Environmentally Sensitive Areas

This guide introduces conservation subdivisions as an approach that can help protect North Carolina from loss of farmland and wildlife. It provides information on counties with conservation subdivision ordinances, perceived barrier in implementation and ways of overcoming them, management of open space, and case studies from around the state. It includes a model ordinance that contains the following provision sections: open space standards, design standards, evaluation criteria, water supply and sewage disposal facilities, density bonuses, procedures for application and approval, and specifications for concept plans.