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 January 4, 2022. The UDO contains regulations on how to plan-for, use, and build projects in the City. They also apply to the Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) of Burlington. To help you better understand the UDO, staff has prepared a resource guide: Quick Reference for UDO. Further below on this page, you may access the latest amended version of the UDO as well as redline references showing you the UDO's changes over time.

FULL DOCUMENT (36 MB): Design Burlington: Unified Development Ordinance (amended 1.4.22)

UDO Front Cover - 1.4.22 Opens in new window


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 6 times. 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, below are the UDOTA in their redline form for reference. The current UDO, linked above, 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 will be able to refer to the UDOTA redline below to specifically see how the UDO has changed over time.

UDOTA Redline

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