Agenda - 10-03-2000-5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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E As part of the Board's further consideration of this matter, several items should be noted. First, Section IV -B -7 -b of the Subdivision Regulations requires, "Every person, firm or corporation who subdivides land for residential and /or non - residential purposes shall be required to dedicate a portion of the land for purposes of public recreation /open space, including the preservation of natural and cultural resources, to serve the leisure needs of the residents of the immediate neighborhood within which the subdivision is located ". It then further discusses the method for determining the amount and quality of land that must be dedicated. Secondly, the provisions detail that the subdivider may "with the approval of the Board of Commissioners, make a payment in lieu of dedication or make a combination of land dedication and payment in lieu." It continues that `Before approving a payment in lieu of dedication, the Board of Commissioners shall find that no recreation and /or open s ace sites have been designated on the adopted Com rehensive Plan for the property in question." Therefore, the issues before the Board of Commissioners are: 1. Are there.any recreation and /or open space site designations in the county's adopted Comprehensive Plan for the Wilson -Efland subdivision property? 2. If there are such designations, land dedication is the only course of action available and the only pending item before the Board is determining the exact form of land dedication required. Payment in lieu would not be an option under the Subdivision Regulations provisions noted above. 3. If there are not any designations under the adopted Comprehensive Plan, then the Board has the option of a. requiring land dedication, b. accepting payment in lieu, or c. formulating a combination of both. No designations within the adopted Comprehensive Plan allows the Board to consider either of the two courses of action or a combination of both. 4. If the Board does require any dedication, it must determine the form of that dedication. Additional Backaround Information • Recreation Site dedications have been in effect since 1986 pursuant to Section IV -B -7 -b of the Subdivision Regulations. • Dedications of land for recreation or open space are not a new requirement, but have been seldom used in practice over the last 8 years. Payment -in -Lieu has been widely used. • 44 acres, ranging in size from .16 acre to 12.34 acres, have been acquired through subdivision land dedications between 1987 and 1992. • Bradford Ridge Subdivision (approved in Summer 1999) was the first in many. years to make a land dedication because staff is now linking resource corridors (e.g. Cane Creek to Eno River) which are part of the Comprehensive Plan and implementing land dedications, 5 acres in the Bradford Ridge case. • Recreation site dedications are widely used around North Carolina and the rest of the U.S. and have been found to be legal in their usage. Orange County's regulations are stronger in many cases because of the Comprehensive Plan land use support adopted in 1981 • Recreation dedication will be more widely used in the present and future subdivision review because of the heightened identification of resources and park needs and the opportunity to plan for the future. • The applicant disputes parkland dedication and seeks payment in lieu, which would be $422.00 for the Minor Subdivision application for the Wilson Efland Subdivision.