ORD-2013-007 Ordinance Denying Amendment to OC Comp. Plan, UDO and Zoning Atlas

Browse Search

Commissioner Rich said she is a big fan of connectivity and wondered if there is a way to make sure that there is connectivity. She questioned if the area is being looked at as a whole or each parcel individually. She said she believes it should be a goal to have parcels connected. Perdita Holtz said staff is a proponent of connectivity, but their hands are tied by the state. She said that the NCDOT has not been receptive to allowing sidewalks in the right-of- way or of taking on any maintenance responsibility. She said things are done on a site by site basis and there are requirements for open space connectivity. Commissioner Rich said this is a concern and as overlay districts happen throughout the County, the developments should not isolated. She said that the full picture is not being considered if connectivity is not allowed. Commissioner Price said the Board is getting caught up with the word sidewalk when it could be called a walk way and should just be about getting to point A and point B without being in the middle of the street. She said that NCDOT should allow use of right-of-ways for bicycles. Perdita Holtz said the staffs recommendation is to continue to bring this issue to the forefront at the state level. Frank Clifton said as staff looked at this, the reality of this village concept in a rural area is that they don't have a connectivity plan. The hesitancy of DOT to accept more responsibility for these right-of-ways and with the Board of County Commissioners not wanting to be involved in the maintaining of those right-of-ways, creates the awkward position of asking property owners to put the walkway in and accept the maintenance and liability. He said there is need for more study and a decision about how far the County wants to get into the urbanization business. He said that the state is expanding ability but not revenue sources for this. He said that if the desire is to encourage development then before rules burdening property owners are established, the issues need to be studied further. Commissioner Gordon said she supported connectivity, but wondered if there is a collector street plan for this area, because they are trying to make this more urban but they have no mechanism for connectivity. She said the whole point was to allow more non- residential development but there needs to be a path to that. She said that collector street plans are more in the paradigm and at least have the developer build the street. Perdita Holtz said they could look at this issue. She noted that in Efland, many of the lots go to the center line of the roads and DOT maintains them but does not own any right of ways. She said that the suggestion is to adopt the overlay districts at this time and put some design standards in place before any more large scale development takes place, while continuing to work on the topic of sidewalks. Commissioner Dorosin clarified that what the staff recommends is approval of the internal walkway plan for the five acre interstate district with no walkway plan for the village district. Perdita Holtz said that for the Village District there would be an internal pedestrian system required for projects on 2 acres or greater than 15,000 square feet of building area. She said that there is leeway in this during the site plan process. Commissioner Dorosin questioned how the Planning Board's recommendation differs. Perdita Holtz said that the Planning Board recommends a privately owned and maintained walkway system throughout the area, on private property. Commissioner Dorosin questions how this differs from the requirement for 2 acres or more. Perdita Holtz said the 2 acre requirement is only for internal use, larger businesses would only have walkways between buildings; however the Planning Board's recommended walkways would be a private sidewalk system that anyone could use.