Rewriting our Rules: LUMO Update

The Planning Commission met on October 6 to begin their official deliberations about the draft LUMO. You can view the meeting recording and related materials here.

The Planning Commission will meet again on October 20 to adopt a final set of recommendations about the draft LUMO. Those recommendations will then be shared with the Town Council.

All upcoming meetings are open to the public and will include opportunities for public comment.

• Planning Commission: October 20, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)
• Town Council: October 21, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)
• Town Council: November 18, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)

The Chapel Hill Planning Commission will meet at Chapel Hill Town Hall (405 MLK Jr. Blvd) at 6pm on October 6 to begin their formal deliberations about the draft LUMO. The Planning Commission can then provide a recommendation to the Town Council or choose to hold additional meetings to discuss the LUMO. The meeting is open to the public and will include an opportunity for public comment. The agenda and all meeting materials are available here.

After the Planning Commission meeting, the Town Council is schedule to hold at least two formal hearings:

• Town Council: October 21, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)
• Town Council: November 18, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)

These meetings will also be open to the public and include opportunities for public comment. The November 18th meeting will be the earliest possible date on which the Town Council could adopt the new LUMO. However, the Council may also choose to hold additional hearings before taking a final vote.

The Town Council held their last informal discussion about the draft LUMO on Wednesday evening. You can review the meeting materials and watch a video of the meeting here.

After discussing a variety of topics and providing additional guidance to Town staff, the Council signaled that they are ready to move into the next phase of the LUMO project: the official legislative process.

The official legislative process – which could end with a formal vote to adopt the updated LUMO – will include a minimum of three public meetings:

• Planning Commission: October 6, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)
• Town Council: October 21, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)
• Town Council: November 18, 2026 at 6:00PM (Chapel Hill Town Hall)

Public comment will be welcome at each of these meetings. More meetings may be scheduled if either the Planning Commission or Town Council need more time to consider the draft LUMO.

Once the official legislative process begins, we’ll no longer be taking online comments directly in the draft LUMO. The last day to provide comments directly in the draft will be September 30, 2026. After that date, we encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts about the draft LUMO by emailing Town Council at mayorandcouncil@chapelhillnc.gov and speaking at any of the upcoming public meetings.

Over the next few weeks, there will be several opportunities to learn about, discuss and comment on the draft LUMO.

Town Council Meetings:

September 9, 2026, at 6:00PM at Chapel Hill Town Hall. The Town Council will meet to discuss the draft LUMO. The meeting is open to the public and attendees will have an opportunity to comment on the draft during the meeting. You can find the meeting agenda and meeting materials here.

The Council will meet again to discuss the draft LUMO at their September 16th work session. Work sessions are open to the public but do not include opportunities for public comment.

Open Houses:

September 10, 2026, from noon-2:00PM and 6:00-7:30PM at Chapel Hill Public Library, Room B. We're hosting two more drop-in open houses for anyone interested in learning about the draft LUMO.

Staff Office Hours:

We're hosting office hours for anyone interested in learning more about the draft LUMO. Feel free to stop by for a quick question or stay a while and dig into the details.

• September 15 from 11:30AM - 1:30PM at Library Room D
• September 17 from 6:30PM - 8:00PM at Hargraves Community Center, Nate Davis, Sr. Gym Meeting Room
• September 22 from 3:30PM - 5:30PM at Library Room D
• September 25 from 10:30AM - 12:30PM at Library Room D
• September 29 from 11:00AM - 1PM at Hargraves Community Center, Nate Davis, Sr. Gym Meeting Room

Planning Commission:

The Chapel Hill Planning Commission will meet virtually on September 1, 2026, at 6:00PM to discuss the draft LUMO.

The meeting is open to the public and will include opportunities for public comment. You can register to attend the meeting here.

Open Houses:

In case you missed the first set of LUMO open houses on August 17, you can download the posters from the events here.

Another set of LUMO open houses will be held at the Library on September 10 at noon and 6pm.

At over 700 pages, the draft LUMO includes a lot of information. We're hosting a series of public office hours for anyone interested in learning more about the draft. Feel free to drop in with a quick question or stay a while and dig into the details.

Information for the first several office hours is listed below:

• Thursday, July 30 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at Chapel Hill Library, Room D
• Friday, July 31 from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. at Chapel Hill Library, Room C
• Monday, August 3 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. at Chapel Hill Library, Room C
• Thursday, August 6 from 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Chapel Hill Library, Room D
• Tuesday, August 11, from Noon - 2:00 p.m. at Chapel Hill Library, Room C

We'll share additional dates in the next few weeks.

As a reminder, we've created a high-level summary and reference guide to help you with your review of the draft.

Additional opportunities to learn more include:

• Stop by a drop-in open house at the library:
  • August 17 and September 10
  • 12 - 2 p.m. or 6 - 7:30 p.m.
• Attend a meeting:
  • Planning Commission informal discussions: August 18 and September 1
  • Council work session: September 9 or September 16
  • Planning Commission legislative hearing: scheduled for October 6
  • Council regular meetings: scheduled for October 21 and November 18

We've released a draft of our updated LUMO, which is a comprehensive rewrite of regulations that guide how and where growth happens in Chapel Hill. We encourage you to review the draft, ask questions, and provide feedback before Council's formal consideration later this year. Here's how to learn more:

• Read the news release
• Review the document and comment on the draft
  • The draft itself is more than 700 pages, so we've created a high-level summary and reference guide to help you with your review.
• Stop by a drop-in open house at the library:
  • August 17 and September 10
  • 12 - 2 p.m. or 6 - 7:30 p.m.
• Attend a meeting:
  • Planning Commission informal discussions: August 18 and September 1
  • Council work session: September 9 or September 16
  • Planning Commission legislative hearing: scheduled for October 6
  • Council regular meetings: scheduled for October 21 and November 18

At their April 8, 2026 work session, the Town Council agreed to a set of overarching interests and high-level goals to guide their upcoming conversations about the draft LUMO.

The three overarching interests are: Complete Community, Sustainability, and Equity.

The five high-level goals are:

1. User friendliness
2. Housing diversity, attainability, and supply
3. Economic development and land use
4. Built environment and public realm
5. Environment and resilience

Town staff will present Council with a summary of the updated LUMO and an overview of how it meets these goals during the June 17, 2026 Council meeting.

Meanwhile, Town staff are continuing to work on a draft of the updated LUMO and expect to release a public draft near the end of June. Over the summer, we’ll host several public meetings so that anyone interested in the updated LUMO can learn more about its contents, how it will meet Council’s stated goals, and how to provide feedback to the Town Council.

At their January 21, 2026, meeting, the Town Council adopted a package of amendments to the Chapel Town Code and Land Use Management Ordinance. The amendments eliminate mandatory minimum parking requirements, streamline development review processes, support missing middle housing production, and make other miscellaneous improvements to the Town’s land use rules.

A brief summary of the adopted changes is included below:

1. Site Plan Review:

1. Remove the “Site Plan Review” process for all projects.

2. Concept Plan Review:

1. Remove the “Concept Plan Review” process for all projects.

3. Conditional Zoning:

1. Streamline the conditional zoning process and application submission requirements.
2. Require that most conditional zoning approvals indicate the location of above-ground stormwater control measures.

4. Special Use Permits:

1. Allow projects with existing SUPs to add new permitted uses or development that is compliant with LUMO.

5. Two-Family Housing Options

1. Increase maximum size limits for duplexes, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), and cottages.
2. Allow ADUs to be built

6. Parking Regulations

1. Eliminate mandatory parking minimums across town.

1. Ease front-yard parking restrictions for 1- and 2-family developments.

7. Subdivisions – Procedural Improvements

1. Make Town staff responsible for all subdivision approvals.
2. Better align the Town’s authority over subdivision approvals with state law.

8. Subdivisions – Lot Layout Standards

1. Reduce minimum lot sizes and related dimensional standards like setbacks and lot width.

1. Allow zero-frontage lots and flag lots.

9. Subdivisions – Infrastructure

1. Ease requirements for new lots on “local” streets to provide infrastructure improvements.

10. Manufactured Home Communities

1. Make existing manufactured home parks a permitted use.

11. Sign Regulations

1. Ease various sign regulations and update which types of signs are allowed in residential zoning districts.

12. Miscellaneous Updates

1. Allow multiple permitted uses on the same property.
2. Update the Town Code to allow shared driveways.

For more information about the new standards, please contact Tas Lagoo at tlagoo@townofchapelhill.org

The Town Council is scheduled to discuss - and potentially vote on - a set of amendments to the Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO) at its next regular meeting on January 21, 2026. A meeting agenda and related materials are available here. Regular Town Council meetings are open to the public and public comments are welcome.

The Town Council previously discussed these LUMO amendments during its meetings on October 22, 2025, November 19, 2025, and January 7, 2026.

On January 28, 2026, Town staff are expected to provide Town Council an update on the broader LUMO rewrite project. A meeting agenda and related materials will be available here approximately one week before the meeting.