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12 <br /> PROPOSED ORDINANCE AMENDMENT <br /> ORDINANCE: ZONING ORDINANCE <br /> REFERENCE: ARTICLE 6.23 Watershed Protection Overlay Districts <br /> (stream and reservoir buffers) <br /> ORIGIN OF AMENDMENT: X_ Staff Planning Board <br /> BOCC Public <br /> Other: <br /> STAFF PRIORITY RECOMMENDATION: <br /> High <br /> Low <br /> Comment: Middle <br /> PUBLIC HEARING DATE: November 30, 1994 <br /> PURPOSE OF AMENDMENT: <br /> To consider a proposed amendment which would allow for the reduction of <br /> setbacks adjacent to streams and reservoirs to the extent necessary to <br /> allow development of an existing lot of record. <br /> IMPACTS/ISSUES: <br /> Attached is a report concerning stream buffer provisions of the Zoning <br /> Ordinance, as applied to existing lots of record. There have been a <br /> number of complaints concerning the impact of stream and reservoir buffer <br /> requirements. In some cases, the required buffers may render an existing <br /> lot unbuildable without a variance, since the width of the buffer was not <br /> taken into account when the lot was created. This issue creates a <br /> particular problem for the existing lots surrounding Lake Orange. <br /> On September .6, 1994, the Planning Staff presented to the Board of <br /> Commissioners a proposed strategy to address situations which now require <br /> a variance of stream or reservoir buffer requirements. The Board of <br /> Commissioners referred the proposed strategy to the Planning Board and <br /> Ordinance Review Committee for development of an ordinance amendment for <br /> the November 28, 1994 public hearing. The proposed strategy included in <br /> the attached report would allow the Planning Staff, in consultation with <br /> Environmental Health and/or the County Engineer, to issue a zoning <br /> compliance permit for development which does not meet the minimum buffer <br /> requirements, when specified findings could be documented. In all other <br /> cases, a variance request would be presented to the Board of Adjustment <br /> according to current procedures. It was also recommended that wells be <br /> permitted in stream buffers and that consideration be given to providing <br /> greater flexibility in setback requirements in cases where use of a septic <br /> pump could be avoided. <br /> Planning Staff and the County Attorney met with a group of Lake Orange <br /> property owners on September 9 to discuss thd' proposed strategy. Two <br /> major concerns which were expressed involved the classification of <br /> existing structures as non-conforming, and the inability to locate a <br /> structure in close proximity to the lake, particularly when adjacent <br /> 3 <br />