MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Public Hearing: Development Ordinance Text Amendment – Materials Handling District Bufferyard
DATE: February 21, 2000
INTRODUCTION
This Public Hearing has been scheduled
for the Town Council to consider a proposed Development Ordinance text
amendment. The proposal would change
the landscape bufferyard provision of the recently created Materials Handling
zoning district. The Orange
County Commissioners have requested that the Town Council revisit this buffer
requirement, and ask that the requirement be changed (please see the attached
letter).
The Town Council and the Orange County Commissioners have also scheduled a Joint Public Hearing for tonight to consider a rezoning proposal that would apply the recently created Materials Handling zoning district to the Greene Tract.
BACKGROUND
On November 8, 1999, the Town Council adopted a Development Ordinance text amendment which:
· added a definition for a new land use called a a Solid Waste Management Facility;
· established a new Materials Handling zoning district and associated land use regulations; and
· amended the provisions of the Development Ordinance regarding the location and process for approval of such a facility.
The text amendment was related to the transfer of
responsibility and ownership of the Greene Tract described in the recently
executed Interlocal Agreement. The
Chapel Hill Town Council, along with the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the
Orange County Board of Commissioners, has approved and executed an Interlocal
Agreement for management of solid waste. The Interlocal Agreement describes the
transfer of responsibility for and ownership of solid waste management
functions to Orange County. The Greene
Tract is a 169 acre landfill asset.
Final negotiations concluded that the Greene Tract will be divided into
two parcels. A sixty acre parcel is to
be deeded to Orange County, after execution of the new Interlocal
Agreement. The remaining approximate
109 acres is to be maintained under joint ownership until its future status is
resolved.
The Interlocal Agreement provides that the County may use 60 acres of the Greene Tract property for solid waste management purposes, including location of solid waste management facilities. Included in the proposed definition of solid waste management facilities are transfer stations and materials recovery facilities (MRF). A transfer station is a facility that receives local waste and then transports the waste to a distant disposal facility. A materials recovery facility receives recyclables collected through local recycling programs and prepares them for marketing.
We note that the property that is the subject of this initiative, the Greene Tract, is located outside of Chapel Hill’s corporate limits, in the Joint Planning Transition Area. A separate application has been submitted which proposes to rezone land to the new Materials Handling zoning district. The rezoning proposal must go through a separate process that involves a Joint Public Hearing with the Orange County Commissioners. Following such a hearing, both the Chapel Hill Town Council and the Orange County Board of Commissioners, in separate actions, would need to consider the rezoning proposal. If the property is rezoned, an application for a Solid Waste Management Facility could be received and acted upon by the Chapel Hill Town Manager.
AMENDMENT TO THE DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE
The proposal would amend the Development Ordinance provisions regarding landscape bufferyard provisions for a Solid Waste Management Facility.
Following is the language that would effect the proposed landscape bufferyard change to the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance as requested by the County Commissioners:
AMEND Article 14 of the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance to read as follows:
“A buffer is a strip of land together with the
screening required thereon. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this
chapter, the type of buffer required between a proposed development and
adjacent streets, land uses or zoning designations shall be as specified in
Subsection 14.12.6, Schedule of Required Buffers. Where the proposed development site and the adjacent land are
both located within either Town Center District, no buffer shall be
required. Where the proposed
development site is located in the Residential-Special Standards-Conditional
zoning district, no buffer shall be required.
Where the proposed development site is located in the Materials Handing
(MH) zoning district, a 100 200
foot Type “E” landscape bufferyard shall be required. between the
proposed development and all residential land uses with no landscape bufferyard
required between the proposed development and non-residential land uses including
railroad corridors.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Planning Board Recommendation: On February 1, 2000, the Planning Board voted 7-0 to recommend that the Council adopt Ordinance B, which would change the perimeter buffer requirement to 100 feet with no exceptions. Please refer to the attached Summary of Planning Board Action.
Manager's Preliminary Recommendation: At the time of creation of the Materials Handling zoning district, we recommended that the Town establish a 100 foot bufferyard. During the Public Hearing for the text amendment, the Council increased the bufferyard width to 200 feet. We recommend the proposal included in Ordinance A, which would change the perimeter bufferyard to 100 feet and not require a bufferyard next to non-residential land uses and the railroad corridor.
Attachments:
Summary of Planning Board Action (p.6)
Letter from County Commissioners with attached map (p.7)
ORDINANCE A
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CHAPEL HILL DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE REGARDING LANDSCAPE BUFFERYARD REQUIREMENTS IN THE MATERIALS HANDLING DISTRICT
WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill has considered the proposed amendment to the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance to change the landscape bufferyard requirement in the Materials Handling zoning district, and finds that the amendment is appropriate due to changed or changing conditions in a particular area or in the jurisdiction generally and achieve the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill as follows:
Section 1. The first paragraph of Section 14.12.2 of the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance is hereby amended to read as follows:
“A buffer is a strip of land together with the
screening required thereon. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this
chapter, the type of buffer required between a proposed development and
adjacent streets, land uses or zoning designations shall be as specified in
Subsection 14.12.6, Schedule of Required Buffers. Where the proposed development site and the adjacent land are
both located within either Town Center District, no buffer shall be
required. Where the proposed
development site is located in the Residential-Special Standards-Conditional zoning
district, no buffer shall be required.
Where the proposed development site is located in the Materials Handing
(MH) zoning district, a 100 200
foot Type “E” landscape bufferyard shall be required. between the
proposed development and all residential land uses with no landscape bufferyard
required between the proposed development and non-residential land uses
including railroad corridors.”
Section 2. That all
ordinances and portions of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
Section 3. That these amendments shall become effective upon adoption.
This the ___ day of _______ 2000.
ORDINANCE B
(Planning Board Recommendation)
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CHAPEL HILL DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE REGARDING LANDSCAPE BUFFERYARD REQUIREMENTS IN THE MATERIALS HANDLING DISTRICT
WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill has considered the proposed amendment to the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance to change the landscape bufferyard requirement in the Materials Handling zoning district, and finds that the amendment is appropriate due to changed or changing conditions in a particular area or in the jurisdiction generally and achieve the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill as follows:
Section 1. The first paragraph of Section 14.12.2 of the Chapel Hill Development Ordinance is hereby amended to read as follows:
“A buffer is a strip of land together with the
screening required thereon. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this
chapter, the type of buffer required between a proposed development and
adjacent streets, land uses or zoning designations shall be as specified in
Subsection 14.12.6, Schedule of Required Buffers. Where the proposed development site and the adjacent land are
both located within either Town Center District, no buffer shall be
required. Where the proposed
development site is located in the Residential-Special Standards-Conditional
zoning district, no buffer shall be required.
Where the proposed development site is located in the Materials Handing
(MH) zoning district, a 100 200
foot Type “E” landscape bufferyard shall be required.”
Section 2. That all
ordinances and portions of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
Section 3. That these amendments shall become effective upon adoption.
This the ___ day of ________ 2000.