Please consult town staff for a variance request regarding riparian buffer standards, flood damage prevention, and protected watershed districts or critical area districts.

Checklists, Deadlines and Process

Deadlines are for complete applications. Incomplete applications will not be accepted for review. Applicants are advised to schedule a time to discuss specific requests with the board’s staff support before submitting an application.

• Board of Adjustment Process Overview
• Meeting Schedule
• Site Plan Checklist (use for special use permit plans)

Applications

• Board of Adjustment General Application (use for all applications)
• Owner Authorization Form
• Special Use Permit (including modifications)
• Variance

Appeals

• Board Of Adjustment Appeal Supplemental Form

Composition 

• One member representing the Hillsborough Planning Board.
• Two regular members and one alternate member who are town residents and appointed by the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners.
• Two regular members and one alternate member who are residents of the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction and appointed by the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

The extraterritorial jurisdiction is an area outside town limits where the town may enforce its zoning and subdivision regulations. See the Services for Your Property page.

Terms

Members serve up to two consecutive three-year terms. One calendar year must pass before a member may be reappointed after serving two complete terms and any partial term.

Members

Membership

Appointed Boards Application

Hearings

Hearings are quasi-judicial in nature, meaning they are like a court hearing. State law sets specific procedures and rules concerning how the board must make its decisions. These rules are different from other types of land-use decisions, such as rezoning cases.

The public may attend and participate in hearings before the board. Full participation is limited to those with legal standing, as defined in North Carolina General Statute 160D-1402(c), and to those who are sworn witnesses to the case being heard.

Procedures 

The board evaluates applications using the general standards/findings of fact and other procedures found in these sections of the Unified Development Ordinance:

• Section 3.8: Special Use Permit
• Section 3.10: Variance
• Section 3.11: Appeal

See requirements for variances from the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance in Section 4.E: Variance Procedures of the ordinance.

Meeting Information

Meetings are at 6 p.m. the second Wednesday of each month as needed in the Town Hall Annex, 105 E. Corbin St. in Hillsborough. See agenda packets and minutes on the town's meetings site.

The town does not discriminate on the basis of disability in its services, programs or activities. See the Americans with Disabilities Act Policy page.

Meeting Schedule