AGENDA #5e

 

MEMORANDUM

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:      Request for Expedited Processing of Special Use Permit Application for the Chapel Hill Kehillah Parking Lot Rental

 

DATE:            April 25, 2005

 

 

On April 5, 2005, the Town Council received a petition from Stanley J. Robboy and Lee R. Nackman, Co-Presidents of the Chapel Hill Kehillah.  The petition was referred to the Town Manager for review and recommendation. The petition requested expedited processing of a Special Use Permit application which proposes to lease parking spaces at the Chapel Hill Kehillah on Mason Farm Road.  We do not recommend adoption of the attached resolution, which would authorize expedited processing of this application.

 

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 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.

 

We do not believe that this application meets the Council’s criteria for granting expedited processing.  Because of other applications previously granted such status, there would likely not be much shortening of the review time for this project even if expedited processing is granted.  Projects that have been granted expedited processing are identified in Attachment 1.

 

DISCUSSION

 

Request:  The petition requests expedited processing status of a Special Use Permit application.  The Special Use Permit proposes to allow the place of worship to lease parking spaces in its parking lot as a Park/Ride.  A Park/Ride is allowed in a residential zoning district only with Town Council approval of a Special Use Permit.  The new facility is proposed on Mason Farm Road at the Purefoy Road intersection.  A formal Special Use Permit application has not been submitted to the Town for this proposed facility.

 

Expedited Processing:  We followed the Council-endorsed criteria listed below when making recommendations to 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.

 

Several development applications are currently working toward being placed on the Council’s Public Hearing schedule.  The impact of granting expedited processing for the Mason Farm Road proposal is that one less space would be available on the Council’s schedule for which other applications are competing.

 

We do not believe that the proposal meets the objectives for public purpose in the three criteria above for granting expedited processing status. Although we appreciate the organization’s desire to be economically healthy, we do not believe expedited processing is warranted for the rental parking lot proposal.  The rental parking lot facility does not appear to involve a direct public interest.  We do not recommend that the Council grant Expedited Processing Status for the rental parking lot proposal.

 

Projects that have been granted expedited processing are identified in Attachment 1.

 

RECOMMENDATION

 

Manager’s Recommendation:  We recommend that the Council take no action on the petition requesting expedited processing of a Special Use Permit for a Park/Ride Facility. 

 

If the Council chooses to grant expedited processing, we have attached a resolution.  Adoption of the resolution would grant expedited processing for the Chapel Hill Kehillah Park/Ride development application, if the Council chooses to grant this request.

 

ATTACHMENTS

 

  1. List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing (p. 4).
  2. Petition from Chapel Hill Kehillah (p. 6).

 

 

A RESOLUTION DIRECTING EXPEDITED PROCESSING IN THE REVIEW OF A SPECIAL USE PERMIT APPLICATION FOR CHAPEL HILL KEHILLAH PARK/RIDE DEVELOPMENT (2005-04-25/R-8)

 

WHEREAS, the Town of Chapel Hill has received a petition for Chapel Hill Kehillah requesting expedited processing of a Special Use Permit application seeking approval to establish Park/Ride facility on Mason Farm Road; and

 

WHEREAS, the Council finds that there is a significant public purpose associated with development of this application;

 

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 application for Chapel Hill Kehillah’s Park/Ride Development in a manner that will speed review without sacrificing breadth or depth of analysis.

 

This the 25th day of April, 2005.

 

ATTACHMENT 1

List of Projects Granted Expedited Processing

April 25, 2005

 

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

 

Ø      Intimate Bookshop (burned downtown building)

Ø      Erwin Village Subdivision (Affordable Housing)

Ø      Ruth Faison Shaw Museum (Nonprofit initiative)

Ø      Chapel Hill Public Library (Public Project)

Ø      Chapel Hill Public Housing (Public Project)

Ø      Culbreth Park Subdivision  (Public Project)

Ø      East Chapel Hill High School  (Public Project)

Ø      Orange County Southern Human Services Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Hargraves Gymnasium addition  (Public Project)

Ø      Transitional Housing on Clark Road  (Affordable Housing)

Ø      Chapel Hill Day Care at Southern Village  (Community Day Care)

Ø      Bolin Creek Greenway Phase II  (Public Project)

Ø      Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Transportation Center (Public Project)

Ø      WUNC Tower request  (Public Project)

Ø      Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Pavilion  (Economic Opportunity)

Ø      Southern Village Elementary School  (Public Project)

Ø      Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity  (burned structure)

Ø      Neville Tract  (Public Project)

Ø      McDade House relocation  (Historic Structure)

Ø      Freedom House  (Community Services)

Ø      Orange Community Housing Corporation Scarlette Housing (Affordable Housing)

Ø      Kenan Stadium Expansion  (Public Project)

Ø      UNC Co-generation Facility Boiler Replacement  (Public Project)

Ø      Chapel Hill Internal Medicine  (Patient - Community Demand)

Ø      Midway Business Center  (Nonprofit Community Economic Development)

Ø      Carol Woods Retirement Community (Village Charter School)  (School)

Ø      University Mall Redevelopment  (Council Committee)

Ø      Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity House  (sprinkler project)

Ø      Greene Tract rezoning  (Public Project)

Ø      Manley Estates Housing  (Affordable Housing)

Ø      University Fraternity and Sorority applications (sprinkler projects),

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

Ø      Church of the Holy Family Expansion  (Community Nonprofit)

Ø      Eastwood Lake Project  (Stormwater Management)

Ø      Chapel Hill Pediatrics  (Patient - Community Demands)

Ø      UNC Airport Drive Office Building  (Public Project)

Ø      Rams Plaza Renovations  (Related to work of Council Committee)

Ø      Meadowmont School/Park  (Public Project) 

Ø      Meadowmont Wachovia Bank  (Affordable Housing Opportunity)

Ø      Orange County Landfill  (Public Project)

Ø      Rosemary Street Mixed Use Development  (Public Interest)

Ø      Paul J. Rizzo Conference Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Rusch Road Habitat for Humanity Subdivision  (Affordable Housing)

Ø      Village Plaza Shopping Center  (Significant Cooperative Initiative)

Ø      Meadowmont Hilltop and Greenway Condominium  (Affordable Housing)

Ø      Empowerment, 229 North Graham Street  (Nonprofit Community Group)

Ø      Red, Hot and Blue Restaurant at Village Plaza  (No physical changes, adjusting archaic condition)

Ø      UNC Print Services  (Public Project)

Ø      Town of Chapel Hill Operation Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Eastgate Shopping Center gas station conversion  (Contaminated Soil)

Ø      OWASA Wastewater Treatment Facility  (Public Project)

Ø      Village Plaza Theaters  (Related to Construction in Progress)

Ø      Southern Community Park  (Public Project)

Ø      UNC Softball Complex  (Public Project)

Ø      Homestead Park Aquatic Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Holy Trinity Church  (Community Nonprofit)

Ø      OWASA I-40 Booster Pump Station  (Public Project)

Ø      Southern Orange Senior Center  (Public Project)

Ø      Village Apartments  (Related to Council Objective)

Ø      Sunrise Road Habitat for Humanity Development (Affordable Housing)

 

The following requests for this special application processing were not approved by the Town Council:

·         East Franklin Car Care,

·         Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority,

·         an application for parking and refuse facilities at 317 West Rosemary Street,

·         The Franklin Hotel,

·         Eastowne 501 Office Building, and

·         Avalon Park Subdivision.