AGENDA #4d

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:

Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

FROM:

J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director

 

Loryn Clark, Housing and Neighborhood Services Coordinator

SUBJECT:

Coker Hills Neighborhood Conservation District Progress Report and Continuation of Rezoning Public Hearing

DATE:

March 5, 2007

 

PURPOSE

 

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide a status report to the Council on the Neighborhood Conservation District activity in the Coker Hills neighborhood, and to continue the rezoning Public Hearing on a proposed Neighborhood Conservation District.    

 

Adoption of the attached resolution would continue the Coker Hills Neighborhood Conservation District Rezoning Public Hearing until April 11, 2007.

 

BACKGROUND

 

On May 15, 2006, the Council opened a Public Hearing regarding the enactment of a Neighborhood Conservation District overlay zoning district for the Coker Hills neighborhood.  On June 12, 2006, the Council passed a resolution to recess the Public Hearing until September 27, 2006.  This was done to allow the neighborhood to continue discussions about the possibility of enacting a Neighborhood Conservation District.  The Council requested that staff provide a point person for the neighborhood and that the Planning Board be included if the neighborhood took any future action.

 

On September 27, 2006, the Council received a progress report from the staff reporting that the Coker Hills residents were still in discussions about a Neighborhood Conservation District for their neighborhood (see Attachment 1). The Council passed a resolution to recess the Coker Hills Neighborhood Conservation District Public Hearing until March 5, 2007. 

 

DISCUSSION OF ACTIVITY

 

On June 20, 2006, the Planning Board appointed Board Member Margy Campion to be the liaison between the Planning Board and the Coker Hills Neighborhood.  Housing and Neighborhood Services Planner Rae Buckley, and Housing and Neighborhood Services Coordinator Loryn Clark, have served as the Town’s point persons for the neighborhood.  Since June, Ms. Campion worked with residents of the neighborhood to select members of a Consensus Committee.  The neighborhood committee is composed of eight neighborhood residents with varying opinions about the proposed Neighborhood Conservation District.  Ms. Campion has also facilitated the Committee meetings. 

 

The Committee agreed that its purpose was “to determine what works for Coker Hills in conjunction with the neighborhood.”  To date, the group has met on eight occasions to discuss a Coker Hills Neighborhood Conservation District.  The Committee drafted a report and a draft Neighborhood Conservation District proposal that was distributed to the neighborhood.  The Committee also met with the neighborhood in a meeting facilitated by former Planning Board Chair Tim Dempsey, on January 29, 2007, to present the report and receive feedback from the neighborhood.  After the January 29 meeting, the Committee revised its proposal and will present its recommendations to the Council at the April 11, 2007 Public Hearing.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to continue the Coker Hills Neighborhood Conservation District rezoning Public Hearing until April 11, 2007.

 

ATTACHMENT

  1. September 27, 2006 Memorandum to the Mayor and Town Council (begin new page 1).