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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCPB minutes 020718Approved 3/7/18 Minutes1 Orange County Planning Board2 February 7, 20183 Regular Meeting4 5 6 MEMBERS PRESENT:Lydia Wegman (Chair), At-Large Chapel Hill Township Representative; Patricia Roberts, Cheeks 7 Township Representative; Paul Guthrie, At-Large Chapel Hill Township; KimPiracci, At-Large; Township; Alexander 8 Gregory, Chapel Hill Township Representative; David Blankfard, Hillsborough Township Representative; Randy 9 Marshall, At-Large; Adam Beeman, Cedar Grove Township; Hunter Spitzer, At-Large;Buddy Hartley, Little River 10 Township Representative;Laura Nicholson, Eno Township Representative;11 12 MEMBERS ABSENT:Tony Blake (Vice-Chair), Bingham Township Representative;13 14 STAFF PRESENT:Craig Benedict, Planning Director; Tom Altieri, Comprehensive Planning Supervisor;Meredith Kern, 15 Administrative Assistant;16 17 OTHERS PRESENT:Nathan Robinson; Kevin Nicholson;18 19 AGENDA ITEM 1:CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL20 21 Chair Lydia Wegman called the meeting to orderat 7:05p.m.22 23 AGENDA ITEM 2:INFORMATIONAL ITEMS24 a.Planning Calendar for Februaryand March25 26 AGENDA ITEM 3:APPROVAL OF MINUTES27 January 10, 2018 Training Session Notes28 January 10, 2018 Regular Meeting Notes29 30 MOTION by Paul Guthrieto approve theJanuary 10, 2018,Regular Meeting Minutes. Seconded by Alexander 31 Gregory.32 VOTE:Unanimous33 34 AGENDA ITEM 4.CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA35 No additions to the agenda. 36 37 AGENDA ITEM 5:PUBLIC CHARGE38 39 Introduction to the Public Charge40 The Board of County Commissioners, under the authority of North Carolina General Statute, 41 appoints the Orange County Planning Board (OCPB) to uphold the written land development laws 42 of the County. The general purpose of OCPB is to guide and accomplish coordinated and 43 harmonious development. OCPB shall do so in a manner, which considers the present and future 44 needs of its citizens and businesses through efficient and responsive process that contributes to 45 and promotes the health, safety, and welfare of the overall County. The OCPB will make every 46 effort to uphold a vision of responsive governance and quality public services during our 47 deliberations, decisions, and recommendations.48 49 50 Public Charge51 The Planning Board pledges to the citizens of Orange County its respect. The Board asks its 52 citizens to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the Board and with 53 fellow citizens. At any time, should any member of the Board or any citizen fail to observe this 54 public charge, the Chair will ask the offending member to leave the meeting until that individual 55 Approved 3/7/18 regainspersonal control. Should decorum fail to be restored, the Chair will recess the meeting until 56 such time that a genuine commitment to this public charge is observed.57 58 Lydia Wegman read the public charge aloud.59 60 AGENDA ITEM 6:CHAIR COMMENTS61 There were no comments.62 63 AGENDA ITEM 7:LAND USE PLAN AMENDMENTS TO EXPAND HILLSBOROUGH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AREA -64 Hillsborough/Orange County Central Orange Coordinated Area Land Use Plan Amendment & Orange County 65 Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map Amendment -To review and make a recommendation to the BOCC on 66 land use map amendments to expand the Hillsborough Economic Development area south of Interstate 40 in the 67 vicinity of Old Highway 86. 68 PRESENTER:Tom Altieri, Comprehensive Planning Supervisor.69 70 Tom Altieri explained that the Planning Board was only being asked to review and not make a recommendation to the 71 BOCC this evening because the Town of Hillsborough’s public hearing on this matter waspostponed from January 72 due to snow and would be taking place February 15. Generally, the county likes to hear from the town first. He noted 73 the discussion involves the town’s water and sewer services and the county wantsto hear the town’s thoughts, some 74 of which the county hasheard previously due to the adjacent Settler’s Pointproperty.Tom Altieri also said the county75 wantsto be careful that this process isn’t confusing to the public. He noted that paper copies of the revised 76 recommendation from the planning directorwere in front of the Planning Board members. The discussion this 77 evening would be purely informational. He reviewed that he would give a brief PowerPoint presentationand sharea 78 timeline of events. 79 80 Tom Altieri reviewed that there isthe Central Orange Coordinated Area and Orange County Comprehensive Plan. 81 The county has plans to extend infrastructure south of I-40 along Old N.C. 86 and there is interest in preserving those 82 resources for nonresidential uses. The town has expressed interest in that as well. Businesseslook forsites already 83 correctly zoned. Land receives a zoning designation for economic development opportunities and for consistency.84 85 Lydia Wegman asked if the town supports nonresidential uses. Do we know that? Tom Altieri answered I think in 86 general we know that. Most particularly in this area, this would be the southern most extent of water and sewer 87 services and I think if possible the townwould like to not have any residential at all. 88 89 Planning Director Craig Benedict added that sewersystems flow downhill by gravity adjacent to streams. This 90 extension would go to the ridgeline. The ridgeline is the limittosewer service in that area. The other side of the 91 ridgeline involvesjoint planning with Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Regarding the question Lydia Wegmanposed about 92 what type of use, the county has an inter-local agreement with the Town of Hillsborough for extension to the south. 93 That agreement does notinclude this area. Hillsborough has some input regardingwhat goes in this area. The 94 agreement we have now says the land in this area is for light industrial, so it’s not for residential. It’s more 95 complicated than usual in that Hillsborough has the water and sewer services and the county has the economic 96 development area. 97 98 Tom Altierishared a timeline in hispresentation from June 2017, when the county put forth water and sewer 99 boundary map amendments,to February 2018, when county staff met with Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret 100 Hauth to coordinate a restart of the Economic Developmentarea expansion and agreementon future land uses.101 102 Tom Altieri shared a map of the Hillsborough primary service area. Craig Benedict indicated I-40, Davis Road, the 80 103 acres and 14 acreson opposite sidesof the road, andthe ridgeline. 104 105 Paul Guthrie asked if the Town of Hillsborough is prepared to serve everything up to that ridgeline. Tom Altieri 106 answered everywhere in the map. This area is outside the map. 107 108 Craig Benedict said if we want it to be used for economic development, then we will expand the agreement. He 109 reviewedthat the county also hasinter-local agreements with Mebane and the City of Durham. 110 Approved 3/7/18 111 Paul Guthrie said so the short answer is no. Craig Benedict affirmed that. 112 113 Tom Altieri reviewed that the Joint Land Use Plan is about the future, long-term vision, with coordination around the 114 fringe, using a variety of urban-style land use categories andsome rural. The text and map form the “plan.” The 115 Orange County Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map is also about the future, long-term vision. It is county-116 wide, consistent with joint plans, has broad categories of land uses, including many rural uses. Text and map form 117 the “plan.” 118 119 Tom Altieri said there is no rezoning proposed today but the staff proposal would be to apply Suburban Office 120 Complex zoningto the expanded area. Office and employment enterprises thatdon’t rely on walk-in customersare 121 allowed in that zoning designation. He knows the town had expressed some concern about too much retail. That’s 122 one reason this land use category is beingproposed.123 124 Tom Altieri said the proposed amendment would be to expand the county’s economic development area to include 125 these approximately 89 acres which involve20 parcels. 126 127 Craig Benedict reviewed that Rural Buffer is also a zoning category, allowing one residential unit per 2 acres. There 128 are some non-residential uses that can go in the rural areas like kennels (approved through a quasi-judicial process). 129 130 Lydia Wegman asked if there are residences along Davis Road. Tom Altieri said there are some. He thinks there are 131 four residences on Davis Road and some along Scarlett Mountain Road. 132 133 Lydia Wegman asked for confirmation that there is no one living on the rectangular parcel along Davis Road.Tom 134 Altieri answeredno and it is 12 acres. Craig Benedict noted the owners of that parcel were attending this evening’s 135 meeting.136 137 Kim Piracci asked about green blobs on the map, whichseemedrandom. Tom Altieri explainedthey are not random. 138 They indicatehistoric sites, preservation of aspecies, flood plains, etc. Craig Benedict addedthose are flags to look 139 at in the zoning area or on a future site planas possible protected areas. 140 141 Tom Altieri reviewed the map, indicating areas whereno rezoning is proposed. He reviewed areas in purple are 142 already zoned EDH4, EDH5. Craig Benedict said the purples to the north are now part of the Settler’s Point 143 conditional zoning district. 144 145 Lydia Wegman asked that before anyfuture non-residential activity took place on the parcels up for discussion this 146 evening, the zoning would have to precede it. Tom Altieri confirmed that is right.147 148 Craig Benedict said let me restate that. Orange County can suggest a zoning and land use change. The county isn’t 149 doing that here because it is in the interest of the residents and local governments involved to know what would be 150 put there. That’s a zoning process. See the zoning category and the uses that are in there. If someone was to do a 151 master plan development conditional zoning, there wouldbe a rudimentary site plan. For a typical conventional 152 zoning from R1 to EDH5, they don’t have to say it’s an X, Y, Z store. With conditional zoning, they have to show 153 where roads are, environmental areas and follow an abridged list of uses. 154 155 Lydia Wegman asked again that landowners of those 20 parcels now can build low-density residential.156 157 Craig Benedict said correct. If people want to do low-density residential, they can. 158 159 Hunter Spitzer asked if any other useswere considered otherthan Suburban OfficeComplex.160 161 Tom Altieri answered yes, Employment was considered but that would allow walk-in customers so we determined 162 Suburban Office Complex was preferred. Another option could bea 10-or 20-year transition area with high-density 163 residential and we know the town is opposed to high-density residential in this area. 164 165 Approved 3/7/18 Craig Benedict added theEmployment zoning designation would also have more trafficthan the Suburban Office 166 Complexdesignation.167 168 Paul Guthrie asked where the high-transition line is located. Craig Benedict indicated it on the map,at the top of the 169 straight yellow section. Paul Guthrie asked about its future. Craig Benedict said we don’t know and it’s not in our 170 control. Paul Guthrie said he asks that because the tower by the road has become a transition line tower with a great 171 many feeds. Craig Benedict said 20 years ago, people didn’t think you could put cell phone towers on those transition 172 line towers and now you see those antennae. 173 174 Tom Altieri reviewed thatnext stepsinclude additional coordination with town staff to schedule and hold a joint public 175 information meeting. The Planning Board recommendation and BOCCdecisions would be rescheduled.The 176 Hillsborough Planning Board will discuss the zoning of this land on February 15.The town and county boards of177 commissioners have a joint meeting February 22. 178 179 Tom Altieri said these amendments are based on the premise that the county wants to expand the economic 180 development district. If something different comes from those two boards, then staff will change direction. 181 182 Buddy Hartley asked why the town does not want residential usagefor its water and sewer.183 184 Tom Altieri answeredthe town does not want residential in this area because of traffic concerns in Hillsborough and 185 an interest in focusing on in-fill development with the approved Collins Ridgedevelopmentand the potential 186 redevelopment ofDaniel Boone. The town issensitive to additional residential for this area. 187 188 Craig Benedict said the counter argument is that Hillsborough’s strategic planning process regarding that growth ring 189 around town, before Waterstone existed, was that the towndidn’t want any residential north of town because people 190 would be trying to get to interstates 85 and 40,so there was interest in putting residential south of town. Now, 191 Hillsborough’s argument isthey have interest in walkability. If residential were allowed on this land being discussed 192 tonight, you’dhave this satellite community south of I-40 that didn’t have continuity with this compact urban form. If 193 the county could provide water and sewer,we would suggest residential that is senior housing to fulfill a need. It 194 would have to be higher density residential --perhaps peoplewho live there and get on the interstate to go to work 195 and maybe go to a restaurant in Hillsborough. 196 197 Lydia Wegman asked if anyone has questions or comments.198 199 Nathan Robinson addressed the board. He says he owns a 14-acre parcel in this area in discussion. He said we 200 originally bought it to build single-familyhouses there. He said we don’t want to get stuck with property that we can’t 201 build houses on and isn’t zoned for economic development. He said he has talked with Craig Benedict. 202 203 Kim Piracci asked Nathan Robinson why he didn’t sell it to Settler’s Point. Nathan Robinson answered that the204 Settler’s Point developerswanted to look at it for two years and only pay us $5,000 for that time. 205 206 Adam Beeman asked Nathan Robinson if he would have to perk theland out nowto build houses. Nathan Robinson 207 answeredyes. Adam Beeman asked for confirmation that the Settler’s Point developersdon’t want to give Nathan 208 Robinson residential access to his property.Nathan Robinson said that’s his understanding. 209 210 Craig Benedict showed on a map where Hillsborough water comes to now.211 212 Nathan Robinson said he was thinking high-density residential to transition from Settler’s Point but there isn’t sewer.213 There is a water line close by but he doesn’t know if he can tap on to it. 214 215 Paul Guthrie asked Craig Benedict toexpand about the transition water line. He’s not so sure it’s a retail water line. 216 It’s an emergency water line to get water to Cary andDurham. 217 218 Craig Benedict answeredthey got close when OWASA needed water. Hillsborough had to flush the line. Peoplein 219 that area cannot connect to thatemergencyline. There’s a similar one between Hillsborough and Durham. 220 Approved 3/7/18 221 Craig Benedict said apart oftheoverview in a public information meetingwill be the perspective that the municipal 222 areas and economic development areas add up to only 16 percent of the county. We’re trying to balance that to 223 preserve the rural lifestyle of the other areas and to prevent sprawl, he said.He mentioned transit plans.224 225 Kevin Nicholson addressed the board. He asked about exits in the county. At the Efland interstate exit, signs have 226 been out for years saying land for sale. You’d catch 85 and 40 traffic. Why wouldn’t you wantto develop that?227 228 Craig Benedict answered he would be meeting with a prospective buyer the following day. There is sewer under 229 construction that did create a problem for awhilein that area.230 231 Kevin Nicholson said helivesa littler farther down Davis Roadand wonders how the ridgeline affects him. What is 232 the future to the west?He doesn’twant water or sewerservices. Craig Benedict answered in the short term and mid 233 term,there would be no public water and sewer there. It’s agricultural and low-density residential. 234 235 Tom Altieri said it’s outside the Town of Hillsborough’s service area. He would be happy to follow up with Kevin 236 Nicholson.237 238 Kevin Nicholson asked what are the plans for Davis Road with this expansion. He hasheard about the future 239 stoplight at the end of Davis Roadand he wonders if the road will be widened.240 241 Craig Benedict answered the county willwork with DOT for any development. He foresees a traffic light and right and 242 left turn lane right at the endof Davis Road. There would be no expansion of Davis Road and noacquiring additional 243 right of way. 244 245 Lydia Wegman asked if there are any other questions. 246 247 Craig Benedict said there will be another public information meeting in the area. 248 249 Lydia Wegman encouraged those in the audience to go to the neighborhood information meeting if possible. 250 251 252 AGENDA ITEM 8:BOCCRETREAT UPDATE253 Craig Benedict reported that the retreatwas held a couple of weeks ago at MapleviewFarm. The morning discussion 254 was about financial sustainability for counties. There have been some changes in funding at the state level. 255 256 The second item was about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to developments in Orange County. 257 Those attending the retreatlookedatthe county’sexisting zones. Orange County is fortunateto still have interstate-258 positioned properties. 259 260 When people look at properties, they want to know that the environmental issues are identified,the zoning is in place.261 If you can get down the list, that’s how you can compete with other counties, he said. We’re going to talk about pre-262 zoning. When Orange Countychanged the Economic Developmentzones in the 1990s, they created Buckhorn 263 Economic Development area.264 265 There are legislative, quasi-judicial, which does have standards. The third is administrative. Staff looks at the Unified 266 Development Ordinance and goes through prescription. 267 268 Craig Benedict reviewed that in the retreat discussion, there were other suggestions about process streamlining, pre-269 zoning and taking a look at our standards. Hedoesn’t think our standards are overburdening. 270 271 Randy Marshall asked if that portion of the meeting will be written up so that the Planning Board can read it. 272 273 Craig Benedict said he can gather the thoughts of the BOCC and share that. 274 275 Approved 3/7/18 Craig Benedict said we have underdeveloped economic development zones that have been on the maps since the 276 1980s. He said the railroad company won’t let anyonecross the economic development areaat Buckhorn so it can 277 only be accessedat the ends. There is also interest in exploring creating mobile home parks in these areas.278 279 Lydia Wegman asked Craig Benedict do you think you’ll be coming with ideas we might be able to consider. Craig 280 Benedict said yes and he can explain to the new Planning Board members why the county does things a certain way.281 Sometimesthe county makessome changes. We have probably the heaviest reliance on residential property tax and 282 lowest reliance of retail sales of anywherearound. Some of the sales taxes gained by the county goes back to 283 municipalities. The state formula for sharing sales tax revenue changed around 2008, to the county’s detriment. 284 285 Adam Beeman asked whatthe big hang-up iswith drive-thruwindows. Craig Benedict answered at one point it was 286 the idling of the cars causingpollution. Staff suggested standards of drive-thrus with location and noise. They are 287 allowed in some areas of the county and not in others. He thinks that needs to be addressed again. 288 289 BuddyHartley asked if it wastimeto reevaluate the Efland area.Craig Benedict said that was mentioned in the 290 SWAT analysis. We’re seeing more interest with water and sewer in the Efland area. There’s a lot of work that’s been 291 done. 292 293 294 AGENDA ITEM 8:ADJOURNMENT295 296 Meeting was adjourned by consensusat 8:30 p.m.297 ____________________________________298 Lydia N. Wegman, Chair299 300