Neighborhood Meeting Information

In order to create more opportunities for community members to participate, and to remove barriers to participation in neighborhood meetings, hybrid “in-person and virtual” or “virtual-only” neighborhood meetings are required to be held prior to application submittal.  

For more information on requirements for neighborhood meetings, please see the Neighborhood Meeting Guidelines document. The guidelines were updated on February 2, 2022. 

Neighborhood Meeting Steps 

All applicants shall hold a neighborhood meeting, per UDO paragraphs 3.2.3 and 3.4.4 prior to submitting an application for the following development proposals: comprehensive plan amendment; development agreement, zoning map change; conservation subdivision, annexation, and other applications as specified in the UDO or as designated by the Planning Director. 

The following steps must be taken to ensure a neighborhood meeting is hosted within ordinance requirements: 

1. Complete the Appropriate Form 

Please download and complete the Neighborhood Meeting Notification Letter Template. This letter template can be used to mail out to community members within 600 feet. This form must be submitted to staff at [email protected] to include in the Planning Weekly Newsletter. 

*Please note that Neighborhood Meetings no longer need to be approved by staff before hosting. Staff will review that all guidelines and requirements of the neighborhood meeting were met in the first round of review.  Any meeting not following these requirements will need to be re-held. If staff notice an issue with the submitted notification template, they will notify the applicant team. Neighborhood meetings still need to be noticed at least 10 days before being held. 

2. Retrieving ​Neighborhood Meeting Addresses


The City of Durham and Durham County currently offers a quick and user-friendly system, via the DurhamMaps online GIS, for applicants to retrieve addresses for required neighborhood meetings. Please follow the steps included in the link below to obtain the required addresses. Address information will be available for download via a comma-separated values(csv) file. 

Go to the Meeting Address Instructions and DurhamMaps to complete the required neighborhood meeting requirements.
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Common Mistakes to Avoid 

The following are common mistakes we see when applicants host a neighborhood meeting: 

  • Closing the meeting early; it must be held open for at least one hour.
  • Forgetting to record the meeting; it must be recorded and submitted with your application.
  • Not answering community member questions; if you don’t know, tell them you will follow-up and include the follow-up in your minutes.
  • Not inviting key community leaders or contacts that are outside the 600 foot requirement.
  • Forgetting to take minutes and submit with your application.
  • Forgetting that all meetings have to have a virtual component (the in-person element is optional).
  • Submitting an application before hosting the neighborhood meeting.