AGENDA #4f

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:       Request for Expedited Processing of Special Use Permit Modification Application for OWASA Wastewater Treatment Facility

 

DATE:             November 24 , 2003

 

 

On November 10, 2003, the Town Council received a petition from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority regarding a proposed expansion of the Mason Farm Road Wastewater Treatment Facility.  The petition was referred to the Town Manager for review and recommendation. The petition requests expedited processing of a Special Use Permit Modification application. A copy of the petition is attached.  The attached resolution would authorize expedited processing of this application. We recommend adoption of the resolution.

 

BACKGROUND

 

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

 

Following 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.

 

DISCUSSION

 

Request:  The petition requests expedited processing status of a Special Use Permit Modification application.  The application proposes expansion of the Mason Farm Road Wastewater Treatment Facility.  We have not received a formal application.  OWASA representatives had been working in good faith under an assumption that the expansion request could be handled administratively, as in the case of the last expansion.  However, as Town staff investigated the proposal, it was determined that the approval required exceeded administrative authority.

 

Expedited Processing:  We have generally followed the criteria listed below in making recommendations to the Council on requests 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 procedure.

3.      Avoid expedited processing in situations where other applications that do not carry this special status would be delayed.

 

The proposal would involve needed expansion of the community’s wastewater treatment facility and we believe that public interest or public objectives would be viewed as being addressed by this proposal.

 

Several development applications are currently working toward being placed on the Council’s Public Hearing schedule. The impact of granting expedited processing for this OWASA application 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 in the past are listed in Attachment 1.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

Manager’s Recommendation: We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution to grant expedited processing for an application for modification of the OWASA Wastewater Treatment Facility.   The resolution establishes a schedule, based on preparation and submittal of application materials in a timely manner, which includes a target Public Hearing date of February 16, 2004.

 

ATTACHMENT

 

1.      List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing (p. 4).

2.      Letter from Orange Water and Sewer Authority (p. 6).

 

 

A RESOLUTION DIRECTING EXPEDITED PROCESSING IN THE REVIEW OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT MODIFICATION APPLICATION FOR THE OWASA MASON FARM ROAD WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY (2003-11-24/R-5)

 

WHEREAS, the Town Council has received a petition from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority for expedited processing of a Special Use Permit Modification application seeking approval of an expansion of the Mason Farm Road Wastewater Treatment Facility; and

 

WHEREAS, the Town Council finds that there is a public interest associated with expansion of the wastewater treatment facility;  

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town Manager is directed to expedite processing of a Special Use Permit Modification application for expansion of the Mason Farm Road Wastewater Treatment Facility in a manner that will speed review without sacrificing breadth or depth of review.  If the Special Use Permit Modification application is prepared and submitted in a timely manner, the following tentative schedule is hereby endorsed:

           

 

This the 24th day of November, 2003.

 

ATTACHMENT 1

 

List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing

November 24, 2003

 

After receiving staff recommendations based on these criteria, since 1993 the Council has approved expedited processing for:

 

Ø      Intimate Bookshop,

Ø      Erwin Village Subdivision,

Ø      Ruth Faison Shaw Museum,

Ø      Chapel Hill Public Library,

Ø      Chapel Hill Public Housing,

Ø      Culbreth Park Subdivision,

Ø      East Chapel Hill High School,

Ø      Orange County Southern Human Services Center,

Ø      Hargraves Gymnasium addition,

Ø      Transitional Housing on Clark Road,

Ø      Chapel Hill Day Care at Southern Village,

Ø      Bolin Creek Greenway Phase II,

Ø      Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Transportation Center,

Ø      WUNC Tower request,

Ø      Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center,

Ø      Pavilion,

Ø      Southern Village Elementary School,

Ø      Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity,

Ø      Neville Tract,

Ø      McDade House relocation,

Ø      Freedom House,

Ø      Orange Community Housing Corporation Scarlette Housing,

Ø      Kenan Stadium Expansion,

Ø      UNC Co-generation Facility Boiler Replacement,

Ø      Chapel Hill Internal Medicine,

Ø      Midway Business Center,

Ø      Carol Woods Retirement Community (for Village Charter School use),

Ø      University Mall Redevelopment,

Ø      Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity House,

Ø      Greene Tract rezoning, 

Ø      Manley Estates Housing,

Ø      University Fraternity and Sorority applications (sprinkler projects),

Ø      Carol Woods Retirement Center (for day care addition, dining hall  expansion and new units),

Ø      Church of the Holy Family Expansion,

Ø      Eastwood Lake Project, 

Ø      Chapel Hill Pediatrics,

Ø      UNC Airport Drive Office Building,

Ø      Rams Plaza Renovations,

Ø      Meadowmont School/Park,

Ø      Meadowmont Wachovia Bank,

Ø      Orange County Landfill,

Ø      Rosemary Street Mixed Use Development,

Ø      Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center,

Ø      Rusch Road Habitat for Humanity Subdivision,

Ø      Village Plaza Shopping Center,

Ø      Meadowmont Hilltop and Greenway Condominium,

Ø      Empowerment, 229 North Graham Street,

Ø      Red, Hot and Blue Restaurant at Village Plaza,

Ø      UNC Print Services,

Ø      Town of Chapel Hill Operation Center, and

Ø      Eastgate Shopping Center gas station conversion.

 

Requests for this special application processing by East Franklin Car Care, Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, an application for parking and refuse facilities at 317 W. Rosemary Street, The Franklin Hotel, Eastowne 501 Office Building, and Avalon Park Subdivision were not approved by the Town Council.