Local Land-Use Planning and Natural Hazards in Coastal North Carolina

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Heraty, Maureen
- Other Affiliation: Metropolitan Washington DC Council of Governments
Roenigk, Dale
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning

Abstract

The North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) of 1974 was designed to protect coastal resources. This legislation required local governments in the coastal region to develop land-use plans to guide development. While many saw a strong need to control growth in the region, few local governments managed land use. Proponents of the law believed that local land-use planning could protect the environment from unwise growth, while still allowing local control of development. To determine CAMA's impact after more than a decade, we interviewed thirty local governments in North Carolina. This research was part of a larger National Science Foundation-sponsored study of land-use planning in North Carolina and four other states. The results from these interviews and additional surveys indicate that CAMA has played a critical role in shaping land-use planning in the coastal region. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that, while the mandate is still necessary to ensure local land-use planning in most communities, CAMA has increased support for planning and may be playing a long-term educational role. In this article, we provide a brief history of CAMA and its land-use planning requirements, particularly those related to natural hazards. We then examine the findings from our interviews and their implications for the future.

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