses with direct connections to the developmen testify, as well as a presentation from staff. The developments also must be passed following stringent standards.
During the commissioners’ quasi judicial hearing for Anderson last month, the proceedings lasted almost an hour and caused confusion among the board. They did not understand the procedure, speaking order, and when to question witnesses.
“Asking commissioners who aren’t trained to do quasi-judicial to suddenly handle it is like putting a legislator in a judicial robe and saying go manage court today without training them,” commissioner Frank Williams said at the Oct. 5 meeting.
Commissioners voted on the updated bill language they’d like to see reflected and amended in the current version of H.B. 1222 for staff to send to legislators.
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