SUMMARY MINUTES OF A PLANNING RETREAT
OF THE CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005, AT 3:00 P.M.
Mayor Kevin Foy called the meeting to order at 3:07 p.m.
Council Members present were Mayor Pro Tem Edith Wiggins, Sally Greene, Ed Harrison, Cam Hill, Mark Kleinschmidt, Dorothy Verkerk, Bill Strom, and Jim Ward.
Staff members present were Town Manager Cal Horton, Deputy Town Manager Florentine Miller, Assistant Town Manager Bruce Heflin, Town Attorney Ralph Karpinos, Finance Director Kay Johnson, Acting Planning Director J.B. Culpepper, Special Projects Assistant Chris Berndt, Acting Development Coordinator Gene Poveromo, Principal Transportation Planner David Bonk, Principal Community Development Planner Loryn Clark, Town Information Officer Catherine Lazorko, and Town Clerk Sabrina Oliver.
Item 1: Planning Department Priorities and Organization Structure
Town Manager Cal Horton asked Ms. Culpepper to discuss priorities and present the new organization of the Planning Department.
Ms. Culpepper told the Town Council that she had divided projects into two categories; those with a designation by the Council as highest priority and those for delay. Ms. Culpepper said the items of highest priority were:
provisions to the Land Use Management Ordinance
· Establish Park/Ride in 15-501 North Corridor
· Downtown transit transfer study
Mayor Pro Tempore Wiggins asked how the work would be divided in the department.
Regarding the Planning Department organization, Ms. Culpepper said she would divide the work among staff members with Mr. Bonk leading the work on Downtown Economic Development Initiatives, Community Goals and the process for the Horace Williams property, the Long Range Transit Master Plan, establishing a Park/Ride lot in 15-501 North Corridor and the Downtown Transit Transfer Study. She said Ms. Clark would be responsible for Neighborhood Conservation Districts and the Affordable Housing Task Force.
Ms. Culpepper said the items recommended for delay were:
Ms. Culpepper said it would be a combined staff effort to address the items for delay. She added that she was working with the Manager on the reorganization of the department. Ms. Culpepper said the staff worked well together as a team.
Ms. Culpepper said there were four vacancies in the department. She said one was a new grant-funded transportation position, another was an administrative clerk and two long range planners. She said the interview process was completed for one of the planner positions, and she hoped to fill the other planner positions by January.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins asked why at least two of the priorities were more important than the Rogers Road area. Ms. Culpepper said they were not more important but the department could do those two better at this point, and could do the Rogers Road project when they were fully staffed.
Mr. Bonk said funding was available for the Park and Ride and Downtown Transit projects, and that they also had time limits.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins said she was curious because Rogers Road and the Neighborhood Conservation Districts were identified as priorities by the Council.
She said the Park and Ride lot had been mentioned in a transit meeting that day. The concept of the transfer station was of interest to the Transit Partners, she added, noting that additional funding may be needed for that.
Referring to the Downtown Transfer Station, Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins said they had reassured the Partners that it was a concept that was being explored, but now that it had been made a priority she was concerned that it might appear that they had misled them.
Council Member Verkerk said transit should not be mentioned without notifying the Partners.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins said they might wonder who was going to pay for the study since they hadn’t heard any discussion lately.
Mr. Bonk said it had come up as an item at the end of the committee agenda. He said this was a direct outgrowth of the discussions on Parking Lots 2 and 5. He said without further study he believed no final decision could be made regarding Lot 2. Mr. Bonk said a consultant would do the study of the station and he didn’t envision any local match. He said the entire study should cost about $30,000.
Mr. Horton said staff would set priorities as the Council wished.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins asked that the Partners be made aware that this was in the works.
Council Member Harrison said he was interested in funding for the study but what need to be answered about Rogers Road was how transit would be provided to that area, as well as public sewer and water. He said these weren’t new issues, that they had been issues for 10 years.
Mayor Foy asked what was envisioned for a Small Area Plan.
Ms. Clark said UNC students were looking for a project, and they could gather the preliminary information such as sewer connections and background information.
Ms. Culpepper said the Rogers Road area would have to be a little bit different because of jurisdictional division lines.
Mayor Foy asked if the Town was going to have a process that involved Carrboro, and Orange County and explained the Small Area Plan process. He asked that a report be put together.
Mr. Horton said the complex part of this task was working with Carrboro and Orange County. He said the potential land uses and placement of facilities had not been established yet.
Council Member Strom said he shared the sentiments of Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins. He said he and the Mayor had requested the Small Area Plan for the Rogers Road area. He said they worked to preserve the Greene Tract. He said they had negotiated hard for gravity sewer in that area.
Mayor Foy asked what the Council had agreed to.
Mr. Horton said they could produce a report that summarized what the Council agreed to and could look at the area and the Urban Services. However, he said it would make sense to work with Carrboro and Orange County.
Mayor Foy said it would be a good idea to have this better defined by June.
Mr. Horton said that the challenge in the Planning Department would be met by that time. He added that the approach for how to address all of these issues would be agreements with Carrboro and Orange County.
Council Member Strom said the lead activist of the transfer station was the Transportation Board.
Council Member Strom said the Comprehensive Plan identified many areas for economic development. He said the opportunity for the Council was to determine densities, areas for development, transit and land use. He said he would stop short of saying the Town needed an economic development planner. He said the Council could let the Planning Board start thinking strategically and see what the Planning Board’s thoughts were.
Mr. Horton said the Comprehensive Plan was five years old and it would be timely to consider its revision.
Council Member Strom said they were seeing changing conditions that deserved a response. Mayor Foy said in the last three weeks he had had conversations with three different developers and that was exactly what they were seeing, that they were not sure about what the response should be or how to take the lead.
Council Member Ward said sites with higher density that were transit oriented needed to be identified and developers needed to be mobilized to take some action.
Mr. Horton said developers were motivated by the Town’s interest in developing its own property downtown. He said those areas hadn’t been identified but a community meeting could solicit that information.
Council Member Strom said he would be interested in hearing from the Planning Board regarding what they’d like to see on some of the properties the Town had put the “H” on.
Mayor Foy asked if it was inappropriate for the Council to take for example Ram Plaza and ask what type of development they wanted there, since the property was in private ownership.
Council Member Strom said he was interested in what private owners would say.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins said some citizens would be delighted.
Mayor Foy said the Council needed to focus on what they wanted to come out of the revisions to the Comprehensive Plan. He noted that Carrboro had a community visionary plan with an enormous buy-in by both businesses and residential development. He said at some point that was going to change and the Town should get out ahead of it.
Council Member Ward said the boundaries associated with the Rogers Road area added to its complexity. He said they needed a streamlined process to get the Rogers Road area taken care of without needless delay.
Mr. Horton said staff needed to bring the Council proposals.
Mr. Horton said water and sewer were required and that the sewer would be the more challenging because of cost.
Mayor Foy said the issue with the Rogers Road area was the jurisdictional lines. He said it was important that Orange County and Carrboro be a part of this planning process.
Mayor Pro Tem Wiggins said the requests come to them because Chapel Hill’s landfill was very close to the Rogers Road area. She added they didn’t want to be split as a community.
Council Member Kleinschmidt said they kept pushing the issue off to another year. He said there were other ways they could go through this.
Council Member Verkerk noted that six of the eight proposals involved transit. She said that it had come up that the University had brought buses from the Chatham County park and ride lot at $50 per hour. She said the Council needed to be very careful because there was tension here.
Mr. Horton said the Town offered a lot of services that weren’t efficient, such as late at night, that affected the cost of all services.
Council Member Verkerk said transit should not be discussed without telling the Transit Partners.
Mayor Foy said the Town ran an efficient transit system, it just operated some routes at lower densities.
Council Member Greene asked about economic development of West Rosemary Street. Mayor Foy said the Downtown Small Area Plan was available. Council Member Hill said they needed to look at how downtown development would mesh with Carrboro development.
Council Member Strom said he endorsed the idea of looking at the Comprehensive Plan. He said there were pieces of the plan that needed to be revisited.
Mr. Horton said the Council needed to clarify what they wanted revised in the Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Foy said the Council was open to movement on the Comprehensive Plan and could talk about options to do a revision that would potentially give greater guidance for certain goals.
Mr. Horton said staff would describe the Comprehensive Plan revision process and it could be referred to the Planning Board.
Council Member Kleinschmidt noted that the Town was entering a new phase of economic development even broader than the Downtown Economic Development Initiative. He noted that there were other opportunity sites around Town.
Council Member Greene noted that Ruby Sinreich at the Council’s last meeting had commented that land use was driven by transit.
Council Member Strom said they needed to look at the underutilized areas, from apartment complexes to single lots. He noted that the Land Use Management Ordinance had incentives for commercial areas, such as 70 percent impervious surface rather than 50 percent, provided they improved management of runoff. He asked if the staff could study an existing shopping center to see how it could be modernized and retrofitted under the new Land Use Management Ordinance provisions.
Mr. Horton said staff could prepare a report and bring it back to the Council for their reaction if desired.
Council Member Ward asked about expectations on those work items delayed in terms of completion dates.
Mr. Horton said that was located in the Council Goals item. He said that staff would get the Council’s guidance concerning the time lines in January at the Planning Retreat.
The meeting adjourned at 4:28 p.m.
Council Member Kleinschmidt moved, seconded by Council Member Greene to enter a closed session to discuss Parking Lot 5 and the Wallace Deck. The vote was 9-0.