Monday 10 March 2008

Chapel Hill Town Council

Subject:            Land Use Management Ordinance (LUMO) Text Amendments:

Ordinance B – RCD Floor Area

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment.

I do not support this recommendation and I will share the comments I provided to the Town Planning Board on 19 February 2008.

With respect to the proposed Ordinance B on page 8 of the Memorandum–

“This recommended change to the floor area ratio in the RCD would permit allowable floor area to be transferred from the environmentally sensitive portion of the property to the buildable portion of the property rather than penalize properties that have some portion in the RCD by artificially reducing the allowable floor area on the overall site.”

This appears to endorse high density for properties that contain an RCD.  I understand that procedures are in place if applicants want to request re-zoning for appropriate properties.

Changing the ordinance sends the message to applicants that high-density is being encouraged for purchased properties which contain an RCD.

I also disagree with the following assertion:

“We do not anticipate that the recommendation to replace the above RCD floor area ratio with the floor area ratio of the underlying zoning district will negatively impact the RCD.”

No evidence has been presented that there will not be a negative impact on the RCD.  Higher density adjacent to the RCD will impact surface area, trees, drainage, and water usage.  Are there examples where the higher densities have been allowed next to an RCD and are there environmental impact studies available?

I think this recommendation is inconsistent with Chapel Hill’s concern for the environment.

An RCD should not be penalized for being located within a property. 

Thank you.

Timothy A. Kuhn

37 Clover Drive

Chapel Hill, NC  27517