PUBLIC HEARING AGENDA REQUEST

Sponsor: 

Board of Supervisors Meeting Date:

Planning Commission

January 11, 2007

Staff Lead:

Department: 

W. Todd Benson, Assistant Zoning Administrator

Community Development

Topic:

A Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment to Section 5-103 Modifying the Standards for Allowing Residential Uses Over C-1 Commercial Districts

Topic Description: 

This Zoning Ordinance allows residential uses to be located over commercial uses in the C-1/Commercial Neighborhood zoning districts with approval of a special permit subject to certain standards.  The proposed text amendment modifies those standards to accommodate projects less “urban” in form, increasing development flexibility.

Requested Action of the Board of Supervisors:

Conduct a public hearing and consider adoption of the attached Ordinance.

Financial Impact Analysis:

No financial impact analysis has been conducted.

Summary Staff Report: 

This proposed text amendment is designed to allow flexibility in design for mixed use development.  The existing standards require very specific layout for a project, including entrances on buildings at streets and sidewalks and street trees of a certain character.   These rules work well in a denser development designed more as a town center, but do not work as well in more isolated mixed use development that is less urban in form.  The revised language generalizes the standards, giving the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors more flexibility in layout when approving the special exception for the residential units over commercial units.   

This issue arose specifically related to Bishop’s Run.  That project incorporated a small area of mixed use, with residential units located over commercial uses.  Site constraints do not allow one of the three buildings to face the street directly and the topography prohibits the provision of a formal streetscape along the street, with sidewalk connections to each individual commercial entrance.  The project nonetheless meets the spirit of the requirements, with buildings oriented parallel and closer to the street and a system of sidewalks provided throughout the project, along with substantial landscaping including a streetscape.  The revised language would accommodate such a variation in layout, provided the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors determined the layout achieved the broad goal of pedestrian orientation and accommodation. 

This proposed amendment was initiated by the Planning Commission on October 26, 2006. By a vote of 4 to 0, the Planning Commission recommended adoption of this proposed ordinance on November 30, 2006.

Identify any other Departments, Organizations or Individuals that would be affected by this request:

Department of Economic Development