Orange County NC Website
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015 Laserfiche. All rights reserved.
d. Tuscany Ridge Subdivision —Preliminary Plan <br /> The Board considered a preliminary plan for the proposed Tuscany Ridge subdivision. <br /> Planner Robert Davis said that this property is located north of Arthur Minnis Road. The majority of the <br /> subdivision is in Chapel Hill Township. It is located entirely within the rural buffer, which has a minimum lot size of <br /> two acres. There are large undeveloped tracts to the east and to the west. The developer's proposal provides for <br /> some interconnectivity with the undeveloped tracts. If the undeveloped area is developed they will be able to use <br /> the trails within the subdivision. The property is not within a designated State watershed. The lot pattern in this <br /> general area is five acres and above. There is a condition that should this road still be unpaved at the time of the <br /> final plat, the developer would be required to bring the road up to State paved standards. The DOT is scheduled to <br /> pave the road within the next two months. Because this is in the rural buffer, the ordinance does not have an open <br /> space requirement. There would be six acres of common open space owned by the homeowners association. The <br /> developer would also pull the roadside buffers out and place an easement over them. The homeowners <br /> association would also maintain all of the roadside buffers and the trail system. Individual wells and septic systems <br /> would service the subdivision. All of the lots have been perked for a 600-gallon capacity with the exception of lot <br /> #10. Lot#10 is for three bedrooms at this time. The subdivision is in the Chapel Hill District Park recreation area. <br /> There are no designated areas that the County would be interested in as far as dedication, so a payment-in-lieu <br /> would be appropriate. Regarding the fiscal impact analysis, none of the lots would be an economic drain on the <br /> County or the school system. The administration recommends approval of this subdivision. The Planning Board <br /> also recommends approval with two additional conditions: 1) To place two signs at the end of each road to let the <br /> neighbors know that the road is subject to future extension, and 2) To require a lighting plan to be submitted at the <br /> final plat application for staff review for determining the intensity of the lights. After a brief discussion, this second <br /> condition was reworded to require this prior to the installation of any lights. <br /> Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the homes in the subdivision which would pay for services which <br /> will be necessary and if this was because the homes are scheduled to sell for$500,000 and Robert Davis said yes. <br /> Chair Jacobs asked about the 13.83-acre lot and if this was landlocked. Robert Davis said that this is <br /> a piece that was taken out of the original tract that was for sale. The present developer owns this and at one time <br /> he indicated that was where he wanted to live. He still owns this property. It does have access to Tuscany Drive. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the <br /> resolution of approval for the Preliminary Plan for Tuscany Ridge Subdivision, which is incorporated herein by <br /> reference. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> Chair Jacobs pointed out that the way in which this two acre minimum works is not conducive to <br /> promoting open space design. <br /> Commissioner Brown asked the developer why he did not wish to do an open space development and <br /> make it more in character with the rural area. <br /> The developer said that this is his first project. He said that they tried to put together an amenity <br /> package with a mile-long trail with open space located centrally and in the most valuable area in the subdivision <br /> instead of taking a larger amount of space that might be less desirable. He said that he was not very familiar with <br /> the proposal standards, but there have been discussions of submitting multiple plans with various ideas. He said <br /> that they spent a lot of design time trying to come up with something that would be balanced and would allow them <br /> to do the trail system. <br /> e. Legal Advertisement for August 26, 2002 Quarterly Public Hearing <br /> The Board considered authorizing the submission of the Quarterly Public Hearing legal advertisement <br /> for the August 26, 2002 public hearing. <br /> Planning Director Craig Benedict summarized the information in the agenda. He said that there will be <br /> two items—one dealing with the telecommunications ordinance and the other one dealing with some of the <br /> changes in the Carrboro land use ordinance which have been approved by the Carrboro Board of Aldermen that <br /> may be subject to the joint planning agreement. The full text of these items will be available on August 1 sr. <br /> Commissioner Gordon asked if the public hearing on the amendments was a Joint Planning Area <br /> public hearing and Craig Benedict said that it would not be a joint meeting. However, Carrboro would be invited to <br /> attend. <br /> Commissioner Gordon made reference to the Carrboro Land Use Ordinance and suggested that some <br /> language be added to the advertisement to make it much more specific. She feels a little uncomfortable about this <br /> because it is so clearly joint planning. <br /> Geoffrey Gledhill said that Carrboro has already adopted the ordinance amendments and this is a <br /> public hearing to get comment after the fact to provide some kind of conversation with Carrboro about those <br /> amendments. <br /> Commissioner Gordon suggested having some sort of heading so that the Carrboro item could at least <br /> be noticed. She suggested mentioning in the advertisement that these are the amendments passed by Carrboro <br /> (and give the date) and the opportunity is being afforded by Orange County for citizens to comment. <br />