AGENDA #4j
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Request for Expedited Processing of a Special Use Permit Application for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center
DATE: September 11, 2006
PURPOSE
Adoption of the attached resolution would grant a request for expedited processing of the Special Use Permit application for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center.
BACKGROUND
On June 19, 2006, we received a request from Ms. Anna Wu, Director of Facilities Planning for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, requesting expedited processing of an application for a Special Use Permit for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center. The petition was referred to the Town Manager for review and recommendation.
We have received a Special Use Permit application for this proposal. On June 30, 2004, the Council reviewed a Concept Plan for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center. The Community Design Commission conducted a Concept Plan Review on June 16, 2004.
The site is located at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, on Old Mason Farm Road. This proposal involves construction of approximately 68,000 square feet of floor area including a visitor’s education center, classrooms, herbarium/library, and storage building. Fifty-two new parking spaces, including a new 16-space parking lot are also proposed.
As part of the overall plan, Laurel Hill Road will be closed between Fordham Boulevard and Coker Drive. In November 2004, the Town Council adopted a resolution to close this section of road subject to the University making certain specific road and intersection improvements. A citizen appealed the Council’s decision to court. The courts have upheld the Council’s decision on the closing of the road.
EXPEDITED PROCESSING
Expedited processing grants priority status for review at every step of the process and grants priority status in being scheduled on agendas of advisory boards and the Town Council. A Special Use Permit application would normally take nine months to a year to be reviewed by all the required boards and commissions and to be heard at a public hearing.
Following approval, an application normally takes four to five months to obtain approval of detailed construction drawings and final plans, prior to obtaining a building permit. The review process is often long because of the breadth and depth of review and analysis, and because many projects are usually being reviewed at any given time.
However, because of the other applications previously granted such status, there will likely not be much shortening of the review time for this project if expedited processing is granted.
DISCUSSION
Request: The petition requests expedited processing status for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center project to allow construction for an expansion to the existing facility.
Expedited Processing: We followed the Council-endorsed criteria listed below when making recommendations to Council on requests for expedited processing:
Several development applications are currently working toward being placed on the Council’s Public Hearing schedule. The impact of granting expedited processing for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center is that one less space would be available on the Council’s schedule for which other non-expedited applications are competing.
We believe that the proposal meets the objective for public purpose and LEED certification in the four criteria above for granting expedited processing status. The applicant has identified public objective as the facility is in the public interest and the applicant has indicated the project will attempt to achieve LEED certification. Projects that have been granted expedited processing are identified in Attachment 1.
RECOMMENDATION
Manager’s Recommendation: We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution. Adoption of the resolution would grant expedited processing for the North Carolina Botanical Garden Visitor Education Center.
ATTACHMENTS