The Edinburgh Town Council recently and unanimously approved a new Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO. The new zoning code updates the current ordinance, which has become outdated, previously said Brian Stump with HWC Engineering, the firm the town hired for help modernizing the ordinance.
Despite a contentious public hearing on July 15 when the new ordinance was presented to the plan commission, no attendees spoke for or against the proposed UDO at the council’s public hearing earlier in November. There was no discussion before approval on Nov. 24.
One of the more controversial parts of the new UDO for some residents was property maintenance. The new UDO mandates that land and not enclosed exterior areas under a roof must be free from garbage and debris, screening with tarps or similar materials, fencing or wall covering, abandoned vehicles, commercial appliances like freezers and refrigerators, damaged or uncontrollable landscape growth, walls/fences with missing blocks or boards, and more.
In July, some residents feared that the property maintenance standards would make Edinburgh act like a Homeowners Association, or HOA. Stump previously rebutted that the new UDO won’t act like an HOA and the standards are more for health and safety, rather than for aesthetics. An HOA is a legally bound group of homeowners who sign a contract and agree to keep their property to standards, while also paying into a fund that maintains common facilities like drainage ponds or community buildings.
Some residents also weren’t in favor of the new UDO’s list of enforcement tools, like issuing citations or stop work orders, entering onto a property and taking action to bring the property into compliance, and pursuing an administrative proceeding or civil action. The administrator, or planning director, has the right of entry at a reasonable time to inspect buildings or structures to determine compliance, the new UDO says.
Penalties range from $50 to $2,000 depending on the violation, while state law provides higher maximum civil penalties, according to the ordinance.
One resident, Crystal Skrivin, previously said in July that the improvements that residents would have to make if they were found in violation of the ordinance would be too expensive for homeowners.
“Grandma Jain, who can hardly get somebody to mow her yard for $20, how is she going to upgrade her fence or how is she going to upgrade her shed or her doghouse, and then you’re going to fine her? How about we help her if those are the things you want to happen?” Skirvin said, which was met by applause from the crowd in July.
Supporters of the new ordinance believed it was a way to update Edinburgh and help it flourish. It could also prevent cheap developments and bad zoning, residents said.
“I am fearful for our town that if we don’t do something to update it, we are going to be swallowed up by other towns,” previously said resident Christina Riley, who was part of the steering committee who gave feedback on the plan, “and this gives us the opportunity to grow, to have a stake in what we need to do.”