Board of Adjustment

The board is composed of:

• One regular member who is a member of the Hillsborough Planning Board and is chosen at that board's annual organizational meeting.
• Two regular members and one alternate member who are town residents 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 just outside town limits, where the town has jurisdiction to enforce its zoning and subdivision regulations. For more information, see the Jurisdiction and Service Areas page.

Application forms and deadlines may be obtained from the Hillsborough Planning and Economic Development Division or accessed from the Documents section below.

Note: 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 prior to application submittal.

Meetings are conducted as needed at 6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month in the Town Hall Annex, 105 E. Corbin St. in Hillsborough.

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 is welcome to attend and participate in hearings before the board; however, 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.

The board evaluates applications using the general standards/findings of fact and other procedures found in sections 3.8 (Special Use Permit), 3.10 (Variance) and 3.11 (Appeal) of the Unified Development Ordinance. Requirements for variances from the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance may be referenced in Section 4.E (Variance Procedures) of the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance.

For a variance request regarding riparian buffer standards, protected watershed (PW) or protected watershed critical area (PWCA) districts, or flood damage prevention, please consult town staff.