Planning group eyes unified development

The Carrboro Board of Aldermen gave a planning group the green light Tuesday to continue its examination of how downtown businesses interact with residential areas.

The downtown commercial-residential interface subcommittee, formed in June, presented the aldermen with its recommendations for creating a downtown neighborhood protection overlay.

An overlay is a set of guidelines for each zoning classification, meant to shape how commercial districts and residential districts meet each other.

“We wanted to get away from an abrupt change between the commercial character and the residential character,” said subcommittee member James Carnahan.

With steadily growing development and the town’s Vision 2020 plan, which calls for an expansion of downtown commercial zoning, Carrboro formed the subcommittee to help preserve its small-town atmosphere.

The group, made up of aldermen, planning board members and citizens, was charged with planning future additions to the downtown area, including zoning changes and creating open spaces.

In regards to zoning, the group explored two options to minimize the impact of building height in commercial areas.

But it instead proposed the overlay district.

Though the group’s work on open spaces continues, the aldermen’s Tuesday approval will allow the zoning changes to move forward.

Designing the overlay district was a more important task, Alderman Jackie Gist said.

“We put a lot of pressure on the committee to work quickly,” said Alderman Alex Zaffron.

The overlay district affects 55 lots, specifically commercial areas adjacent to residential zones.

Implementing the district would involve a major map amendment and a change in the town’s land-use ordinance, both of which require a public hearing before the aldermen can consider them.

The group first wanted feedback from the aldermen before completing a comprehensive evaluation of the draft ordinance, which will take several more months, town planning administrator Trish McGuire said.

“We tried to moderate between density and building height and the surrounding residential areas,” said subcommittee chairman David Clinton.

Zoning rules in the overlay set the limit for building facade dimensions at two stories or up to 42 feet and construction density at 80 percent of the lot up to 80 feet, said town planning director Roy Williford.

“We tried to facilitate a meeting of the minds between those who want higher density downtown and those who like the feel of a smaller cottage town,” Clinton said.

The subcommittee’s recommendations were referred to town staff for evaluation. Public hearings could take two to three months to begin, Williford said.

“It’s a promise we made to people waiting to submit proposals for downtown, that we would work quickly,” said Zaffron.

The subcommittee is looking to other communities for ideas about creating open spaces.

“We want to create ‘parkettes,’ small spaces that can be a relief from the urban landscape,” Clinton said.

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