Agenda 09-04-2025; 5-a - Zoning Atlas Amendment – 4809 Friends School Road, Durham, Chapel Hill Township

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116 those future applications shall be required to meet applicable standards at the time of application except as modified herein or by proper Project Entitlement and/or Permitting Processes. b. Pursuant to Sections 1.1.5 Statement of Intent -Amendments, and 1.1.7 Conformance with Adopted Plans of the UDO and to Section 160D-605(a) Governing Board Statement — Plan Consistency of the North Carolina General Statutes, the Board finds sufficient documentation within the record denoting that the amendment is inconsistent with the adopted 2030 Comprehensive Plan and the Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning Land Use Plan and Agreement, as detailed below. The application is not reasonable, nor in the public interest, due to the proposed institutional use in the Rural Buffer, which is not supported by either adopted plan; and for the potential impacts it may have upon neighboring properties from the recreational activities and school facilities, as identified in the unreasonable conditions #1 and 5. The Carolina Friends School is located within the "Rural Buffer" land use class identified within the County's Joint Planning Agreement with the Towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill. That agreement identifies eight categories of land use that are permissible in the Rural Buffer: Resource Protection Areas, Public-Private Open Space Areas, Agricultural Areas, Rural Residential Areas, Retail Trade Areas, Extractive Uses, and the University Lake Watershed overlay. None of these categories, as described within the adopted JPA, provide for an institutional use such as a Preparatory School within the Rural Buffer. Furthermore, the Orange County UDO does not provide for the Preparatory School use, either by-right or as a special use, in the Rural Buffer zoning district. A school could possibly be characterized as a "Governmental Use," which is permitted in the Rural Buffer zoning district, except that this school is privately owned and operated. Rather, it is reserved for the conditional zoning districts, where it must provide conditions that show it being compatible with the "Rural Buffer" future land use classification description provided in the adopted 2030 Comprehensive Land Use Plan: "Land adjacent to an urban or transition area which is rural in character and which should remain rural, contain very low- density residential uses, and not require urban services during the plan period." Further campus expansion will deliver more automobile traffic to the properties, disrupting the rural character and habitat of the area, including the "Resource Protection Area" of the Duke Forest-owned properties in the local area. The conditions proposed provide both assurance on the limitations of this disruption but also clarity that this campus is to be a destination for privileged members of the public ("limited community use") to use its facilities for athletics and recreation. The flexibility permitted by the proposed conditions do not provide assurance that the campus expansion will not be disruptive to the neighbors, particularly in the placement of facilities such as athletic fields, auditoriums, and/or parking. The neighboring properties can anticipate more regular events to be scheduled at the expanded campus and a change in local character as a result. The Carolina Friends School campus has close proximity to the Durham utilities available on Erwin Road, and a change in character of the area and more regular use of recreational lands in the area could change the intensity of land use in this area; the City of Durham is not a party to the JPA. While this use application can be