Orange County NC Website
El <br />The applicant has requested that the site be rezoned from Residential- I (R- 1) to the Residential - <br />Special Standards- Conditional (R -SS -C) zoning district. The applicant is requesting the rezoning <br />so that an affordable triplex may be built on the lot that is currently zoned R -SS -C. The <br />"conditional" designation means that, if the rezoning is approved, no development may occur on <br />the property unless the Chapel Hill Town Council approves a Special Use Permit, The Town <br />approved a Special Use Permit in November 2003 for the Rusch Hollow development which <br />must be amended in a separate process to include the 10,431 square feet being rezoned. If a <br />Special Use Permit issued for a Conditional Use District is abandoned, revoked, or becomes <br />void, the conditional use zoning also becomes void and the property reverts to its previous <br />zoning classification. <br />Summary of the Chapel Hill and Joint Planning Area Land Use Plans <br />A Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan was adopted in 1986. Chapel Hill has since adopted a new <br />Land Use Plan in May 2000 which Orange County adopted as an amendment to the 1986 Joint <br />Planning Area Land Use Plan effective October 1, 2003.. <br />The application site is located adjacent to and south of Lot 3 in the Rusch Hollow development. <br />The Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan as amended in this location is designated as "Low <br />Residential ", 1 -4 units per acre. <br />The accompanying Special Use Permit application shows a site layout for a triplex. Although the <br />proposed rezoning allows density greater than the density envisioned by The Joint Planning Area <br />Land Use Plan, the overall density of the Rusch Hollow development will not be greater than the <br />17 units approved by the County Commission and the Town Council in 2003 <br />Zoning Atlas Amendments <br />Zoning determines the type and intensity of uses and development that are allowed on a piece of <br />land. A Zoning Atlas Amendment involves a change to the current zoning, and thus the permitted <br />types and intensity of land uses. In accordance with the Town of' Chapel Hill's Land Use <br />Management Ordinance, a rezoning may be requested in two ways: general use and conditional <br />use rezoning requests. <br />A general use rezoning request is a proposal to change the zoning to a different zoning district in <br />which any of'several kinds of developments and uses are permissible. A conditional use rezoning <br />request is a proposal to allow development and uses only with (1) specific limitations, and (2) the <br />approval of a Special Use Permit. The Rusch Hollow rezoning application is a conditional use <br />rezoning request. Consequently, if the Rusch Hollow conditional use rezoning request were to be <br />approved, the applicant would still need to receive approval for a Special Use Permit application <br />from the Town of Chapel Hill, prior to the proposed development actually occurring on the site. <br />The zoning designation of a property determines the range of land uses and development <br />intensities permitted on the property. Article 4.4 of' the Town of Chapel Hill's Land Use <br />Management Ordinance establishes the intent of Zoning Atlas Amendments by stating that, "In <br />order to establish and maintain sound, stable, and desirable development within the planning <br />