A Practical Primer On Zoning Law

When the North Carolina Court of Appeals decides not to publish an opinion, the opinion is not controlling precedent and citations to it in briefs, and arguments are disfavored. Nevertheless, unpublished opinions can be quite instructive.

The North Carolina Court of Appeals' unpublished opinion in the case of Whitehurst v. Sipes, __ N.C. App. ___, ___ S.E. 2d ____(2016 WL 4009638)(Unpublished)(February 2, 2016) is a good example of an instructive opinion. In Whitehurst, the Court of Appeals confronted an "incomplete" trial court order. But, through diligent examination of the local zoning ordinance and record of the quasi-judicial zoning proceeding, the Court was able to resolve the issues presented on appeal. In other words, Whitehurst is an example of the North Carolina Court of Appeals, independently searching a local zoning ordinance and quasi-judicial proceeding record for answers.