TITLE: Title
Request-to-Set Public Hearings on Land Use Ordinance Amendments Relating to the WM-3 Zoning District
PURPOSE: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Board of Aldermen to consider setting public hearings on text and map amendments to the Land Use Ordinance relating to the Watershed Manufacturing District (WM-3).
body
DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Christina Moon - 919-918-7325, Patricia McGuire - 919-918-7327, Bob Hornik - 919-929-3905
INFORMATION: Recognizing the development challenges associated with the split jurisdiction and split zoning of five parcels of land located along the north side of NC Highway 54 West, known as 630, 626, 610, 600 NC 54 West and 1306 Hatch Road, the Board of Aldermen submitted a request to Orange County to extend the Town's extraterritorial jurisdiction boundary (ETJ) slightly further north to include the entirety of all five parcels. A public hearing for the Board of Aldermen to consider the matter has been requested for June 13th as part of a separate agenda item. The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to consider the matter on June 20th.
Contingent upon Orange County's approval, the Town could initiate its zoning authority to zone the approximately 2.9 acres of land (currently in Orange County) to Watershed Manufacturing (WM-3) such that the entirety of each of the five lots, along with a short section of land used as a driveway for Camelia Forest Nursery, the 22.83-acre parcel located at 620 NC Highway 54 West, would be classified WM-3.
The provisions in Section 15-137(2)(b) of the Land Use Ordinance that describe the WM-3 District, however, limit any expansion of the zone. The language appears to prevent any new lots from being zoned WM-3 or any existing WM-3 lots from being rezoned to include a larger amount of land area. After researching historical files on the establishment of the district, it seems likely that the original intent of the rezoning that assigned parcels to t...
Click here for full text