NC H821

Courts must award reasonable attorneys' fees and costs to parties who successfully challenge local government actions that violate statutes, exceed authority, violate G.S. 160D-108(b) or G.S. 143-755, or when local governments lose appeals they initiate regarding development decisions, effective October 1, 2021.

Local governments are prohibited from imposing impact fees for development, conditioning development approvals on community benefits agreements, requiring developers to provide affordable housing, requiring traffic impact analyses prior to approval, or requiring developers to construct greenways unless authorized by local act.

Conditional zoning districts can only impose conditions that address site conformance to local ordinances and plans or impacts from development, prohibiting unauthorized requirements like taxes, impact fees, or building design elements beyond statutory scope.

Cities must provide water and sewer services to properties in their extraterritorial jurisdiction if the city has capacity, extends development regulations to the area, and the property owner requests services at least one year after being added to the jurisdiction, effective October 1, 2021.

$10,000 in nonrecurring funds is appropriated to the University of North Carolina School of Government for the 2021-2022 fiscal year to provide free training to local government board members and managers on implementing this act.