ALBEMARLE — The Albemarle City Council has voiced its opposition to a proposed bill in the N.C. General Assembly that would affect the city’s development regulation process.
At their recent meeting on Monday night, Albemarle’s councilmembers unanimously voted to ratify Resolution 25-03, signed on April 11, 2025, opposing House Bill 765 and other legislation that would limit local control of planning and zoning matters.
That same night, the Stanly County Board of Commissioners also approved a resolution opposing the bill.
Local Gov. Development Regulations Omnibus (H.B. 765), which was created to address the housing crisis in North Carolina, was introduced by Rep. Jeff Zenger (R-Forsyth) on April 3 with bipartisan support; Reps. Jarrod Lowery (R-Robeson), Matthew Winslow (R-Franklin), Mark Brody (R-Union) and Carla Cunningham (D-Mecklenburg) are additional sponsors of the bill.
The legislation passed its first reading on April 7 and received a favorable committee report and edit on April 17.
Critics of the bill say that it would weaken the powers of municipal governments to control local zoning and land use, while proponents of the bill hope that it could lead to more housing growth in the state by bypassing regulations.
H.B. 765 would mandate zoning and site plan decisions within 90 days of application, allow developers to sue local officials for positions they take on land-use decisions, and limit municipalities’ authority to enact parking and street design standards.
The legislation would also create minimum density requirements based on population size. In a county with a population between 50,000 and 274,999 like Stanly County (population of 65,699), five units per acre would be developable by right.
Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Sue Hall asked City Manager Todd Clark if he could share Albemarle’s resolution with other local governmental managers throughout Stanly County; Clark confirmed that he would present the information to other cities and towns in the area.
“We’ve got nine other municipalities in this county that need to be on board with this,” Hall said. “Things are running rapid through the house, and they’re running quickly. This has not yet passed both houses, but we need to have as much information as we can for our smaller towns here. I would love it if there’s a diplomatic way to be able to say to the other managers that we’ve done this with you all.”
The Albemarle City Council is set to meet again on May 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers.