AGENDA #6a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Meadowmont Park and School Special Use Permit Modification
DATE: June 11, 2001
This memorandum discusses the proposed modification of the Special Use Permit for the Meadowmont Park and School site that would have the effect of creating two separate permits for two separate owners, the Town and the Board of Education.
The attached resolution would authorize the Town Manager to sign an application for a modification to the Special Use Permit for the Meadowmont Park and School site, specifying which general site plan is to be included. Because the drawing of one of the alternatives will not be available until Monday, there is no recommendation from the Manager at this time.
On July 3, 1997, the Town issued a Special Use Permit covering 92 acres in the Meadowmont development. This area included a 70-acre park and a 22-acre school site. (The Special Use Permit is Attachment #1.) The approved site plan included fields and other park amenities and an open space on the park site in which a school building and school field could be placed.
In February 2000, East West Partners deeded the 92 acres to the Town.
On January 22, 2001, the Schools requested expedited review of an application to modify this Special Use Permit.
On February 12, 2001, the Council authorized the Town Manager to sign a deed on behalf of the Town to transfer the 22-acre site to the Schools, and to participate in the application for a modification of the Special Use Permit to allow the permit to be divided into separate permits for the school and the park.
On February 26, the Town Council approved the request for expedited review.
On May 7, 2001, the Council considered five alternative site plans for the school, four fields and other park amenities, and concluded that none were acceptable. The Board of Education agreed to consider comments made that evening and come back with revised site plan options.
On June 6, 2001, the Town Council met with members of the Board of Education and reviewed four additional site plans: two with a single story school with and without a gymnasium, and two with two-story schools with and without a gymnasium. The Council requested the architect to develop a site plan with a single story school building, a gymnasium and four fields.
Tonight’s agenda includes an item on a proposed Joint Use Agreement between the Board of Education and the Town concerning use and maintenance of the fields on the Meadowmont school site and the interior facilities of the school; a request from the Board of Education to transfer 55,986 square feet of permitted floor area from the park site to the school site; a request to waive the development fees for the Meadowmont Park/School Special Use Permit Modification; and, a proposal from the Town Council to the Orange County Board of Commissioners to fund a community gymnasium in place of a multi-purpose room for the sc
Action tonight would provide the Council’s guidance on which alternative site plan it wishes to be included in the application for a modification of the Special Use Permit, and would authorize the Town Manager to take steps to apply for the modification.
Existing Situation
The 92 acres in question is generally bounded by Meadowmont Lane on the south, by developed portions of the Oaks subdivision on the north and east, by the Chapel Hill Country Club and a 5.1-acre parcel with a single house on the west, and by residential lots under development on the southwest. The Durham County line bisects the school site. (Attachment #2 is the location map.)
The land slopes down from Meadowmont Lane toward Little Creek to the north, with the majority of the land in the Resource Conservation District (elev. 254’), the 100-year floodplain (elev. 252’) and the Army Corps of Engineers’ flowage easement for Jordan Lake (elev. 245’). This easement is reserved for possible flooding purposes as backwater to the lake. A creek runs almost due south-north across the parcel on the western part of the school site. To the east of the school site is an existing pond and log cabin on the park site.
With
the exception of a small area adjacent to the existing pond, the 92 acres is
currently wooded. Most of the school
site is a mix of medium-sized pines and hardwoods with a few larger specimens
adjacent to the south-north creek and along several abandoned fencerows that
traverse the site. At the higher
elevations on the park site there is a similar mix of medium-sized trees and a
notable bluff of larger oaks with an understory of rhododendrons above the
pond. At the lower elevations,
generally within the flowage easement, there is a large area of mature
bottomland forest dominated by well-spaced large hardwood trees.
The original Special Use Permit shows space for the school building, parking and most of the fields and park amenities closer to Meadowmont Lane, and little development in most of the park. However, the approved site plan does include a full-size football/soccer field, a softball field and a basketball court in the 100-year floodplain and the flowage easement.
The Special Use Permit specifies that the developer of Meadowmont, East West Partners, will build four fields, the basketball court, parking, restrooms, greenway and trails, three pedestrian bridges, a picnic shelter and a compost/yardwaste site. The Special Use Permit also requires that all 92 acres be deeded to the Town and that the Town “coordinate deeding of land for the school site to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.” The Board of Education would construct the school and any other amenities needed.
The Council resolved on February 12 that the Special Use Permit should be divided so that the boundaries of the Special Use Permit would follow the property boundaries. In addition, the approved site plan needs to be revised to include a footprint for the school building and to accommodate the school and park amenities that are now being designed in more detail than had been done in 1997.
We are discussing general site plans tonight which are not as detailed as those presented as part of an application for a Special Use Permit or modification. We are asking for the Council’s guidance on which site plan to include in the application for a modification. We describe below the basic plan and note the differences between the two alternatives developed with the Board of Education. A drawing of Alternative 7B was not available at the time of this writing, so the description should be considered tentative. We expect the drawing to be available by the time of the Council meeting.
The basic plan and several alternatives have been developed by the Board of Education’s architect, Corley Redfoot Zack, and have been modified a number of times in response to concerns voiced by the Town Council, Board of Education and their staffs. The two alternatives to be presented tonight both include a single story elementary school close to Meadowmont Lane, outside of the Resource Conservation District and on the west side of the Durham/Orange County line. The building is single-story, has several wings, and is situated in order to maximize the use of delighting. A 15’-wide emergency access path provides access from Meadowmont Lane around the west and north sides of the school building. Alternative 7A includes a multi-purpose room in the northeast wing of the building, and Alternative 7B includes a gymnasium in that wing instead.
The Town Council has asked about the possibility of a two-story building that may provide more flexibility in the site design. While the Board of Education presented two such alternatives at the June 6 meeting, they reported that the Board felt so strongly about keeping the building single story that they did not want to present a two-story building at this meeting. Attachment #4 lists the reasons for the Board’s opinion. One of the reasons is that a single-story building can be more efficiently and completely day lit. Attachment #5 lists the Board’s reasons for favoring delighting.
The parking is arranged to the east of the school with two one-way drop-off circles to accommodate buses and cars separately. Circulation patterns have been developed to avoid children having to cross the paths of buses or cars. An unrestricted vehicular entrance from Meadowmont Lane serves both of these circles as well as the compost area, 26 parking spaces, and basketball court on the parkland. Pedestrian access from the parking to the western field(s) is by the emergency access and a path with a pedestrian bridge. All proposed school and park development avoids the rhododendron bluffs.
In both alternatives the school playfield is located directly behind the building, partially in the Resource Conservation District and close to the playground area. To the west of the school building is a small creek which runs almost due south-north. The creek separates the school and parking from approximately 4- 5 acres of additional land that includes a softball field in the present Special Use Permit. Because there is a greater demand now for rectangular athletic fields to accommodate soccer, lacrosse and football rather than softball diamonds, two rectangular fields are proposed west of the creek. One would be regulation size and the other would be somewhat smaller. East West Partners has agreed to dedicate an access easement from the residential street through their proposed open space to the school site, so that maintenance vehicles could reach the fields developed there.
The differences between these two site plans is caused by the addition of a gymnasium instead of a multi-purpose room. Because the site is so tight, this addition causes the elimination or reduction in size of one of the fields. However, we expect that the architects have developed a way to include a fourth field on Alternative 7B as well as on 7A.
If a gym is built, it is very likely that the Town will need to contribute to the cost. To do so, it has been suggested that the developer be asked to provide the cost in cash of building the softball field and the freestanding restrooms in the park. This issue is discussed in more detail in a later agenda item. If this means of funding is used, the small field would not be built at this time. However, if the design is developed to include the space and to take into account the necessary grading, this site plan could facilitate the construction of a fourth field at a later date.
Because most of the park site is in the Resource Conservation District, the 100-year floodplain and the Jordan Lake flowage easement, we believe that the park site is unsuitable for development of recreation facilities other than trails. The site plans before the Council tonight include most of the developed amenities on or near the school site, which lies outside of the flowage easement.
We believe that the community needs more athletic fields of all sorts, and that soccer-type fields are needed now more than softball fields, particularly in the southeastern part of town. We also need additional gym space. Current programs in our three gyms have forced us to reduce the time gyms are open for free play and lack of indoor programming space has limited our recreational offerings.
These alternatives appear to address the concerns of the Board of Education. The school building in the same relatively flat spot outside the Resource Conservation District. The single story and the size and shape of the building address the Board’s objectives for its educational program and energy efficiency. These alternatives also locate the school play field and playground close to the building and separate one-way circulation for school buses and for cars is maintained.
When a drawing of Alternative 7B is available, we will be able to present the Manager’s recommendation.
The attached resolution would authorize the Town Manager to work with the Board of Education and East West Partners on the application for a modification of the Special Use Permit for the Meadowmont Park and School, following the general site plan described in an unspecified alternative.
1. 1997 Special Use Permit for Meadowmont Park and School Site (p. 7).
2. Location Map (p. 13).
3. Site Plan Alternative #7A (p. 14).
A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
TOWN MANAGER TO PARTICIPATE WITH THE CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO CITY SCHOOLS BOARD OF
EDUCATION AND THE DEVELOPER OF MEADOWMONT IN THE APPLICATION FOR A MODIFICATION
TO THE SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR THE MEADOWMONT PARK AND SCHOOL (2001-06-11/R-8)
WHEREAS, the Town Council approved a Special Use Permit for the Meadowmont Park and School in 1997; and
WHEREAS, the Special Use Permit contemplated the construction of a school by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education and the construction of four fields, basketball court, parking, greenway and bike paths, three pedestrian bridges, a picnic shelter and a compost/yardwaste site by the developer of Meadowmont; and
WHEREAS, the Special Use Permit stipulated that the developer of Meadowmont would deed the 92-acre site to the Town of Chapel Hill and the Town would deed the 22-acre school site to the Board of Education; and
WHEREAS, the developer has deeded the 92-acre site to the Town of Chapel Hill;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Town Manager is authorized to participate with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education and the developer of Meadowmont in the application for a modification to the 1997 Special Use Permit, pursuant to the general site plan called Alternative #__, as presented to the Town Council on June 11, 2001.
This the 11th day of June, 2001.