Agenda - 09-17-1996 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 The draft plan for the Horace Williams property includes a development with a mix of land uses, including housing,office, commercial, academic,research, health care,public assembly, utilitarian, and active and passive recreation areas. A transportation corridor is proposed to be located through the center of the property,which could offer an opportunity for a future fixed-guideway transit facility, bicycle,and pedestrian facilities. The corridor is proposed to include two transit nodes surrounded by mixed use development districts, where land use intensity is concentrated; these areas are called University Villages. Concurrent with the University's planning process,the Chapel Hill Town Council directed the Planning Board to draft language for a new zoning district to be applied to large undeveloped tracts of land. The Council hired a consultant, Dwight Merriam of the law firm of Robinson& Cole,to assist in drafting a new zoning district applicable to large tracts like Horace Williams and Mason Farm. A collaborative process for further discussion and refinement of the zoning proposal has been established with a tentative deadline of March 15, 1997. Of significance to Orange County is the fact that 34%of the 973 acre Horace Williams tract extends into the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Joint Planning Transition Areas; and all of the 57 acre Horace Williams home site lies in the Carrboro Transition Area. These properties are classified as Future UNC Development and Public/Private Open Space respectively in the Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan. Low-density residential zoning has been applied by the towns in these areas as per the terms of the Joint Planning Agreement. Any rezoning of UNC land in the transition areas would require approval by Orange County and the towns for their respective areas. The town planning committees appointed by Chapel Hill and Carrboro reviewed the draft plan and their comments are included as attachments. The University's consultants are tentatively scheduled to return with the final land use plans for Horace Williams and Mason Farm in November, 1996. At that time,the University Board of Trustees may adopt master land use plans for both tracts. The County may want to consider: • preparing comments on the draft plan for the consultants to consider in the preparation of the final recommended plan; and • requesting involvement in Chapel Hill's collaborative process to prepare a new zoning district since it might ultimately be applied in an area where the County shares joint approval authority. RECOMMENDATION: As the Board decides.