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Planning Board (City/County)

Purpose

The City-County Planning Board was established by a special act of the North Carolina General Assembly in 1948 to provide consolidated planning services to the City of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The special enabling act creating the Planning Board states that its function shall be to make and adopt a general plan or plans for the physical development of the entire area of the City of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. In keeping with this charge, the Planning Board acts as an advisory board to the elected bodies with regard to:
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Preparation and adoption of the comprehensive plan and other plans (such as small area plans, natural resource protection plans, transportation plans, etc.), and
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Implementation of those plans by various mechanisms, especially preparation and application of the Unified Development Ordinances.

The Planning Board's role with regard to zoning issues is to conduct public hearings on proposed changes to the Official Zoning Map (i.e., rezoning requests) and proposed amendments to the Unified Development Ordinances (i.e., text amendments). In addition to these advisory functions, the Planning Board acts as a final decision-making board in regard to subdivision of land, approval of certain types of site plans, and certification of areas as blighted for redevelopment projects. A professional planning staff serves the Board.

Members and Non-Voting Staff Person(s)

Nine citizens are appointed jointly by the Winston-Salem City Council and the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners to become members of the City-County Planning Board. Five of the members must be City Residents, and their appointments are initiated by the Mayor and the City Council. Four of the members must be residents of the County outside the City, and their appointments are initiated by the Board of County Commissioners. Those appointed serve for four-year terms, and the non-City residents are eligible for re-appointment without term limits. A variety of skills, interests and backgrounds are appropriate for members sitting on the Planning Board.

Currently Serving

Meetings

The City-County Planning Board meets twice per month for regular meetings. The Public Hearing meeting of the Planning Board is held at 4:30 PM on the second Thursday of each month in the Public Meeting Room on the fifth floor of the Bryce A. Stuart Municipal Building. The monthly work session of the Planning Board is held at 4:30 PM on the fourth Thursday of each month (except November and December) in the Planning Board conference room on the second floor of the Bryce A. Stuart Municipal Building. It is especially important that Planning Board members attend these two monthly meetings, each lasting generally a couple of hours, as the issues deliberated by the Board receive considerable public attention and affect schedules for development and business actions which are taken as a result of those decisions. Once a month, at 8:15 on Monday morning two and one-half weeks prior to the upcoming Public Hearing meeting, there is a van tour of all sites requested for rezoning for Planning Board and staff members, but attendance is optional and it is not a business meeting of the Board.

Other Information

For additional information on the City/County Planning Board click here.