Understanding HB765

What is HB765?

This bill, introduced by Jeff Zenger, aims to further limit municipal authority, and negatively impact our ability to enforce existing zoning regulations and would hold elected members of the council personally responsible for any denial, which would prohibit us from enforcing our current UDO and would have a “chilling” effect on anyone wanting to serve on council. You would see your municipality, Clemmons, and others, likely dissolved.

Some specifics in HB765 include:

• 160D-1406– Makes government officials personally liable for development decisions deemed to be performed “maliciously, arbitrarily, and capriciously”. Allows for punitive damages and disclosure of information.

• 6-21.7– Makes board members liable for attorney’s fees.

• 153A-121– Removes ordinance power of counties to make development regulations.

• 160A-17.– Removes ordinance power of cities to make development regulations.

• 160A-307– Local government power to regulate street and driveway construction severely limited.

• 162A-901– Localities cannot reserve sewer capacity for anything other than development, and forces a plan for expansion if there’s not enough capacity for a development.

For more information on it, please review Councilman Mike Combest’s presentation on it this past April by clicking here.

Some of the language in HB765 was pulled out and put into the swimming pool bill SB 205. Here is part of North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) most recent update on it.

Bills like SB 205 Swimming Pools/Housing Regulatory Reform and HB 765 Save the American Dream Act have been shelved thanks to advocacy from across the state and appear not to have any momentum to be considered in the coming months.

At the same time, the core issue we began with at the start of the session, downzoning, has seen a bill, SB 587 Clarify Nonconforming Uses, unanimously approved in one chamber but received no further action. Additionally, over the past few months, multiple proposals have been presented by the Senate seeking to cap and limit Powell Bill funds to municipalities, including just this week in a version of HB 1012 Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 – Part II.

What is downzoning?

Downzoning is the rezoning of land to a less intensive use. For example, commercial land may be rezoned for residential use, or residential land may be rezoned to a less dense residential category. These are broad examples of downzoning. When developers approach the Village for re-zoning, they are almost always requesting upzoning. Upzoning is a request to allow for denser develops such as permitting multi-family housing in previously single-family zones or by increasing building height limits and reducing lot sizes.

What is the Powell Bill?

Powell Bill funds are dollars the state distributes back to municipalities based on how many municipal roads are in that municipality’s jurisdiction. These funds are earmarked for road improvements. Until a few years ago, VOC only used Powell Bill funds for road improvements. Those funds were not enough to cover our ever-increasing road improvement needs and the Council increased taxes in 2021 so we could invest our own funds into necessary infrastructure needs. Here is a link to more information about the Powell Bill.