Down-Zoning/Person and Durham Counties.

HB 263 restores local government authority to change zoning to less dense or fewer permitted uses (down-zoning) in Durham and Person Counties and the Cities of Durham and Roxboro, without requiring written consent from all affected property owners. The bill rewrites state law to allow counties or cities to initiate down-zoning amendments directly, reversing a previous requirement (from S.L. 2024-57) that mandated owner consent. This change applies retroactively to December 11, 2024, meaning zoning ordinances affected by the prior law will revert to their pre-December 11 status. The bill directly affects local governments’ zoning powers and property owners in the specified jurisdictions, without altering other zoning processes.