TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Proposed Rezoning to Create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside Neighborhood
DATE: February 23, 2004
Tonight the Town Council considers a proposed rezoning to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside Neighborhood. The area within the boundaries of the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District is currently zoned Residential-4 (R-4), Residential-3 (R-3), Office/Institutional-1 (OI-1), and Town Center-2 (TC-2). The Neighborhood Conservation District would be an overlay district to the regular zoning districts. The attached map shows the location and existing zoning of the proposed and surrounding areas (see Attachment 1).
The attached Ordinance A would amend the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside neighborhood.
The Council held a public hearing on January 21, 2004 and received citizen, Planning Board, and Council comments. A copy of the memorandum is attached (please Attachment 2). The Council continued the hearing until tonight, and referred comments received at the forum to the Manager for consideration in developing a follow-up report and recommendation. All comments were reviewed and considered in developing this follow-up report.
If enacted by the Council, Ordinance A would amend the Town’s Zoning Atlas. The Neighborhood Conservation District Plan would also become a component of the Zoning Atlas, and a copy of the District Plan would henceforth be attached to the Land Use Management Ordinance. Please see Attachment 3 for a draft of the Neighborhood Conservation District Plan.
At the January 21, 2004 public hearing, the Council heard discussion of key issues (summarized below) and recessed the hearing until tonight. Attached is certification that on January 30, 2004, a notice of the extension of the public hearing was sent to owners of property within the boundaries and those within at least 1,000 feet of the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District (please see Attachment 4). The notice also explained that the deadline for filing protest petitions was extended until Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 5:00 pm. Copies of the agenda materials on this proposal are available in the Town Clerk’s Office and in the Public Library, and are also available on the Town’s website (www.townofchapelhill.org).
DISCUSSION
The Northside Neighborhood Conservation District Advisory Committee, consisting of neighborhood residents, developers, at-large members, and members of the Planning Board developed recommendations for the Northside Neighborhood Conservation District. Those recommendations were presented at the Council’s January 21, 2004 Public Hearing, and are attached here as Attachment 5. Copies of correspondence received are included as Attachment 6.
We believe that the key issues raised during the January 21, 2004 public hearing and during the process of developing guidelines for the Neighborhood Conservation District are: nonconforming lots, uses and features; the effect of the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District on non-residential properties; duplexes; residential building height; and effectiveness of the recommendations. The issue of impact on non-residential property was discussed at the Committee’s February 7 meeting, with the Committee voting to recommend further Council discussion of properties in the district currently zoned OI-1. We discuss each of these key issues below.
1. Nonconformities: Council members raised questions about nonconformities that may be created as a result of the proposed rezoning.
Comment: Generally, the term “nonconforming” refers to lots, uses, or features that complied with regulations at the time the use or structure began, but which do not meet current regulations. In the case of the creation of the proposed Northside Neighborhood Conservation District nonconforming features would be created if a property does not meet the provisions of the overlay district. If the District is enacted, an existing house can be rebuilt if it is destroyed. There is nothing in the current or proposed regulations that would prevent a destroyed house from being rebuilt as it was. Additions to existing houses would have to conform to the new regulations. Some lots may currently be too small to conform to the existing regulations; adoption of an overlay district would not change this situation.
The Northside Neighborhood Conservation District Advisory Committee acknowledges that establishing a Neighborhood Conservation District as proposed would create nonconforming features in the neighborhood. However, we believe that the intent of the Committee’s recommendations is to regulate new development in the District and that any additions to existing properties would have to comply with the new regulations.
2. Town Center -2 and Office/Institutional – 1: Council members and citizens asked questions about how the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District would affect non-residential properties in the Town Center – 2 and Office/ Institutional -1 zoning districts.
Comment: The proposed regulations would affect properties in the Town Center-2 (TC-2) zoning district and Office/Institutional - 1 (OI-1) zoning district by decreasing the current height limits. The Neighborhood Conservation District guidelines would further restrict the height limits if the non-residential property in the TC-2 district abuts a residential district. As proposed, the height limit for non-residential properties would change as follows:
|
Zoning District |
Current Primary |
Proposed Primary |
Current Secondary |
Proposed Secondary |
|
Town Center-2 |
44 feet |
40 feet, 30 feet if adjacent to a residential zone |
90 feet |
50 feet |
|
Office/ Institutional -1 |
29 feet |
20 feet |
60 feet |
35 feet |
At the January 21, 2004 Council meeting, Council members asked for specific examples of properties on West Rosemary Street that would be nonconforming if the Neighborhood Conservation District was adopted as proposed. Examples include the Warehouse and the Fountains buildings, and the recently approved Rosemary Village project. Each of these buildings has a primary height of 44 feet and would not have been approved if the proposed regulations had been in place. The proposed primary height limit for properties zoned TC-2 on Rosemary Street is 40 feet. We believe that the proposed primary and secondary heights for Town Center-2 and Office/Institutional –1 properties would help protect the residential areas of the Northside neighborhood by providing a better transition from the business to residential areas.
At its meeting on February 7, 2004, the Neighborhood Conservation District Advisory Committee Members felt that more time was needed to discuss the impact of the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District on Office/Institutional properties. Therefore, the Committee did not provide a specific recommendation for these properties.
3. Duplexes: A Council member asked if the Committee had considered design guidelines for duplexes.
Comment: Committee Chair Delores Bailey explained that while the Committee had not discussed design guidelines at that point (a design workshop was later held on February 7), the Committee was satisfied with the current mix of housing in the neighborhood. Ms. Bailey also explained that duplexes are not being occupied by families and are not currently part of the neighborhoods affordable housing stock. Therefore, the Committee did not feel that banning duplexes in the community would affect the number of affordable housing units in the neighborhood.
The current Town-wide moratorium on the construction of new duplexes expires on February 29, 2004. If this Neighborhood Conservation District is not enacted by that date, duplexes will once again be permitted uses in Northside.
4. Residential Building Height: Council members asked whether the proposed primary building height of 20 feet is sufficient to build a two-story residence.
Comment: The ordinance regulates height of structures be defining limits for primary and secondary height. The primary height limit is the maximum height for a structure at the setback line (as close as a structure can get to the property line). For every two feet a structure is further set back from a property line, the structure can be one foot taller, up to a secondary height limit. The secondary height limit is the highest point to which any portion of a building may extend.
We believe that using the proposed 20 feet primary height and 35 feet secondary height in residential zones would allow for one, two, and three story structures to be built in the Neighborhood Conservation District. Close to property lines, the 20-foot primary height limit would restrict structures in those locations to no more than two stories, and in many cases one story. This regulation would not have an impact on existing properties unless the owner chooses to expand the property. The 35-foot maximum secondary height is the tallest point to which any portion of a building could extend. A 35-foot tall residential building can normally accommodate up to three stories.
Gables on the ends of structures could continue to be permitted, but may in some cases result in a structure needing to be set back a few extra feet from a property line because of the 20-foot primary height limit. The Council could choose to set a primary height limit for Northside as something other than 20 feet. 24 feet has been suggested as an alternative, assuring the possibility of two-story construction at a setback line.
With respect to properties in the OI-1 portion of the proposed Conservation District, the Northside Committee has recommended additional consideration. On February 7, the Northside Conservation District Committee voted to comment to the Council that it had not explicitly discussed the potential impacts of proposed regulations on OI-1 properties, and that it accordingly revised its recommendation to say that the OI-1 properties need additional discussion. The Committee set a meeting on February 16 to continue discussion, but a quorum of Committee members was not present.
The recommendation that was initially made by the Northside Committee, and which also comes recommended by the Planning Board and the Town Manager, is as follows:
· Maximum building height other than Town Center: Primary 20 feet
· Maximum building height other than Town Center: Secondary 35 feet
We continue to believe that the recommendations of 20-feet primary, 35-feet secondary for the OI-1 properties within the proposed Northside Conservation District are reasonable. These properties are included within the district because they are adjacent to residential properties in the neighborhood. We believe that limiting the height of future non-residential structures adjacent to residences is important. As we have noted previously, the proposed regulations would not affect the continued use or rebuilding of existing structures.
We believe the proposed 35-foot secondary height limit would allow additional height to be added to existing buildings. The proposed 20-foot primary height limit would likely restrict buildings to one story if such buildings were located at minimum setback lines. If the Council were to determine that it is reasonable and desirable to allow 2-story structures at the setback line, a sentence could be added to the attached Northside Plan as follows, which would keep the primary height limit as it currently stands for OI-1:
We offer Ordinance B in this memorandum which would set the primary building height for the OI-1 properties at 29 feet. In all other respects, Ordinance B is identical to the Manager’s Recommendation, Ordinance A.
5. Effectiveness of the District: At the January 21 public hearing, several citizens commented that the proposed regulations would not be effective and do not address the real issues facing the neighborhood.
Comment: We believe that the Neighborhood Conservation District designation, including design guidelines, will be an effective tool for preserving the character of the Northside neighborhood. We further believe that the proposed recommendations would help achieve the Committee’s goals of preserving the history, charm and composition of the community.
The purpose of the Neighborhood Conservation District is to alter the allowable “building envelope” to result in buildings which fit into the fabric of the neighborhood and be compatible with surrounding development. If the recommendations are adopted as proposed, the scale and massing of future buildings would be more in keeping with the existing character of the Northside neighborhood. A Neighborhood Conservation District is not designed to address non-zoning issues such as on-street parking, noise and trash collection. The Town Code includes ordinances to address these issues. The Committee discussed these issues at length, and decided that its recommendation would include that the Town improve its enforcement of these ordinances.
As noted in the January 21, 2004 memorandum (Attachment 2), there are three justifications for rezonings: a) to correct a manifest error in the chapter; b) because of changed or changing conditions in a particular area or in the jurisdiction generally; or c) to achieve the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan. We believe that the proposed rezoning to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside neighborhood is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Plan.
Planning Board Recommendation: On December 16, 2004, the Planning Board voted 5-1 to approve the Neighborhood Conservation District as proposed by the Neighborhood Conservation District Advisory Committee. Please see Attachment 7 for a Summary of Planning Board Action.
Manager’s Recommendation: We recommend that the Council enact Ordinance A, amending the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside neighborhood. Attached alternate Ordinance B addresses concerns raised about building height in Office/Institutional Properties and would establish a primary building height of twenty-nine (29) feet.
1. Zoning Map of District (p. 10).
2. January 21, 2004 Memorandum to Mayor and Town Council (p. 11).
3. Draft Neighborhood Conservation District Plan (p. 34).
4. Notice of Public Hearing (p. 39).
5. Table Summarizing Existing and Regulations proposed by the Committee (p. 42).
6. Correspondence (p. 44).
7. Planning Board Summary of Action (p. 65).
ORDINANCE A
(Manager’s Recommendation)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CHAPEL HILL ZONING ATLAS TO CREATE A NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT FOR THE NORTHSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD AND ESTABLISHING A CONSERVATION PLAN FOR SAID DISTRICT (2004-02-23/O-3)
WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill has considered the petition to amend the Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District For the Northside neighborhood, and finds that the amendment is warranted in order to achieve the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas be amended as follows:
SECTION I
Properties identified on the attached map (Attachment 1) are hereby designated as part of the Northside Neighborhood Conservation District, designated on the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas as CD 1, with special standards as described in the attached Northside Neighborhood Conservation District Plan, dated December 11, 2003 (Attachment 3). This Plan (Attachment 3) is incorporated as part of this ordinance, shall constitute a part of this Zoning Atlas Amendment, and shall be subject to modification in the same manner as any other amendment to the Zoning Atlas.
SECTION II
That all ordinances and portions of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
This the 23rd day of February, 2004.
ORDINANCE B
(Alternate Ordinance)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CHAPEL HILL ZONING ATLAS TO CREATE A NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT FOR THE NORTHSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD AND ESTABLISHING A CONSERVATION PLAN FOR SAID DISTRICT (2004-02-23/O-4)
WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill has considered the petition to amend the Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District For the Northside neighborhood, and finds that the amendment is warranted to achieve the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas be amended as follows:
SECTION I
Properties identified on the attached map (Attachment 1) are hereby designated as part of the Northside Neighborhood Conservation District, designated on the Chapel Hill Zoning Atlas as CD 1, with special standards as described in the attached Northside Neighborhood Conservation District Plan, dated December 11, 2003 (Attachment 3), with the following amendments to the District Plan:
1. Amend the statement under “Special Design Standards” to read as follows: “Maximum Building Height: Other than Town Center and OI-1 Districts (primary): 20 feet.”
2. Add the following statement under “Special Design Standards”: “Maximum Office/Institutional-1 Building Height (primary): 29 feet.”
This Plan (Attachment 3), as amended above, is incorporated as part of this ordinance, shall constitute a part of this Zoning Atlas Amendment, and shall be subject to modification in the same manner as any other amendment to the Zoning Atlas.
SECTION II
That all ordinances and portions of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
This the 23rd day of February, 2004.
(Denying Rezoning)
A RESOLUTION DENYING AN APPLICATION TO CREATE A NEIGHBORHOD CONSERVATION DISTRICT FOR THE NORTHSIDE NEIGHBROHOOD (2004-02-23/R-9)
WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill has considered the proposed amendment to the Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for the Northside neighborhood, and fails to find that the amendment:
a) corrects a manifest error in the chapter, or
b) is justified because of changed or changing conditions in the area of the rezoning site or the community in general, or
c) achieves the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan.
For the reasons that:
(INSERT REASONS FOR DENIAL)
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council hereby denies the petition to amend the Zoning Atlas to create a Neighborhood Conservation District for described area shown in Attachment 1.
This the 23rd day of February, 2004.