AGENDA #1
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Diagnosis Report for Development Ordinance Revision Project
DATE: October 18, 2000
Tonight the
Council receives a “Diagnosis Report” prepared by Lane Kendig, inc. This is the first product of the current
project to revise Chapel Hill’s Development Ordinance. A copy of the Diagnosis is attached, along
with a set of comments that have been made to date by Town Advisory Boards and
citizens.
BACKGROUND
On May 8, 2000, the Town Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan and implementation of the new Plan is now underway. One important implementation step involves the Development Ordinance. The Development Ordinance needs to be brought into conformance with the newly adopted Comprehensive Plan; and this is also being viewed as an opportunity to "fix" the things that some people think are wrong with the Development Ordinance.
On July 5, 2000, the Town Council selected the firm of Lane Kendig, inc. to provide assistance with the revision of the Development Ordinance. The work schedule calls for this Diagnosis Report to be presented to the Town Council during October, following the consultant’s review of the current Ordinance and review of comments offered by Advisory Boards and citizens.
The consultants (Mr. Lane Kendig and Mr. Dwight Merriam) met with the Town Council in a Work Session format in early September. Also during September we asked Town Advisory Boards and Commissions to consider addressing the following two questions, based on background and experience in dealing with Chapel Hill’s Development Ordinance:
1) What provisions or features of the current Development Ordinance need to be “fixed?”
2) In addition to these items, what else should the consultant consider and give particular attention to as he drafts a new Ordinance?”
We have made notes available to the consultant from Council meetings and Comprehensive Plan meetings where suggestions for changes to the Development Ordinance were offered. We also have collected the comments of Town Advisory Boards and Commissions and made these available to the consultant for use in preparing the “Diagnosis” element of this project. The full set of Board comments is attached here.
DISCUSSION
This Diagnosis Report
is intended to offer the consultants’ view of the current situation and, in
response to comments and discussions to date, set a course for the actual
revisions. The attached Report included
the following sections:
· Comments on general organization and structure of the ordinance.
· Substantive observations and suggestions for change.
· Summary of and responses to comments and concerns raised to date.
In addition, we note that Appendices A and B summarize and attach all comments from Advisory Boards, Commissions, and citizens received to date.
Mr. Kendig will be present to present the Diagnosis and answer Council questions. We also look forward to receiving citizen comments at this Forum on the Diagnosis and its suggestions.
NEXT STEPS
At the close of
discussions at the end of this Forum, we suggest that the Council refer all
comments to the consultant for consideration.
The next step in the process will then be preparation of an Annotated
Outline for the new Ordinance, to be ready to transmit to the Town Council by
end of November.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Diagnosis Report by Lane Kendig, inc. (begin new p. 1).