Agenda #3
memorandum
to: Assembly of Governments Members
from: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager, Chapel Hill
subject: Update on the Development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road Neighborhood
date: March 30, 2006
The purpose of this memorandum is to update the members of the Assembly of Governments on the status of a proposed process for development of a Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road neighborhood, including the Greene Tract. Please see Attachment 1 for a map of the area.
At the Chapel Hill Town Council’s Work Session on October 12, 2005, the Council discussed the need for a Rogers Road and Greene Tract Small Area Plan and asked the Town Manager to prepare a process to develop such a plan for discussion at the January planning session.
The Greene Tract is a 169-acre parcel owned jointly by Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Orange County. An Interlocal Agreement from 1999 (amended in 2000) provides guidelines for division of the property located at the eastern terminus of Purefoy Road, adjacent the railroad.
Regarding the Greene Tract, on November 11, 2002, the Council adopted a resolution endorsing a concept plan for the portion of the Greene Tract in joint ownership with Carrboro and Orange County. This resolution established that 85.9 acres would be set aside for open space protected by conservation easements and 18.1 acres for affordable housing. The resolution also stated that Chapel Hill would conduct a Small Area Plan for the residential area west of the Greene Tract (Rogers Road, Purefoy Road area), including the affordable housing site on the Greene Tract. Specifically the plan is to include a more detailed look at the impacts of providing public services in the area, especially the extension of sewer, and the impacts on the area of developing an affordable housing site.
The Rogers Road neighborhood is partially in the Chapel Hill planning jurisdiction, partially in the Carrboro planning jurisdiction, and partially in the Orange County planning jurisdiction. Because of these jurisdictional overlaps, we believe it would be appropriate to approach development of a Small Area Plan through a multi-jurisdictional task force.
On January 23, 2006, the Chapel Hill Town Council appointed Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom and Council Member Mark Kleinschmidt to represent the Council with elected officials from Carrboro and Orange County to discuss the possibility of a Small Area Plan Process for the Rogers Road neighborhood, including the Greene Tract. To initiate this work, the Town Council requested that the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Orange County Board of Commissioners appoint representatives to join Town Council representatives in developing a proposal for a joint planning task force (please see Attachment 2).
The Council has asked for work to begin on a Small Area Plan process for this neighborhood this summer. In the past, the Town’s Small Area Plan Process has involved an intensive community participation process led by the Town’s Planning Board with neighborhood representation and supported by Town staff, followed by Council review and ultimately, a formal public hearing process. Typically, the Small Area Plan process has taken 18 months to two years to complete.
NEXT STEPS
If Carrboro and Orange County agree to participate in a Small Area Plan process, we would schedule a meeting with the elected officials to begin a discussion about the process for completing the project. We would hope that these meetings could take place soon, and that work on a Small Area Plan could begin in the summer as planned.