AGENDA #4 and #8
TO: Chapel Hill Town Council
UNC-CH Trustees/Chancellor
FROM: David Owens
RE: Update on Staff Activities
Public Input and Information Sessions
Recommended Process for Next Steps
DATE: March 11, 2009
Below is a summary of on-going staff work on the Carolina North development review project and the public input and information sessions. The focus of the staff work and public involvement efforts in the January through March 2009 period is the development of specific standards and mitigation measures to be incorporated within the Town’s regulations on Carolina North.
1. Staff Activities
As reported last month, joint Town/University staff working groups have been meeting to discuss potential development standards and mitigation measures for the “Group 2” topics – those for which previous community discussions provide sufficient guidance and consensus to allow staff to prepare proposals for your consideration. The joint staff work groups completed the initial round of meetings and the materials from these discussions were shared with the public in the information sessions noted below.
The staff is working on conversion of these suggestions to specific provisions that could be included in the development agreement, the ordinance amendments, design guidelines, or addressed otherwise. The Town staff and University staff are independently reviewing and discussing these materials. Once these internal reviews are complete, the Town and University Joint Staff Work Group (JSWG) will meet to compare the results of these reviews and prepare staff materials on potential standards and mitigation measures for consideration by the Council and Trustees.
Staff work is also underway on the Group 1 topics that have been discussed by the Council and Trustees. As these Council-Trustee discussions take place, staff is identifying potential standards and mitigation measures, as well as additional options for discussion. Work on these standards is being done by joint work groups of Town-University attorneys and joint work groups of planners and others directly involved with the particular issue.
The JSWG anticipates that this phase of the staff work on both Group 1 and 2 topics can be completed and be ready for distribution to the Council and Trustees by the end of March.
There are two consultant reports that will also eventually need to be incorporated into potential development agreement standards and mitigation measures. The consultant’s report on the fiscal impact analysis was completed and distributed to the Council and Trustees on March 3. An informational session with the consultant has been scheduled for the evening of March 31. Consultant qualifications for the transportation impact analysis have been received and are now being reviewed by staff. It is anticipated a consultant will be selected in the next few weeks and that a report on the transportation impact analysis will be available on or before May 1.
2. Public Input and Information Sessions
Two additional public input sessions have been held since the February Council-Trustees meeting. A session was held on February 19 at Town Hall. Staff provided an update on the second set of the staff working group ideas for development standards and mitigation measures (the results of the first set of the staff work group ideas were shared and discussed at the January 29 public input session). Citizens attending offered comments both on the overall process and on the specific issues for which staff work on development standards and mitigation ideas were available. An additional public input session was held on the afternoon and evening of March 4. This session focused on four key topics – environmental standards, energy conservation, traffic and transportation, and stormwater management. For each of these issue areas, Town and University staff provided updates and public comment and discussion followed. In additional, the staff suggestions for all of the Group 2 topics were posted and further public comment on them was solicited.
The next public input session is scheduled for April 1. The topics for that session will be selected in large part based on the discussion at this meeting regarding the process going forward.
Public comments received to date are organized and displayed the Town web site. The staff will also prepare a means for reporting where the comments received are addressed in the proposed development agreement, ordinance, or otherwise. It is anticipated this “roadmap” linking comments to the proposed actions will be available during the May formal review period.
3. Future Council and Trustee Activities
The meeting tonight concludes the Council-Trustee discussion of the Group 1 topics. The next step for the Council and Trustees is a discussion of the package to send to public hearing for formal public review. This package will include a draft development agreement, the potential LUMO text amendment to create the U-1 zoning district, and a potential zoning atlas amendment.
The staff suggests that you consider the following general process to accomplish this.
First the staff will assemble the initial draft of the overall package. Our estimate is that this can be ready by the end of March. Several detailed portions of the package will need to be supplemented later (particularly to incorporate the results of the transportation impact analysis), but staff materials for the vast majority of the topics and provisions should be ready by that time.
Second, the Council and Trustees need to establish a process for each to make their own independent review and discussion of the overall package. For the Council, we suggest a Council work session similar to the January 10 session. These independent discussions need to be held after receipt of the staff package at the end of March and prior to a mid-April joint Council-Trustee discussion.
Third, the Council and Trustees need to add a longer joint work session in mid-April to discuss this package. The staff suggests that a four to five hour work session will be required to look at both the overall package and discuss key individual topics.
Fourth, the previously scheduled April 22 Council-Trustee work session could be used to handle any follow-up items from the mid-April Council-Trustee session and to decide on whether the package is ready for formal public review.
If the decision is made at the April 22 work session to go forward, this allows time prior to the end of April for a formal University submittal of a zoning map amendment application, formal submission of the proposed development agreement, and a staff recommendation of a LUMO text amendment, thereby allowing for an advertisement by May 1 for a May 11 Council public hearing. That hearing schedule allows time for Council discussion of the matter from mid-May to mid-June, with such continued or additional hearings as deemed necessary, and a Council decision on June 22.
4. Updated Detailed Timeline
The current version of the overall detailed timeline for this project is set out as Appendix A. This timeline will be updated again after this meeting to incorporate the direction the Council and Trustees decide to take on the recommendations above.