Agenda - 08-24-2009 - E1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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DRAFT 29 Attachment 6 involvement. I think we should have a reasonable amount of success for partial rehiring. In times where there is a lull in development activity, that's the time to plan for the next onslaught of activity that will usually come after and already in the building department we are starting to see return of activity from levels of 10 permits a month for single family to 24 per month. It is two and a half times what it was a few months ago so we are starting to see some activity and there is some important planning that we need to implement. That's why I think we need to keep our nose on these SAPs and UDO development in the short term so when the development activity return does happen this management will be in place. Tom Altieri: Our objective is to give you a preview of these three processes that will be discussed on August 24. It is complex and we wanted an opportunity to get it in front of you to present the material, why it's been formatted this way, and to begin answering questions you may have. These three processes are based on the assumption that we will replace the staff we are losing. In the event that does not happen we will have to adjust the proposal. This is really in three parts. In the introduction, we are trying to make the point that implementation of the Comprehensive Plan is not going to occur overnight. There are 38 goals and 263 objectives in the plan and implementation, in many cases, will be ongoing. We have tried to give a snapshot of the various planning projects coming forward and how they fit together which is provided on Attachment 2. The first four items are these processes that we need feedback on from this Board and the Board of County Commissioners to preceed. We have also completed a strategic growth plan for Orange County with the Town of Hillsborough and are in the process now of trying to establish a joint planning agreement. We are also going to be doing a joint land use plan as a result of that agreement and subsequent zoning and land use plan amendments. That is a major project. We have the UDO, that's been discussed, and the implementation of the Small Area Plans. Finally, concluding the abstract with some more specifics about how we could begin implementation of these Small Area Plans, how we can complete a Unified Development Ordinance, and a process for implementing the plan over time, reviewing objectives, monitoring and evaluations. Earl McKee: On the UDO, how far along are you on that? If something has to not to be done, would it be better not to do this and continue with some other work that is further down the line? Tom Altieri: There are components of the Unified Development Ordinance that have been studied over time. For example, staff has been asked to work on Landscaping Standards. While we were working on the Comprehensive Plan, about a seven year process, we held off on a lot of amendments to finish that Comprehensive Plan. For quite sometime, we have not been tweaking regularly. Rather than making large scale changes to regulations as part of the Unified Development Ordinances, we have decided to take what we have now and packaging this into the new format, eliminating inconsistencies, minor improvements, maybe new regulations. That would provide us with a starting point or a more workable document. We will move onto Small Area Plans on page 35. We have reviewed these recommendations and shaded some items in gray. Those are the areas we think we should focus our attention first over the next the course of the next 12 to 18 months. Then establishing a process by which this Board can come back to review this table periodically and reprioritizing for the next year. Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: The Board of County Commissioners will look at this and will they agree with your sense of the priorities? Tom Altieri: I do not know. In the case of the first column, the Efland Mebane Small Area Plan, there was an implementation focus group that met on a number of occasions to review those recommendations after the plan had been adopted and prioritized. What you have here is consistent with what that focus group has put together. I would think the Board of County Commissioners would take that into consideration. Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: When you put this together was it with the idea that you would be down 3.5 FTE? Tom Altieri: It is not. Brian Crawford: This is good. Is this particular piece going to be made available to the public? Tom Altieri: Sure. There may be a way we can post things to our website. You can see how this could be used as a tool as we continue implementing these Small Area Plans. We have similar idea for tracking this ongoing Comprehensive Plan Implementation where we have an 11x17 matrix with all the objectives in the Comprehensive Plan to track the progress. Brian Crawford: This is so the people who have worked so hard on this plan can see their progress. Michael Harvey: My purpose for being here this evening is to review the draft work plan for the development of a Unified Development Ordinance for the County. I will call your attention to Attachment 4, which begins on page 43 and ends on page 52 of the abstract for the specifics of the draft plan. Let's begin by expanding on some questions that were raised earlier about why we are doing this. The development of a Unified Development Ordinance is not just a priority to the Board of County Commissioners but also to staff. Over the last several years, we have identified several major inconsistencies within Subdivision