2010-032b Planning - Contract Professional Services Related to Orange County Unified Development Ordinance

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Issues Summary ENHANCE STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION There is significant room for improving the organization and proposed UDO Structure structure of the existing regulations. The development review procedures are not consolidated. Another structural problem is the sequence of information in the current ordinance. There are a few ' Article 1 General Provisions sections that do not fit and appear out of sequence. • Article 2 Administration In addition to structural issues with respect to the procedures and definitions, there are also some organizational problems with the • Article 3 Zoning Districts development standards themselves. These kinds of problems make compliance with and interpretation of the ordinance difficult 0 Article 4 Use Regulations Multiple sets of definitions are another problem. Modern ordinances establish one single set of definitions to help make the document as • Article 5 Development Standards user-friendly as possible. To remedy these concerns, and make the new code more customer- • Article 6 Subdivision Standards friendly, we recommend the UDO be re-organized to create a comprehensible and logical hierarchy of regulations, based on . Article 7 Nonconformities procedural and substantive relationships. All procedures should be consolidated into one article; furthermore, not only should the • Article 8 Enforcement procedures be consolidated, but provisions common to all procedures should be included in a common procedures section in the article. Zoning district use regulations should be modernized • Article 9 Definitions and consolidated into a single article. Development standards should be consolidated and their applicability to different types of development clarified. We also suggest relocating and consolidating the definitions into one article located at the back of the UDO, since it typically serves as a supplementary reference tool rather than as a primary source of regulatory information. In addition to these changes, the new UDO will include either new standards (prepared by others), or cross references to other development-related regulations such as stormwater management, floodplain, and erosion control that are located in the Town's Code of Ordinances. IMPROVE FORMAT AND ILLUSTRATIONS Over the years, experience has taught that the way a development code "looks," or is formatted, affects its 'customer- Dynamic Header friendliness." There are a number of formatting and related suggestions that can be applied to the town's new UDO that will ProminentT'itios ' ;,`' "` also improve its "customer-friendliness." Recommendations are detailed below. Nested Text ~ Establish a Hierarchy of Sections and Articles Illustrations with captions ` ; To better organize the procedural and substantive issues n= ,� addressed in the new UDO, we recommend using a hierarchy of Balance Between Text •`. ° articles and sections, as well as a hierarchy of section headings and white space and font types and sizes to illustrate the relationship of the procedural and substantive provisions. As discussed above and Pogo Numbers ;m- „,- �y • outlined in detail below, we recommend that the UDO be divided into 9 articles. In addition, we recommend separate Document Title, _ section and subsection headings be used to provide "guideposts" Adoption Date °° "° that distinguish provisions by topic and purpose. ::. _.. _ Improve Referencing System The existing ordinance also has room for improvement in its referencing system. Cross references are not widely used in the existing ordinance, and the table of contents, while moderately detailed and clear, could also be enhanced and streamlined. Hillsborough,North Carolina Page 4 Unified Development Ordinance I Draft Annotated Outline November,2009