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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 11-06-2002 - 9a 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: November 6, 2002 Action Agep4a Item No. SUBJECT: Implications of Possible Changes to Water Sewer Service Boundaries and Urban Service Boundaries DEPARTMENT: Planning and Inspections PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Craig Benedict, Planning Director, ext 2592 Staff Report Gene Bell, ext. 2589 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider the advisability of possible changes to Water Sewer Service Boundaries and Urban Service Boundaries. BACKGROUND: Recent discussions on the possible location of a new high school in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School district have highlighted the need to assess the potential impacts of such a facility, especially should it be located outside of adopted Urban Service/Water-Sewer Service boundaries. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this item. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Administration recommends that the adopted Water Sewer Service Boundaries and Urban Service Boundaries not be changed because the current boundaries took many years of diligent effort on the part of all parties to create and are incorporated in several multi-party land use plans and agreements. 2 Implications of Locating Public Facilities Requiring Urban Services in Southern Chapel Hill Township Local government decisions on the location of public facilities can have serious and far-reaching consequences for future land use and development patterns. This is particularly true of elementary, middle, and high schools. In addition to their primary function as centers of learning during the daytime, schools also host many after- hours cultural and athletic events. As a community focal point, they can serve as a catalyst for residential development in the surrounding area. Such development may be entirely appropriate if it is consistent with local plans for growth and the infrastructure is in place to support that growth. Because of their size and the number of people utilizing them, school facilities require access to municipal water and sewer service. These utilities should either exist at the site when construction begins or be easily extended as part of the development process. The desirability of locating a school in an urbanizing area served with water and sewer is often complicated by the inability to assemble the required acreage in such an area or the excessive cost of such acreage if it exists. This can prompt decision-makers to search for an affordable site in outlying areas and petition for extension of water and sewer lines to serve the school. Again, this may be appropriate if the area in question is part of a future utility service area and identified for growth at greater than rural densities. Otherwise, building a school in an outlying area and extending utilities can potentially lead to inefficient and unintended patterns of residential development. Sites suitable for the construction of public school facilities in the Chapel Hill- Carrboro urban area are becoming scarcer and more expensive. The implications of locating future school facilities in southern Chapel Hill Township requires an understanding of several interrelated agreements and plans, all of which are predicated on a clear demarcation of urban and rural land use patterns. Briefly, these include Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning, the Chapel Hill Comprehensive Plan, and the Water and Sewer Management, Planning, and Boundary Agreement. Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning In 1984, the Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County entered into a Joint Planning Agreement that called for the development of a land use plan for areas immediately surrounding Chapel Hill and Carrboro, but outside the extraterritorial jurisdictions (ETJ) of the two towns. These areas outside of town planning jurisdictions were known as Joint Planning "Transition Areas." The staffs and Planning Boards of Chapel Hill and Orange County (initially, the Town of Carrboro was not a party to the Joint Planning Agreement) proceeded to develop a land use plan and on October 13, 1986, the Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County adopted the Joint Planning Land Use Plan. Following efforts to streamline the review process for developments in the transition areas, Carrboro joined Chapel Hill and Orange County as a participant in Joint Planning on November 2, 1987. 3 At the most basic level, Joint Planning is premised on two land use categories: Transition and Rural Buffer. The Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan defines the two categories as follows: Transition areas are located adjacent to the urban areas of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. They are in the process of changing from rural to urban uses or are already urban in use; are developed at or suitable for urban-type densities; and are now provided or are projected to be provided with urban services. The Rural Buffer is defined as being a low-density area consisting of single-family homes situated on large lots having a minimum size of two (2) acres. The Rural Buffer is further defined as land which, although adjacent to an Urban or Transition Area, is rural in character and which will remain rural, contain low-density residential uses, and not require urban services (public utilities and other Town services). While both areas are technically County jurisdiction, day-to-day administration of land use and development ordinances in the Transition Areas is ceded to the towns as specified in the Joint Planning Agreement while the Rural Buffer is regulated by the County. Chapel Hill Comprehensive Plan On May 8, 2000, the Chapel Hill Town Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan for the Town along with an accompanying Land Use Plan. The geographic coverage of the Plan includes all areas within Chapel Hill's town limits, ETJ, and Joint Planning Transition Areas. A feature of the new plan was a reduction of the Urban Services Boundary (USB) to the south of Chapel Hill's corporate limits. This resulted in a northward shift of the USB away from the Chapel Hill Southern Triangle Joint Planning Transition Area. This Transition Area contains approximately 205 acres and is bordered by Chatham County to the south, Old Lystra Road to the east, and the Chapel Hill ETJ and US 15-501 to the north. It is currently zoned Chapel Hill R-LD1 (minimum lot size of one acre) as is the adjacent area to the north inside the Chapel Hill ETJ. The area immediately to the east is zoned Orange County Rural Buffer (two acre minimum lot size). Areas now outside the USB that were formerly inside it are part Transition and part ETJ (town standards apply within both). Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary Agreement (WSMPBA) The elected boards of Orange County, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Hillsborough and the appointed Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) Board of Directors adopted resolutions in April 1994 to create a Water and Sewer Service Boundary Task Force. The Task Force was charged with developing water and sewer service boundaries for the County's service providers. The Task Force began meeting in June 1994 and six months later issued a preliminary report with a set of service boundaries and list of inter-related objectives to be addressed. On December 3, 2001, the Board of County Commissioners adopted the agreement in its final form. 4 The preamble to the WSMPBA states the following purposes: 1. To provide a comprehensive, County-wide system of service areas for future utility development and interest areas for dealing with private water and wastewater system problems in areas without public water and sewer service. 2. To complement growth management objectives, land use plans and annexation plans in existing agreements, such as the Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning Agreement and Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan. 3. To resolve in advance and preclude future conflicts about future service areas and annexation areas. 4. To provide for predictable long-range water and sewer capital improvement planning and financing. 5. To provide for limitations on water and sewer service in certain areas, as defined. Sections III and VI of the WSMPBA contain several provisions essential to understanding public facility locational issues. Excerpts from these sections include: Section III — Definitions • Primary Service Area: An area where water and/or sewer service is provided, or might be provided according to adopted plans (this area is consistent with that shown inside the USB for the Chapel Hill portion of the service area). • Long-Term Interest Areas: Areas where water and/or sewer service is not anticipated, but if provided, OWASA or Orange County will be responsible for coordinating the provision of service. • Essential Public Facility. A publicly owned facility (e.g., school, fire station, or solid waste convenience center) that provides a service for the health, safety, and/or general welfare of county residents. • Adverse Public Health Condition: A situation where a wastewater system is failing and no on-site repair area is available or a well water supply system is contaminated and options to remedy the situation do not exist. Section VI - Limitations on Service • No extension of public water and sewer lines into interest areas except to address adverse public health condition or essential public facility. • Public water and sewer lines extended into an interest area shall be sized so as to serve only the intended use; cannot be used for other purposes. In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, primary service areas are restricted to existing urban areas, some ETJ, and most of the Joint Planning Transition Areas. Long-term interest areas are in the Rural Buffer. Recent Actions At the April 17, 2002 Joint Planning Public Hearing, a proposed amendment linking the WSMPBA with the Joint Planning Agreement was presented as part of an overall strategy to align local government land use decisions with public water and sewer permitted areas. Accordingly, inconsistent requests for land use amendments by third persons seeking connection to public water and sewer systems would not be recommended for approval. This method is used in other areas around the country 5 to ensure that local government utility plans and land use plans are not thwarted through demands by land owners and the development community insisting that public water and sewer connections be made contrary to the planned service area of the utilities. The proposed amendment was subsequently adopted by all three Joint Planning jurisdictions. Conclusion With the exception of Section VI of the WSMPBA, the agreements and plans referenced above envision a clear boundary between urban and rural land uses. While there is the possibility of extending public water and sewer lines into long-term interest areas to serve an essential public facility, the implications for surrounding land uses is not a preferred alternative or situation. Also, there are potentially negative side effects to not allowing adjacent property owners to tie into a line extended into a long-term interest area, especially in terms of petitions for service (that must be denied) and challenges to the policy.