AGENDA #4a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Calling a Public Hearing on Proposed Zoning of Properties in Durham County Recently Annexed by Chapel Hill
DATE: September 10, 2001
The attached resolution would initiate a process to zone a newly annexed area in Durham County. The resolution would call a public hearing for September 24, 2001.
This schedule would provide the Council with the opportunity to act on this issue on September 24, 2001. Chapel Hill zoning must be in place within 60 days of the effective date of annexation of August 8, 2001, or the area will have no zoning regulation.
On March 5, 2001, the Town Council adopted a resolution establishing the Town’s legislative program for the session of the N.C. General Assembly. Among the items included was the annexation of three properties of Old Durham-Chapel Hill Road, Pope Road, and I-40 within the Chapel Hill-Durham Long Range Annexation Boundary (please see Map 1). Also included were two parcels between the town limits of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
On August 8, 2001, the General Assembly ratified Senate Bill 657, which added the parcels to the corporate limits of Chapel Hill.
The three annexed parcels in Durham County total approximately 1.7 acres in size. The parcels are on Chapel Hill’s side of the 1986Durham/Chapel Hill Consent Judgment Annexation Boundary Line, as modified on August 19, 1994. As a whole, the annexed area in Durham County comprised the last remaining unincorporated area in the vicinity of Old Durham-Chapel Hill Road and within the Chapel Hill-Durham Long Range Annexation Boundary.
Because the annexation area is located in Durham County, currently there is no Town of Chapel Hill zoning in effect. When an area is annexed, Chapel Hill zoning must be in place within 60 days of the effective date of annexation or the area will have no zoning regulation. The other two annexed properties, which are adjacent to the Carrboro town limits and in Chapel Hill’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction, have Chapel Hill zoning in place, and require no zoning action.
We propose zoning for the three properties based on our review of adjacent zoning in Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill's 2000 Comprehensive Plan and 2000 adopted Land Use Plan, on the size of existing lots, and on compatibility with uses in the surrounding areas. Based on these criteria, we propose that the Durham County parcels be zoned Residential-1 (three dwelling units per acre).
The 2000 Land Use Plan recommends a “mixed-use/office” use for the parcel farthest to the north (Durham County Tax Map Number 478-01-007), and “low residential” for the property to the south of Old Durham-Chapel Hill Road (Tax Map Number 478-03-019). The Land Use Plan does not recommend a use for the parcel immediately north of Old Durham-Chapel Hill Road (Tax Map Number 478-01-08B), indicating that land as being “right-of-way,” even though the tax records show the property is privately owned and is currently “vacant land.”
Zoning the parcels Residential-1 would make the zoning consistent with the large Chapel Hill Residential-1 zoning district that abuts the area immediately to the west and south. Most of the remaining mixed use/office area shown on the Land Use Plan also is zoned Residential-1, reflecting a Council intent to consider proposals for the area reflecting the Town’s Comprehensive Plan objectives. The existing Durham County zoning for the annexation area is Residential-20 (20,000-square-foot minimum lot area).
We propose that the Town Council schedule a public hearing on the proposed zoning for September 24, 2001. The Council’s next regular business meeting after the proposed hearing is October 10. Because the Town must act by October 8, 2001, in order to establish zoning for the annexed area, we recommend the Council vote on the zoning the same night as the hearing, September 24, 2001.
Due to the abbreviated schedule, we have mailed notices about the September 24 hearing to owners of property within 1,000 feet of the area to be zoned. The item is scheduled to be reviewed by the Planning Board on September 18.
We recommend the Council adopt the attached resolution scheduling a public hearing on September 24, 2001 concerning the zoning of the area as indicated on Map 1.
A RESOLUTION CALLING A PUBLIC HEARING ON ZONING ANNEXED PROPERTY IN DURHAM COUNTY (2001-09-10/R-2)
WHEREAS, the North Carolina General Assembly has set forth the State's policy that municipalities are created to provide the governmental services essential for sound urban development and for the protection of public health, safety and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the General Assembly has set forth the policy that municipal boundaries should be extended to include new urban development; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Chapel Hill's general policy has been to annex areas when they qualify under State law and the Town can practically extend and finance municipal services to the qualifying areas; and
WHEREAS, the N.C. General Assembly on August 8, 2001, ratified Senate Bill 697 annexing several properties into Chapel Hill; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Chapel Hill does not have zoning for three parcels annexed in Durham County;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council calls a Public Hearing to be held on Monday, September 24, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber of the Chapel Hill Town Hall, 306 N. Columbia Street, for the purpose of considering Residential-1 zoning for the area as indicated on Map 1.
This the 10th day of September, 2001.
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