Town Releases Draft LUMO to Support Housing, Sustainability, & Growth

Published on July 16, 2026

Town of Chapel Hill logo on a map background

The Town of Chapel Hill has released a draft of its updated Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO), a comprehensive rewrite of the regulations that guide how and where growth happens in Chapel Hill. Community members are encouraged to review the draft, ask questions, and provide feedback ahead of the Town Council’s formal consideration later this year.

Background & Context

The current LUMO is more than twenty years old, first adopted in 2003. Since then, the Town Council has made occasional amendments and adopted strategic plans about transportation, affordable housing, climate action, and more.  The new draft LUMO reflects those plans, as well as modern best practices for smart growth and land use planning.

Town Manager Ted Voorhees says the LUMO is a big step for a major Council policy initiative, “The Council’s Complete Community strategy is a bold vision for a Chapel Hill where people can live in a variety of housing types, easily get around without a car, and enjoy both natural spaces and commercial areas close to where they live.”

Voorhees also points out that LUMO is one of many ways to advance the strategy, saying “The LUMO works alongside our Bus Rapid Transit project, our Everywhere to Everywhere Greenways study, our Affordable Housing Loan Fund, our Climate Action Plan, and other major initiatives, to set us on a strong path to realizing the Complete Community vision.”

High-Level Summary

The draft is the result of several years of policy direction from Council, community engagement, stakeholder input, and staff collaboration with subject matter experts. Some of the many ways it reflects Council and community desires include:

  • Creating a More User-Friendly Code
     The draft LUMO reorganizes development rules to make them easier for residents, businesses, and builders to understand by using plain language, clear graphics, and a more intuitive structure.

  • Supporting Housing Diversity and Affordability
     The draft LUMO expands opportunities for a variety of housing types by allowing triplexes and fourplexes in more areas, increasing by-right housing density near transit and greenways, providing generous development incentives for affordable housing, and creating a new zoning district for “missing middle” housing.

  • Encouraging Local Business and Mixed-Use Development
     The draft LUMO supports the creation of more walkable, mixed-use districts by making essential services such as daycare centers and small businesses, retail shops, and restaurants possible in more parts of the community, closer to where people live.

  • Strengthening Environmental Protection and Climate Resilience
     The draft LUMO maintains protections for Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) and stream buffers, while improving and introducing new requirements for tree preservation, stormwater infrastructure, and shade along pedestrian routes.

  • Streamlining Processes for Predictability and Efficiency
     The draft LUMO creates a more efficient, predictable development review process for applications that meet Council and community interests. These applications could go through administrative rather than legislative review, resulting in a faster, less complex process.

Learn More and Participate

The draft LUMO is available for review and comment at chapelhillnc.gov/LUMOupdate. On that site there are also two companion documents, a high-level summary of the changes and a reference guide to the draft LUMO.

  • Staff from the Town’s Planning department are hosting drop-in LUMO Open Houses on Monday, August 17 and Thursday, September 10 at the Chapel Hill Public Library from 12 noon – 2 pm and from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. There will be additional opportunities for public participation throughout the summer and early fall.

  • The Planning Commission and Town Council will each hold informal discussions about the draft LUMO before starting their official legislative process. The Planning Commission will discuss the LUMO draft at their meetings on August 18 and September 1. The Town Council will discuss the draft at their work sessions on September 9 and September 16.

  • The Planning Commission is currently scheduled to kick off the formal legislative process with a hearing on October 6. The Town Council will then continue the formal legislative process with public hearings currently scheduled for their October 21 and November 18 regular meetings, with a formal vote possible at the latter meeting.

  • All Planning Commission and Town Council meetings are open to the public. The Planning Commission will welcome public comment at its meetings on August 18 and September 1. Public comment is welcome at all Council regular meetings. Public comment is not taken at Council work sessions, where no legislative action is taken. 

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