Agenda - 10-12-1999 - 2 - Laserfiche WebLink

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OVAI IAG2.2 pliarry them through the public hearing/approval process. For Ten and Twenty Year Transition (residential) Areas this has created some problems. For example, the underlying assumption on transition is that it is suitable for densities of two to 13 residential units per acre, but no up -front analysis (in the plan) has been done to determine what density would be most acceptable/desirable/supportable for a given area. A recent example of this is the Lawrence Park planned development located east of Lawrence Road between US 70 Business and I -85. The. area is designated Twenty Year Transition, but the proposed density of three units per acre was strongly opposed by most residents in the area as too dense." Had there been a tighter range of densities specified for this area when -the plan was prepared, residents and the developer both would have had fewer "surprises." Designation of transition area densities is not a new concept, and was done to a limited ' degree in the Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan prepared in 1986. Three levels of transition. were delineated: Carrboro Transition Area I , Suburban Residential/Carrboro Transition Area I, and Urban Residential. Respective densities for the three transition categories are one or fewer units per acre, one to five units per acre, and six to 13 units per acre. In that Chapel Hill and Carrboro zoning was applied to these areas after plan adoption, a person unfamiliar with the early stages of the plan might not realize that the concept of transition area densities was dealt with many years ago. A similar issue is zoning for commercial and manufacturing uses. The adopted plan designates certain activity nodes for commercial and industrial purposes.. Once again, however, the base zoning in most of these areas is low density residential meaning that a person desiring a commercial or industrial zone must go through the rezoning process — a process that can take from five to six months under average circumstances. The uncertainty and time - consuming nature of the rezoning process prompted the Planning Board and Economic Development Commission (EDC) to undertake the designation of Economic Development Districts (EDD's) in the early 1990s. The basic premise behind EDDs was that areas suitable for a range of economic development uses would be identified in the plan; a stringent set of design standards relative to the districts would be developed; and the areas would be rezoned to EDD. Afterward, an applicant desiring to undertake a permitted use in an EDD would have only to submit and gain approval of a site plan from planning staff and not have to go through the traditional - rezoning process. Three EDD's were adopted in 1994 (I- 85/Buckhom Road, I40 /01d NC 86, and I -85/US 70), but to date only one use has located in an EDD (the State Employees' Credit Union) and it had to go through the traditional public hearing process because of setback/buffer issues. Twentieth Century Land Use Plannin The article by Kaiser and Godschalk tracks land use planning thought and practice through the Twentieth Century, most notably the second half of the century. Using the "1950s General Plan" as the baseline, they identify four.distinct plan types (land use design, land classification plan, verbal policy plan, and development management plan) that emerged over the ensuing decades and their evolution into the "1990s Hybrid Design-Policy-Management Plan." Please pay special attention to item A (The h: \complan\20thcent.doc \7- 6 -99 \gb 2