AGENDA #4d
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TO: |
Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager |
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FROM: |
J.B. Culpepper, Planning Director |
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SUBJECT: |
Calling Public Hearing on Changes to Land Use Management Ordinance Regarding Planning Board Composition, Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Membership |
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DATE: |
May 21, 2007 |
Adoption of the attached resolution would call a Public Hearing for June 18, 2007, to consider amending the Land Use Management Ordinance to change the composition of the Planning Board to reduce the Board’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction (ETJ) membership from two to one ETJ representative.
On May 7, 2007, the Council delayed consideration of appointment to the Planning Board, and requested that a process to change the ETJ membership of the Planning Board be initiated. The Planning Board has had a vacant extraterritorial planning jurisdiction position for the past year. We understand that the County has been unable to fill the vacant position.
The Land Use Management Ordinance dictates the composition of the Chapel Hill Planning Board. The Planning Board is composed of ten (10) members. Two (2) members are to reside within the Town’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction in Orange County (appointed by the Orange County Commissioners). One (1) member is to reside within the Joint Planning Transition Area (also appointed by the Commissioners). As Chapel Hill has grown, the extraterritorial planning jurisdiction has decreased in size. Because the area of extraterritorial jurisdiction is shrinking, it has become more difficult to find potential Planning Board members in the area.
Under the provisions of North Carolina General Statute Sec. 160A-362, the Town is obligated to provide representation for the extraterritorial planning area on its planning board and board of adjustment that is “proportional” . . “based on population.” The planning staff will be doing an analysis of the population statistics for the Town and the extraterritorial planning jurisdiction to determine if the adjustment proposed is warranted and will provide that information to the Council for its consideration at the public hearing. Attachment 1 is a copy of this Statute.
The Council requested that this change to the Land Use Management Ordinance regarding composition of the Planning Board be made effective in time for new Board appointments in June. We have evaluated the upcoming calendar and believe this is possible. Although the June 18 Public Hearing is already crowded, we believe this item could be added to the schedule. If the Council acts to call the Public Hearing for June 18, we will have sufficient time to advertise the text amendment proposal. The Planning Board will consider the text amendment at the June 5 meeting. Action would be possible two days after the June 18 Public Hearing, on Wednesday, June 20, 2007.
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to call a Public Hearing for June 18, 2007, to consider changes to the Planning Board’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction membership as defined in the Land Use Management Ordinance, as requested by the Council. If the statistical report shows that a change is appropriate, we will return at a later date with a similar proposed change to the Ordinance to modify the Board of Adjustment.