Unified Development Ordinance

On July 16, 2019, the City of Burlington adopted a new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). It came into effect on November 1, 2019 and has been recently amended by City Council on September 19, 2023. The UDO contains land use regulations that help guide development projects of all ranges, from a fence on your property to a mixed use development with residences and shops. 

The UDO also applies to land located within the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) of Burlington. To help you better understand the UDO, staff has prepared a resource guide: Quick Reference for UDO and to help you learn about the UDO's changes over time (scroll further below to see the redline documents).

FULL DOCUMENT (30 MB): Unified Development Ordinance (amended 9.19.23)

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UDO - A Living Document

The UDO is a living document and has been updated since its date-of-effect, November 1, 2019, a total of 12 times (most recently, September 19, 2023). Changes to the UDO are referred to as "Text Amendments", or UDOTA, and are presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission and then to City Council for approval. They are resultant from the Burlington's community feedback, changing legal requirements from the State and Federal Government, and lessons and improvements learned through implementation. 

To highlight these changes over time, refer to the UDOTA redline documents below.  The current UDO has incorporated these changes and are noted through the document in subtext, e.g., "(AMENDED 10.20.20 UDOTA-03-20)". As you read the current UDO, you can refer to the UDTOA redline below to see what the text read before it was amended by City Council.

UDOTA Redline

 NOTE: As a reminder, please always refer to the most current version of Burlington's UDO linked above.