TITLE: Title
Public hearing on Land Use Ordinance Amendments Relating to Solar Setbacks
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Board of Aldermen to consider amending the Land Use Ordinance relating to solar setbacks. A draft ordinance has been prepared for the Board's consideration. The Board must receive public comments before taking action on the draft ordinance.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Christina Moon 919-918-7325; Patricia McGuire 919-918-7327; Marty Roupe 919-918-7333; Mike Brough 919-929-3905
INFORMATION: As part of the implementation of Town goals identified during the Carrboro Vision 2020 process, the Board considered a number of text amendments relating to development in the downtown with a specific focus on building heights and setbacks. By 2005, the Town began to hone in on a series of architectural standards that would guide downtown development toward attractive and innovative building designs that enhanced the existing urban fabric. New standards were ultimately adopted on June 20, 2006 as Section 15-178, Architectural Standards for Downtown Development, and located within Article XI of the Land Use Ordinance, Supplementary Use Regulations (http://www.townofcarrboro.org/BoA/Agendas/2006/06_20_2006.htm).
A potential negative consequence of increased building heights is the possibility of taller buildings blocking natural light and leaving lower areas-sidewalks and smaller buildings--in extended periods of shade, a scenario often referred to as the "canyon effect." Subsection 15-178(3) of the Land Use Ordinance (LUO) was established to address this concern, to prevent taller buildings from shading portions of the sidewalk along the north side of east-west street rights-of-way in the downtown. The subsection reads, "Buildings taller than 40 feet shall maintain a twenty-percent shade free area within the public right of way between two lines extended north from the easternmost and westernmost ...
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