This zoning map of northern New Hanover County shows the diversity of uses. A North Carolina law has spurned house-keeping changes to local zoning ordinances that should help modernize the processes. (Port City Daily/New Hanover County) Lawmakers have majorly spruced up North Carolina zoning law for the first time in decades. The movement, designed to sharpen and streamline land-use regulations for cities and counties, is the product of years of N.C. General Assembly back-and-forth. Chapter 160D — the piece of consensus, house-keeping legislation — passed in 2019. The pandemic delayed its implementation, but cities and counties statewide are currently working to amend their ordinances to fit in line with the language by a July 2021 deadline.