HomeMy Public PortalAbout03-08-2017 Minutes BOA Regular Meeting-yOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH
Minutes
Board of Adjustment
7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Town Barn, 101 E. Orange St.
Present: Chairman David Remington, Todd Jones, Brian Perkins (alternate), Vice Chairman Dan
Barker, James Czar, Dustin Williams (alternate), Rob Bray
Absent: None
Staff: Senior Planner Tom King
Guests: Linda Foxworth, Brad Clayton, Randy Herman, Margaret Samuels
Item 1: Call the meeting to order; confirm presence of a quorum.
Chairman Remington called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Mr. King confirmed there was a quorum with
all members present and advised that the alternates, Mr. Perkins and Mr. Williams, could ask questions
but not vote.
Item 2: Consideration of changes and additions to the agenda.
Mr. King informed the board that David Blankfard had withdrawn his application to serve on the board,
and that Jenn Sykes, another candidate for a vacancy on the board, would not be attending the meeting
due to illness.
Chairman Remington noted the agenda stood as amended
Item 3:
Approval of Dec. 14, 2016, meeting minutes.
Motion:
Vice Chairman Barker moved to approve the minutes as presented.
Second:
Mr. Bray seconded.
Vote:
Unanimous
Item 4: Case BA -01-2017 (KidSCope Children's Learning Center (Child Daycare)
Chairman Remington reminded the audience that this item requires a quasi-judicial hearing and anyone
who wished to speak would need to be sworn in.
Mr. King and Linda Foxworth, director of KidSCope Early Intervention and Family Support, were sworn
in.
Mr. King submitted his staff report into the record of this meeting.
The applicant is KidSCope, a division of Chapel Hill Training -Outreach Project. The location under
consideration is 348 Elizabeth Brady Road (Orange County PIN 9874-55-0774). The requested action is a
conditional use permit to place a 2,500 -square -foot modular classroom building for use as a child
daycare on property currently containing a light manufacturing facility, Orange Enterprises Inc. The
applicant also proposes adding a row of parking spaces to the existing parking lot that is on the 10 -acre
parcel.
Orange Enterprises is a one-story light industrial building on the site. Surrounding parcels are light
industrial in nature except for the land owned by Classical American Homes Preservation Trust, which is
zoned agricultural/residential.
Mr. King reviewed the agency comments written on Page 4 of the staff report.
Mr. King said he had spoken with the applicant and there was an understanding that a few additional
planning items need to be addressed because the surveyor was not licensed to design certain plan
elements, like water and sewer and landscaping. Mr. King suggested a condition of approval be added to
any approval that requires a revised plan be submitted for additional review. He also wanted noted for
the record that the narrative mentions the applicant may use some of Orange Enterprises' existing office
space in the future.
Mr. King said he identified two waivers, noted on Page 5 of the staff report, but realized earlier in the
evening that three more waivers should be discussed.
Mr. King read the first waiver in the staff report— in Subsection 6.13 (Parking, Loading, and Circulation),
Paragraph 6.13.8 (Off-street Parking Geometric Requirements), Sub-paragraph 6.13.8 (Table: Off-street
Parking Geometric Requirements). The table indicates that a 25-foot-wide travel aisle be provided in
parking lots with one- and two-way drive aisles with 90-degree parking.
Mr. King noted 56 striped parking spaces are in the lot. This project proposes having 99 spaces after
restriping and adding an additional 28 spaces. As a result, the drive aisle on the north side of the parking
lot will be only 19 feet wide, and two of the other drive aisles will be 24 feet wide.
Vice Chairman Barker noted that 19 feet is tight for a drive aisle. Mr. King suggested talking about the
second waiver simultaneously.
Mr. King read the second waiver in the staff report— in Subsection 6.13 (Parking, Loading, and
Circulation), Paragraph 6.13.9 (Off-street Parking Design Requirements), Sub-paragraph 6.13.9.10, which
stipulates that if an applicant proposes to construct parking spaces in excess of the number required by
the ordinance, a pervious paving material must be used to create the excess parking spaces.
Mr. King noted the combined uses only require 94 spaces, but the surveyor came up with 99 spaces with
the additional row and restriping plan.
Ms. Foxworth noted that 50 of the Orange Enterprises employees arrive by bus. Mr. King said the board
first has to address that Orange Enterprises has 75 employees and then can address the particular
unique situation of the business and that only 25 employees are driving themselves to the site and using
parking spaces. Orange Enterprises provides employment and training services to people with
disabilities and socio-economic disadvantages. The board also needs to keep in mind that the business
could change. Sixteen parking spaces are required for the daycare.
Mr. King said other waivers he identified that evening apply because the applicant is adding parking.
Subsection 6.10 (Landscaping Parking Lot), Paragraph 6.10.3 (Landscaping Requirements), Sub-
paragraph 6.10.3.1 states the parking lot shall have one shade tree for every seven parking spaces.
Mr. King said the parking lot would require 13 shade trees under the requirement. Technically, 28
parking spaces are being created. The existing parking lot is nonconforming as to the current shade tree
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requirements. The board may want to consider only requiring shade trees for the new spaces created. In
that case, only four trees would be required.
Mr. King noted that Sub -paragraph 6.10.3.2 states that trees should be evenly distributed throughout
the parking areas and parking perimeter at the required ratio.
Sub -paragraph 6.10.3.3 states that no more than 14 spaces in a row should be allowed without a
minimum of one landscape island containing a minimum of one shade tree.
Sub -paragraph 6.10.3.4 states that if there is going to be a shade tree in that landscape island, the island
needs to be 300 square feet in area.
Mr. King suggested taking two spaces out of the end of the new row of parking spaces to eliminate the
creation of more than 14 contiguous parking spaces in a row and to use that area to make a 300 -square -
foot landscape island with a shade tree. The applicant would still have three parking spaces over what is
required.
Vice Chairman Barker suggested if the parking is pushed out, at least one drive aisle would be 25 feet in
width.
Mr. Barker asked the applicant whether those changes are possible. The applicant said yes.
Orange Enterprises Director of Maintenance Brad Clayton was sworn in. Mr. Clayton said the back side
of the parking lot is 10 or 12 feet from a wooded area. If Orange Enterprises needs to expand that
parking area, some existing trees and underbrush would need to be cut to create space for the
landscape island. A lot of the trees are volunteers, young pines. He asked what trees count. Mr. King
answered a deciduous canopy tree is 12 inches at breast height. A pine tree counting as a canopy tree is
24 inches at breast height. Mr. Clayton said a handful of such trees would have to be cut down.
The board reviewed the plan to consider how the application could conform more with the Unified
Development Ordinance. There was discussion of shifting the parking west and taking three parking
spaces off an end to create two 25 -foot drive aisles. The board could require the applicant to plant an
additional three trees along the edge of the parking aisle or count the existing trees that exist on-site
and adjacent to the parking lot. The scrub trees would be close to the additional parking spaces.
Chairman Remington said the tree line is to the northeast of the parking lot and does not shade the
parking lot. Mr. King said planting shade trees along the side wouldn't provide shade any differently.
Vice Chairman Barker asked whether any waivers would be needed with the design changes the board
had discussed. Mr. King answered that, if the applicant shifted the two interior painted rows over one
foot to create 25 -foot parking aisles, the other row is moved over two feet and two or three spaces on
the end are removed, and if they take out two parking spaces in the middle of the last new row and
plant a tree in a newly created landscape island, then that leaves parking lot shade trees. The board
could count the trees area already lining the parking lot as the shade trees.
Mr. King asked whether the applicant understood the board's proposed design changes that alleviate
the need to request most of the waivers. He drew the design on the overhead and explained again how
the 25 -foot drive aisles would be created. He indicated 14 spaces would be created on the new aisle,
two gravel spaces would not be created there and instead a tree would be planted in a landscape island.
The existing trees would become the other required shade trees. He pointed out where to take three
spaces off the gravel (at the top of a row of parking).
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Ms. Foxworth said, in consulting with the property owner in the audience, they believed this could be
done.
Mr. Bray asked if shade trees are required for the existing parking lot. Mr. King said the existing parking
lot is nonconforming relative to interior shade tree requirements. The ordinance says that a
nonconformity does not have to be corrected if it would be unreasonable to do so. Mr. King said he
believed requiring asphalt to be torn up to create interior shad tree islands could be deemed
unreasonable. Mr. Bray checked whether the board needed to discuss whether the shade tree
requirement is unreasonable. Vice Chairman Barker said it's key that they ensure the nonconforming
parking is not made worse. Mr. King said the building housing Orange Enterprises has been there since
the late 1970s. He imagines a lot of compaction has occurred and it wouldn't be successful to tear up
parking to plant shade trees.
Mr. King reviewed with the board the standards of evaluation analysis and the findings of fact analysis
found on pages 6 through 9 of the staff report.
Mr. King informed the board that the Town Board of Commissioners had recently approved a text
amendment allowing Child Day Cares in the General Industrial district with a sunset date of Dec. 31,
2017. This was done so that this application could be processed. If the Permit is granted, the use will
become nonconforming as of January 1, 2018. The applicant has been made aware of this matter.
Chairman Remington asked for additional comments.
Vice Chairman Barker said it's not the ideal place for a daycare but perhaps the only place that fits the
timeline needed by the applicant. KidSCope offers daycare for preschool -aged children with disabilities
and has only a few months to find a new location.
Chairman Remington said part of the approval needs to be that the project meets the standards and the
findings of fact. The Board found that the project met all required standards of evaluation and findings
of fact. He asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak to this matter. No one did.
Vice Chairman Barker said the findings sound right.
Motion: Mr. Bray moved to close the public hearing on this item.
Second: Mr. Jones seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Chairman Remington asked for a motion.
Motion: Mr. Bray moved to approve with the condition discussed that evening.
Second: Vice Chairman Barker seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Waivers: None
Conditions: The applicant must submit a revised site plan and additional information to the town
Planning Department to address review comments of the town Engineering and Utilities Department,
the town Stormwater and Environmental Services Division and the Orange County Solid Waste
Management Department and to address changes to the submitted plan decided at the hearing.
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Mr. King said he would prepare a written decision with a reworked resolution to reflect what was
discussed and decided. He also would draft the conditional use permit document for the property owner
to sign. That document would be signed with a notary and recorded with the Orange County Register of
Deeds Office.
Item 5: Interview potential candidates to fill an upcoming in -town member vacancy on the
Board of Adjustment.
Randy Herman addressed the board. He is a real estate and land use planning and zoning attorney who
works in Durham and lives in the Forest Ridge neighborhood. He has argued variances and conditional
use permits in front of the Raleigh Board of Adjustment and other boards in the Triangle as part of his
practice. He does not have clients in Hillsborough at this time.
Vice Chairman Barker asked Mr. Herman whether he planned to have clients in Hillsborough. Mr.
Herman said he doesn't anticipate having clients in this town. Mr. King reminded the board that Mr.
Herman would have to recuse himself from a hearing if he did have a client appearing before the board.
Mr. Herman said making sure the decisions of the board can be upheld on review is an important
function and he believes his legal expertise would be helpful.
Chairman Remington explained that the town attorney is present when the board anticipates requiring
legal advice. He added that he could see how it would be nice to have someone with that expertise on
the board.
No other persons who had applied to serve on the board were present.
Motion: Vice Chairman Barker moved to advance Mr. Herman's name to the Board of
Commissioners to fill Rod Jones' completed term.
Second: Mr. Jones seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
Item 6: Committee and Staff Reports
• Vice Chairman Barker reported that the Planning Board discussed KidSCope losing its current
location. Mr. Czar added there was dissension on the Planning Board that daycares are not an
appropriate use in industrial zoned areas..
• Vice Chairman Barker said the Planning Board also discussed single -wide trailers, how to
encourage their owners to upgrade and how to dissuade owners from using mobile homes for
storage.
Mr. King reported that the Collins Ridge project was on the agenda for the March 6, 2017 Board
of Commissioners meeting and that the developer likely would start on the infrastructure for
the access road after that. Forest Ridge is working on construction of its final phases. Orange
County has received an application for the development of approximately 100 acres south of
Interstate 40 for senior living, retail and light industry. The project is fully in the county as
Hillsborough's town limits stop on the north side of 1-40.
Item 8: Adjourn
Motion: Vice Chairman Barker moved to adjourn at 8:25 p.m.
Second: Mr. Bray seconded.
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Vote: Unanimous
Approved:
G
Tom King, AICP, CZO
Senior Planner
Secretary to the Board of Adjustment
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