TITLE: Title
Consideration of a Comprehensive Plan for the Town of Carrboro
PURPOSE: The purpose of this item is to provide the Board of Aldermen with an opportunity to consider whether to undertake development of a comprehensive plan.
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DEPARTMENT: Planning
CONTACT INFORMATION: Trish McGuire, pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org <mailto:pmcguire@townofcarrboro.org>, 919-918-7327
INFORMATION: The North Carolina General Statutes provide a framework for comprehensive planning and its implementation, with a planning board or commission playing key roles in these efforts. The resultant policies, ordinances, procedures and other means are intended and expected to carry out plans in a coordinated and efficient manner (NCGS 160A-361). Gauging consistency of text and map amendments has been required since 2005; more recent changes will broaden the process of assessing consistency. With the Land Use Ordinance text amendment scheduled for public hearing in late January, the assessment of and provisions for amending plans to ensure consistency will underscore an important benefit of a comprehensive plan - that of presenting the community’s integrated vision and implementation, and limiting legal challenges when decisions are consistent with the plan.
The Town of Carrboro has extensive experience in planning efforts at the Town -wide level and also in more focused, topical endeavors (see Land use and development-related, transportation, and environment plans at <http://www.ci.carrboro.nc.us/750/Planning-Library>; see the Economic Sustainability Plan at http://www.ci.carrboro.nc.us/DocumentCenter/View/5061/ ; see capital improvements plans at <http://www.ci.carrboro.nc.us/250/Financial-Documents> ). Comprehensive planning efforts in the region in which the Town has participated and those in place for neighboring jurisdictions are noted in Attachment A. A town-wide visioning effort is approaching its 18th year; a land use planning effort for the Town as a whole was last completed in 1977 (the Facilitated Small Area Planning effort, completed in 1999, encompassed about half of the Town’s jurisdiction, and the Downtown Visioning work completed in 2001 focused on about 100 acres of commercially zoned property in the downtown). Ongoing work has referenced and, in many instances, refined or implemented these plans and policies; the Town has not been lacking in the comprehensive consideration of planning and land use questions. The community survey in 2016 indicated general satisfaction among Town residents, though the lack of an updated planning framework for the Town, which resulted from a community visioning process and comprehensive assessment of tools for implementation, has been noted as a limitation.
A memo that provides an overview of the purpose, process and timeline/cost estimate for comprehensive planning is attached (Attachment B).
FISCAL & STAFF IMPACT: The cost estimated for comprehensive planning is roughly $200,000 over 24-month time frame. Staff impacts vary with the level of responsibility for preparation of final products.
RECOMMENDATION:r It is recommended that the Board of Aldermen discuss this matter and convey to staff its interest in proceeding with the initiation of a comprehensive planning effort.