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ORANGE COUNTY <br />PLANNING BOARD ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE <br />AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: April 4, 2018 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 7 <br /> <br />SUBJECT: Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) and Zoning Atlas Amendments – <br />Modification of Neighborhood Information Meeting (NIM) Requirements <br /> <br />DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections <br /> <br /> <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />1. Comprehensive Plan and Unified <br />Development Ordinance (UDO) <br />Amendment Outline Form 2018-03 <br />2. Draft UDO Text Amendments <br />Michael D. Harvey, Planner III (919) 245-2597 <br />Craig Benedict, Director (919) 245-2575 <br /> <br />PURPOSE: To review and comment upon government-initiated Unified Development Ordinance <br />(UDO) text amendments updating existing requirements for the holding of Neighborhood <br />Information Meetings (NIM). <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: NIMs are typically required for several types of projects (i.e. special use <br />permits, conditional use districts/conditional zoning applications, major subdivision concept plan, <br />government land uses, etc.) and are held before formal review of an application commences <br />(i.e. staff, Planning Board, or BOCC). The goal of the NIM is twofold: <br />a. Allow interested parties to review/ask the applicant questions about the project, and <br />b. Allow staff to explain the review process for a given application. <br />For more information on NIMs, including a synopsis of existing meeting requirements, please <br />refer to Attachment 1. <br /> <br />Staff has heard from members of the public, the Planning Board, and elected officials that NIMs <br />appear to be occurring too close to the Planning Board meeting to be of any real benefit. <br />Further, there is apparent confusion as to when NIMs are required to occur. <br /> <br />The proposed amendment(s) seek to establish, to the greatest extent possible, uniformity with <br />respect to the scheduling of NIMs for projects reviewed by the BOCC where a recommendation <br />is made by the Planning Board. <br /> <br />Staff believes these amendments will address the concerns with the turnaround time between <br />NIMs and Planning Board meetings, establish desired uniformity within the UDO where <br />possible, and still allow for adequate time for local residents to become informed of projects and <br />required review processes. <br /> <br /> 54