Minutes 02-28-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chapel Hill citizens expressed considerable concern about the areas chosen for these conditional use districts and the possibility that a conditional use district could be approved near them. Further, citizens said that the Chapel Hill community had not yet decided within a comprehensive planning process where such 175% density increases belonged, or if the infrastructure needed to support such densities was available in the selected zones. The Council agreed with citizen concerns. On November 24, 2008, the Council voted to amend the Conditional Use District to permit added flexibility and densities, but voted to apply it only to the Downtown District. Mayor Foy made the point that was the one area where the community agreed densities belonged. The videotape is available here: http://chapelhill.qranicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view id=7&clip id=376 We believe three lessons can be learned from Chapel Hill's experience: Communities need to agree on where density belongs before new zones and districts are approved. Residential and Commercial uses don't have to be combined in one zone. Citizens and developers want predictability in how their community grows. Thank you for your consideration of these points. --Julie Julie McClintock for Neighbors for Responsible Growth Speaker 5: Carrboro Experience with Conditional Districts (Amy Jeroloman) I'm Amy Jeroloman, I live in Orange County off old 86 in Carrboro's North Study Area (NSA). As you may know, in 1990's Carrboro introduced conditional floating zones within the NSA plan but these zones never landed. Carrboro's floating zoning was "Village Mixed Use" —which is narrower than the conditional districts that the county is considering. "Village Mixed Use" allows residential and neighborhood commercial such as a local community grocer (not a chain) or day care or other business that serves the community. No destination retail, no industrial, no intense commercial. Despite this definition, landowners and developers were reluctant to apply for a floating zone since the requirements were vague and difficult to comply with. As a result, developers continued to build residential and avoid the risk of building commercial or mixed use. In 2007, Carrboro established a Citizens Advisory Board to review the implementation of the area plan NSAPIRC (Northern Study Area Implementation Review Committee) of which I was a member. To give the board time to do their work, Carrboro placed a moratorium on applications for new development. The Committee was a combination of town residents and NSA homeowners. It was charged with reviewing modifications to land use ordinance and zoning map in order to help achieve the NSA plan's goals and objectives. One of the outcomes of the Committee's work was to do away with the floating zones and specifically identify where a village with commercial component would be acceptable. This redefined acreage thresholds and other aspects of VMU (Village Mixed Use). One of the committee recommendations was to have public workshops in order to incorporate more NSA residents within the review process. To date Carrboro has conducted three workshops on this subject. Two were in 2007 and the most recent this past Saturday.