ORD-2008-108- Zoning Atlas Amendment (Rezoning) Intersection of NC 54 & White Cross Road (Davis)

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Jeffrey Schmitt asked if there was any practical reason that this request would be denied by staff other than the technical implications. Michael Harvey said no and that staff understands the rationale and the need, but they are bound by the limitations of the ordinance as currently prescribed. PUBLIC COMMENT: Steve Yuhasz is the attorney for the applicant. He gave a history of the property. He said that when this property was first zoned in 1981, the property had a commercial building and was determined by Planning staff to be zoned as a commercial building. The adjoining property was in a different ownership at the time, so there was no opportunity to create a larger parcel to hold the commercial use. Mr. Davis acquired the commercial piece of property and in 1995, the septic system was installed to provide for the commercial use. At this time, there was no triggering mechanism whereby Planning would know that the septic system had been installed. Recently, the DOT has made some improvements to the NC 54/White Cross intersection, and there is not a well - defined driveway into the commercial property. This is because the entire frontage along the property is used as the driveway onto the property. Since the improvements, cars are venturing more into Mr. Davis' parking area and it is becoming more difficult for cars that park there. Mr. Davis wants to make improvements to the property that would make it a safer parking area and also to incorporate the septic system onto the lot. Steve Yuhasz said that the staff agrees on the practical points, but the only problem is the ordinance. The ordinance says that normally, the maximum amount of NC -2 in a node is nine acres. This is nowhere near nine acres, so it should be a normal situation unless the exception applies, which says, "a maximum of five acres shall apply where population density is lower and distributed more widely than in the transition area." He said that he does not see any evidence that staff has done anything to study the relative densities as of today. He thinks that the zoning request should be approved and that the staffs objections are not well- founded. Commissioner Gordon said that the explanation that Michael Harvey gave had to do with policy, and he also discussed the transition areas. Brian Ferrell said that he would let Michael Harvey speak to the transition definition, but the point about whether or not there is a commercial use being made of a residentially zoned piece of property is one of the reasons that staff is saying that there is a sticking point. Michael Harvey said that the ordinance stipulates that normally the maximum of land zoned NC -2 at any node shall not exceed nine acres. It further says that a maximum of five -acres shall apply where population density is lower and distributed more widely than in transition areas. The staff interprets this to say that, within the node itself, if population density happens to be lower and is distributed more widely than what is in the transition areas in common, then the five -acre limit applies. Commissioner Gordon asked for numbers and Michael Harvey said that the population is about 22- 30,000 and the density is one to two acres within the various transition areas. In Bingham Township, there are 6,211 individuals from the last census. It is the staffs professional opinion, that given the population of Bingham Township and within the node itself, that it does not meet the criteria for being more dense than the transition zones that are close to the density and should not be able to take advantage of the nine acres. He agrees that the staff and applicant are disagreeing on a technical definition. Commissioner Gordon suggested that when that was done a number of years ago that it was very hard to site the nodes.