Sign Up
HB 281 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Restore Down-Zoning/Multiple Municipalities.

HB 281 restores local government authority to initiate "down-zoning" in six North Carolina municipalities (Morehead City, Beaufort, Bogue, Cape Carteret, Cedar Point, and Newport) without requiring written consent from all affected property owners. The bill amends state law to clarify that down-zoning - defined as reducing development density, limiting permitted land uses, or creating nonconforming features - can be enacted by a municipality itself. This reverses a prior change (S.L. 2024-57) that required property owner consent, making the new rule retroactive to December 11, 2024. The law directly affects property owners and developers in these specific towns by changing how zoning changes can be implemented.
Issues: ✗ HousingOpposes HousingDown-zoning reduces housing density and development potential, restricting new housing supply and likely increasing costs, aligning with 'oppose' indicators for housing development limits.95% confidence
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action Mar 5, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed → Edition 1 · 4 edits
MODERATE
This bill version transition shows primarily administrative and formatting updates rather than substantive policy changes. The main differences include updated filing information, sponsor attribution changes, and bill identifier revisions from a draft number to a final version number. These changes reflect the bill's progression through the legislative process from initial filing to first edition.
TECHNICAL

Bill identifier changed from draft number DRH10121-MQ-31 to final version H281-v-1

Filing date updated from March 4, 2025 to March 5, 2025

Sponsor information changed from listing only Representative Cairns to directing users to the General Assembly website for complete sponsor list

Committee referral information added showing Judiciary 3, Housing and Development, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
3
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Mar 5, 2025
Committee
Ref to the Com on Judiciary 3, if favorable, Housing and Development, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced
Filed
lower
0 primary · 8 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.