memorandum

to:                  Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

from:            J. B. Culpepper, Planning Director

Gene Poveromo, Development Manager

subject:       Request for Expedited Processing for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Elementary School #11

date:            September 8, 2008

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to respond to a request from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools regarding expedited processing of Elementary School #11.

Adoption of the attached Resolution would authorize expedited processing of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #11 Special Use Permit Modification application.

BACKGROUND

On June 25, 2008 the Town Council received a petition from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools and referred it to the Town Manager for review and recommendation.  The petition request expedited processing of a Special Use Permit Modification application for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #11.  The proposed school is located at the former Orange County Northside Complex between McMasters Street and Caldwell Street Extension.  We believe the proposed Special Use Permit Modification application would be accompanied with a rezoning request.  The petition indicates the need of the school system to receive a building permit by February 2010 to meet the needs of their schedule.

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 OF EXPEDITED REQUEST

Several development applications are currently working toward being placed on the Council’s Public Hearing schedule.  The impact of granting expedited processing for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ Elementary School #11 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.

We believe that the proposal meets the objectives for public purpose in the criteria above for granting expedited processing status.

RECOMMENDATION

That the Council adopt the attached resolution to grant expedited processing for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Elementary School #11.

ATTACHMENTS

  1. Petition from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools dated June 11, 2008 (p. 4).
  2. Area Map (p. 5).
  3. List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing (p. 6).