Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Consultancy Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Elizabeth Jones

Abstract

This consultancy project was designed to assist Anson County, North Carolina with understanding the impacts of enacting countywide zoning and how to develop a zoning ordinance. While a vast majority of cities and counties in North Carolina have zoning throughout their jurisdiction, Anson County does not. This project revealed the economic impacts of countywide zoning by assessing both qualitative and quantitative data, including a review of the literature. The literature review concluded counties that enact zoning increase economic or job opportunities. As evidence, a Georgia study concluded the average employment for counties with a zoning ordinance was more than double that of counties without a zoning policy or around 123.3% greater in 1999 (Wilkins et al., 2006). In addition, “counties with zoning tended to post lower unemployment rates and higher labor force participation rates” (Wilkins et al., 2006, p. 26). More specifically, this project revealed how adopting zoning countywide can help increase economic development opportunities, including job inducement, protecting property values, helping plan for future growth, and increasing community safety. The successful implementation of this project was directly related to community input and open house meetings held throughout the county. However, the primary deliverable was to draft a countywide zoning ordinance for Anson County to consider adopting. The research methodology employed focused on how Anson County leadership was in concert with community input. The success of this project was demonstrated through the final draft zoning ordinance and summary presentation to the Anson County Board of Commissioners.

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