AGENDA #5p

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

TO:                  W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

FROM:            Roger S. Waldon, Planning Director

SUBJECT:       Report on Comparison of 2,000 Square Feet vs. 5,000 Square Feet in LUMO – Consequences

DATE:             March 30, 2004

At a Budget Work Session on February 27, the Town Council asked for staff comment on the following topic:

What would be the impacts of changing the threshold for requiring stormwater management and tree protection controls for single-family and two-family lots from the existing threshold of 5,000 square feet of land disturbance, to a new threshold of 2,000 square feet?

This memorandum offers facts and comments in response.

BACKGROUND

In January 2003, the Council enacted a Land Use Management Ordinance that contained several new provisions regarding stormwater management and tree protection.  Among the new requirements:

• If land disturbance associated with new construction, expansion, or renovation of a single-family or two family dwelling exceeds 5,000 square feet in area, stormwater management devices must be installed to assure that rate and volume of runoff following development do not exceed rate and volume in the pre-development condition; and that 85% of total suspended solids be removed from runoff in the post-development condition.

• If land disturbance associated with new construction, expansion, or renovation of a single-family or two family dwelling exceeds 5,000 square feet in area, a tree survey must be provided identifying all significant and specimen trees on the property near the area to be disturbed;  trees identified for preservation and for removal must be indicated;  and tree protection fencing must be installed prior to the start of construction to mark the limits of land disturbance and protection of trees that are to be preserved.

Prior to January 2003, no stormwater management or tree protection regulations applied to construction activity for a single-family or two-family dwelling on an individual lot.

DISCUSSION

As the Town Council considered enacting these new requirements during the spring and fall of 2002, discussion focused on the benefits and costs of the proposed requirements.  We recall the following points raised during deliberations:

Benefits of Requirements Costs of Requirements

-  Additional control of stormwater runoff            -  $1,500-$5,000 to homeowner per application

-  Identification of rare and specimen trees           -  5-15 hours of staff time per application

-  Tree protection devices during construction   

In the end, the Council determined that a threshold of 5,000 square feet would strike a reasonable balance in achieving public objectives for stormwater management and tree protection while minimizing imposition on private property owners and minimizing the need for additional staff resources.  A threshold of 5,000 square feet of disturbed land area means that almost all construction of new single-family or two-family dwellings will need stormwater controls and will need to install tree protection devices during construction; and that most additions to existing dwellings will not have these requirements.

These requirements have been in place for just over a year.  In this time, we have processed 506 applications for single-family Zoning Compliance Permits.  Following is a breakdown of these 506 applications:

            Denied or Returned as Incomplete:                                66

            Approved, Land Disturbance > 5,000 sq. ft.               155*  (50 non-Meadowmont)

            Approved, Land Disturbance 2,000-5,000 sq. ft.          53

            Approved, Land Disturbance < 2,000 sq. ft.               232

            TOTAL                                                                      506

            ______________________________

*Of the 155 applications over 5,000 square feet, 105 were in Meadowmont where individual stormwater management and tree protection controls are not required, because stormwater and tree protection are managed development-wide through Special Use Permit requirements.

The bottom line, for the year, is that 50 new single-family/two-family applications came in showing land disturbance greater than 5,000 square feet, and were required to include stormwater management and tree protection controls.  Another 53 applications came in showing land disturbance between 2,000 and 5,000 square feet, which were not required to include stormwater and tree protection controls.  Accordingly, if the threshold triggering stormwater management and tree protection requirements were to be changed from 5,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet, the number of applications subject to the requirements could be expected to double.  Almost all of the applications that would be newly made subject to the requirements would be for additions to existing dwellings.

SUMMARY

The current threshold of 5,000 square feet of land disturbance to trigger stormwater management and tree protection controls means that almost all applications for construction of new single-family or two-family dwellings must include these controls; and most additions to existing structures do not.   Changing the threshold to 2,000 square feet would mean that many additions to existing single-family or two-family structures would need to include these controls.  We estimate that the number of such applications for additions affected would be approximately 50 per year, doubling the number of applications that are currently subject to these requirements.

A reasonable projected estimate of staff time required to process applications if this change were made would be approximately 500 hours per year.

If the Council wishes to make this change, the next step would be to call a Public Hearing to consider an amendment to the Land Use Management Ordinance to effect the change.