Agenda - 06-05-2012 - 6b - Laserfiche WebLink

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• A Board member posed the following questions related to landscape management: 2 o In those cases where there appears to be concrete located within the proposed land use buffer for motorized racetracks what would happen to that existing land use? o How would you achieve a buffer where concrete appears to be located? Concern was expressed that wording within the proposed text amendment did not appear to be forceful enough to deal with close -by residences and long -term management of the vegetative canopy. Staff Comment. Where existing activities and structures would violate the proposed 50- foot buffer along public road rights -of -way (Section 5.7.5 (C) of proposed text in Attachment 2), the applicant/developer will be required to remove or re- locate such buildings or activities or create an enhanced vegetated buffer. The landscaped buffer is intended to abate noise, provide a visual buffer, formalize entryways and on -site circulation, and naturalize the perimeter of the more intensive use areas. There are numerous ways to attain the purposes of the 50 -foot buffer. In an effort to address the concern, staff added the following text to Section 5.7.5 (D): The entire forest canopy shall be actively maintained and managed at all height levels as a semi - opaque, intermittent visual buffer. Land use buffers may be modified to improve their appearance, functions and overall condition. Permitted modifications may include reforestation, woodland management, landscape enhancement, or stream buffer protection. • A Board member asked to what extent did the Small Area Plan participants define what type of uses they wanted in their neighborhood and why was this seemingly such a big issue if they had been through a small area plan. Staff Comment. The neighbors were more concerned about the negative impacts they were experiencing with the quarry and the speedway than general land uses. The more prevalent negative impacts were traffic from the racetrack, noise from the quarry and racetrack, trash from the racetrack and odor from the now defunct asphalt batch plant on the quarry property. Specific development standards contained within the proposed REDA -CZ -1 zoning district are an attempt to address these concerns. During a meeting with former members of the Small Area Plan Workgroup on November 3, 2011, the specific development standards were discussed and the group was comfortable with the wording. (Please refer to Attachments 1 and 2.) • A Board member expressed concern if local residents would be happy with the level of light, noise and traffic resulting from additional non - residential development within the area. Staff Comment. The neighbors would appreciate an attempt to abate the racetrack noise and night lighting glare. The main point that resonates throughout all of these Planning Board discussions is that the proposed district attempts to provide a public process to either bring existing, legal, non - conforming activities into compliance or, in the alternative, provide a template for new non - residential activities to establish themselves without disrupting the fabric of the rural community.