AGENDA #4b

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:

Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

FROM:

J. B. Culpepper, Planning Director

Gene Poveromo, Development Coordinator

SUBJECT:

Request for Expedited Processing for the Wesley Campus Ministry

DATE:

January 28, 2008

PURPOSE

Adoption of the attached Resolution would authorize expedited processing of the Wesley Campus Ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill Concept Plan and Special Use Permit applications.

BACKGROUND

On November 7, 2007 the Town Council received a petition and referred it to the Town Manager for review and recommendation.  The petition requests expedited processing of a Concept Plan and Special Use Permit applications for the Wesley Campus Ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill.  We understand the proposed project includes a student center for ministry programming and a student housing facility with approximately 160 beds.  The existing facility is located at 214 Pittsboro Street.  

On December 13, 2007 the Wesley Campus Ministry presented a Concept Plan to the Historic District Commission.  The applicant is proposing to present a Concept Plan to Council on March 10, 2008.  

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 normally requires nine months to a year to be reviewed by all the required boards and commissions and to be heard at a Public Hearing.

Following Council 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.

We follow the Council-endorsed criteria listed below in making recommendations to Council on request for expedited processing:

 

  1. Recommend expedited processing only in cases where there is a public interest or public objective involved.
  2. Recommend expedited processing only when a project that involves public interest would be harmed by following normal rules of procedures.
  3. Recommend expedited processing in cases where an applicant has submitted evidence, as endorsed by the Town Council and provided in Attachment 3, that the applicant is actively pursuing the development of a project that will:
    1. meet or exceed the LEED Silver certification; and
    2. exceed the energy standards by 20 percent of ASHRAE 90.1-2004.
  4. Avoid expedited processing in situations where other applications that do not carry this special status would be delayed.

DISCUSSION

Several development applications are currently working toward being placed on the Council’s Public Hearing schedule.  The impact of granting expedited processing for Wesley Campus Ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill is that one less space would be available on the Council’s schedule for which other applications are competing.  Projects that have been granted expedited processing are identified in Attachment 4.

For the following reasons, we believe that the proposal meets the objectives for public purpose in the criteria above for granting expedited processing status:

RECOMMENDATION

Staff’s Recommendation:  We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution.  Adoption of the resolution would grant expedited processing for the Wesley Campus Ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill.

ATTACHMENTS

 

  1. Petition (p. 4).
  2. Letter from Wesley Campus Ministry at UNC-Chapel Hill dated January 15, 2008 (p. 5).
  3. Area Map (p. 7).
  4. LEED Certification Criteria (p. 8).
  5. List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing (p.9).