A public hearing will be held Monday, July 13 at 5:30 p.m. to get citizen feedback on a proposed change to Spruce Pine’s zoning ordinance.
The amendment, if approved, will add appearance standards to the zoning ordinance.
“The text amendments would be to amend the Spruce Pine building and zoning ordinance and place the additions of building design standards and the addition of appearance standards,” Town Manager Daniel Stines said at a recent Town Council meeting.
The new standards will apply to both residential and commercial districts, but there will be carve-outs for those building just one home in residential districts.
“Those residential districts … it would apply to all with four units or greater,” Stines said. “We’re not applying landscaping and design standards to individual residential homes — if (Council Member) Tessa (Taylor) decides to build a house tomorrow in Spruce Pine, she doesn’t have to follow … our building design standards, she just has to follow the typical zoning standards.”
The proposed code is designed to apply to apartment buildings and housing developments.
“it’s been 40-plus years since we’ve had any true zoning amendments,” Stines said.
Stines noted that these standards will not apply retroactively to existing structures.