AGENDA #4m
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Visualization of Development Proposals
DATE: March 27, 2000
Tonight we offer a proposal to begin a process of encouraging and requiring applicants seeking development approvals to present imagery depicting their sites and proposed developments.
BACKGROUND
Last year, we brought a report to the Town Council describing technologies that are being used to assist in the visualization of development proposals. We offered examples of computer images that now commonly are used to project what a building or development might look like once constructed, or what a street might look like under different landscaping scenarios. We showed examples of video images to illustrate a road at different times of day, operating under varied levels of service. And the Council discussed the desirability of doing more work in this area. We offer this memorandum tonight as a follow-up to those ideas.
We have begun occasionally to see applicants bring forth computer images to help the Town Council and advisory boards in their review of development proposals. The concept is not a new one; artists’ renderings and the construction of three-dimensional, physical models have long been used to help illustrate a designer’s vision. What is relatively new is the availability of technologies that can at the same time make these images more realistic, and also allow them to be produced less expensively.
One of the best examples we have seen was the presentation of the VilCom development proposal last fall. For that application, the applicant provided a video-taped presentation that included a simulated drive-through of the proposed development. The viewer could see the scale and design of buildings, along with proposed landscaping and parking areas. The video also included taped presentations of members of the development team, describing the project and referring to drawings. A presentation of this kind, including computer simulation, can cost anywhere from $7,000 or $8,000 to $20,000 or more.
That kind of simulation technology is increasingly available, and costs of production are less than they once were. We believe there is little question about the value of having information presented in that form: it helps everybody.
But even modest attempts at visual imagery can be useful. We currently are reviewing plans for the renovation of a Fraternity on Rosemary Street. The applicant supplied photographs of the existing structure and surrounding properties to accompany the description of proposed changes. When we present this application to the Town Council at an upcoming public hearing, we intend to use the images to help describe the plan.
As the Council has seen, the level of sophistication and precision accompanying any attempt at visualization can vary widely. Some applicants have chosen to devote considerable resources to the task of simulating the buildings and environments they propose to create. Not all applicants are in a position to do that. Yet it is almost always the case that some imagery, even if no more than photographs of existing conditions, can enhance the understanding of all involved in the development review process: Council members, Advisory Board members, citizens, and staff.
We suggest starting a systematic approach to visualization by a combination of requirements and encouragement. First, the requirements: We suggest that, beginning immediately, all applicants seeking development approvals from the Town (Rezonings, Master Plans, Special Use Permits, Site Plan Approvals, and Major Subdivisions) must submit photographs along with their applications. The photographs, at a minimum, must depict the site and its immediate surroundings. Submission of current aerial photographs will be highly encouraged. Applicants will be encouraged to submit such images in electronic form; but with a scanner now in place in Town Hall, hard-copy photographs can work as well. With these images in our files, we will begin routinely incorporating photographs into our presentations to the Council and to Advisory Boards. Photographs will also be available at public information meetings, and for review along with plans in Town Hall. We will be working toward a system whereby information about all new development applications can be posted on the Town’s website, and the photographs can be posted there as well.
In addition, we suggest that the Council formally make a statement (through adoption of the attached resolution), that it considers visualization and simulation of development plans to be highly useful, informative, and desired, and that the Council encourages all applicants bringing proposals before Advisory Boards and the Council to provide such imagery. This would stop short of a requirement, for now; but we believe that as the Council and the development community begin accumulating experience and familiarity with now-available technologies, use will become more commonplace and expected. It may be that a subsequent action in the future might be to require such imagery, if the Council finds enough value in it.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution, which would (1) direct the Town Manager to begin requiring photographs as a standard component of major development applications; and (2) encourage applicants to provide electronic visualization and simulation of development applications.
If the Council adopts this resolution, it would be our intent to make a copy of the resolution part of our standard set of handouts to potential applicants. We would also begin accumulating information about resources available that provide visualization services, so as to make that information available to applicants who request it.
A RESOLUTION ENCOURAGING APPLICANTS SEEKING DEVELOPMENT APPROVALS TO INCLUDE VISUALIZATION IMAGERY (2000-03-27/R-13)
WHEREAS, the Chapel Hill Town Council believes that the best decisions regarding development applications are made when all parties involved in the process have a complete understanding of what is being proposed; and
WHEREAS, such understanding can be materially enhanced with the aid of visual depictions and simulations of proposed development;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town Manager is directed to require, as a component of all new applications for rezoning, Special Use Permit, Site Plan Review, and/or Major Subdivision, that photographs be submitted as part of the development application which illustrate existing conditions on the subject property and adjacent properties.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council encourages all applicants seeking rezoning, Master Plan, Special Use Permit, Site Plan Review, and/or Major Subdivision approval to prepare and submit, along with their applications, visualization and simulation materials in an electronic form that can be used at public meetings to help explain the proposed project and its impacts.
This the 27th day of March, 2000.