Town Moves Ahead With Ordinance

The council's first two review and discussion meetings of the development ordinance were held March 18 and April 15. They focused on articles one through five.

Monday night's meeting concentrated on articles six through nine and a lengthy appendix of definitions.

"We have to finish this document in definition and preciseness," said Mayor Kevin Foy. "On June 10, we put it into the hands of the consultant."

The consultant is Mark White, a UNC graduate and Kansas City attorney who helps handle town legal issues.

White will be responsible for making any final revisions to the ordinance up until the Sept. 18 deadline.

However, Chapel Hill Planning Director Roger Waldon said some concerns regarding simple definitions of regulations were still left unsettled.

"Local service stations have literal archaic definitions in Chapel Hill. We have the same definitions of them that were written over 20 years ago," he said. "At that time, these were places to get gas, your tires changed and your engine tuned. Now they're all convenience stores."

On a related note, Foy detailed specific changes in the works for regulating the size of service stations located north of Estes Drive. "We would like to go from a 20,000 square foot code allowance to 10,000," Foy said. "Yes, we are looking to downsize these facilities dramatically. This is a small town."

In addition to talks about downsizing, the council discussed local active streams in Chapel Hill and their designation in relation to the town's overall stormwater management approach.

"They should be all identified as either intermittent or perennial and have consistent standards applied to them," Foy said.

The council also brought up a set of stormwater regulations modeled after neighboring governments' legislation.

"Chapel Hill should adopt regulations equivalent to the Carrboro or Durham rules," Foy said. "The criteria for watersheds of less than 50 acres used by Carrboro should be considered."

Each council meeting on the development ordinance was followed by a public question-and-answer session, which took place the evening after each meeting. Residents were given the chance to ask any relevant questions regarding the previous night's discussion on the ordinance.

The first draft of the development ordinance was prepared in spring 2001.

Reviewed by citizens and the advisory board, a public hearing then pushed it to the door of the Town Council and ultimately led to its decision to invest additional time on the draft.

In the earlier stages of getting the draft off the ground Foy commented, "The development ordinance is the written guide for what ultimately becomes the physical environment of the town."

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