HomeMy Public PortalAbout09-19-19 Minutes PB Regular Meeting
Assistant Town Manager/Planning Director Margaret Hauth
101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278
919-296-9471 | margaret.hauth@hillsboroughnc.gov
www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov
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Minutes
Planning Board
7 p.m. Sept. 19, 2019
Town Hall Annex Board Meeting Room, 105 E. Corbin St.
Present
Board: Vice Chair Chris Johnston, Lisa Frazier, Doug Peterson, Alyse Polly, Jenn Sykes, Scott Taylor and Chris
Wehrman
Staff: Planning Director Margaret Hauth and Public Information Specialist Cheryl Sadgrove
1. Call to order and confirmation of quorum
Vice Chair Chris Johnston called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Planning Director Margaret Hauth
confirmed the quorum.
2. Agenda changes and approval
There were no changes.
3. Minutes review and approval
Minutes from continued public hearing on Aug. 12 and regular meeting on Aug. 15, 2019.
Motion: Member Jenn Sykes moved approval of both sets of minutes. Member Chris Wehrman seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
4. Discussion
A. Text amendment to remove impervious surface limit in Limited Office, Entranceway Special Use and Business
Park districts
Hauth said the Planning Board expressed interest in this amendment during recent discussions. She said the
board is likely more comfortable with removing impervious surface limits now because the town has
stormwater mechanisms in place to address stormwater runoff in new projects.
Motion: Sykes moved to send this text amendment to public hearing. Member Scott Taylor seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
B. Text amendment to clarify the application of setbacks
Hauth said in 85 to 95% of cases, a property’s front is determined by the location of the front door or the
orientation to the street; however, there are a few odd structures that do not fit those descriptions. An
example would be a mobile home with a narrow end facing the street and with the front door on the long
side.
Hauth also said the drawings in the ordinance are square and rectangular lots, so Hauth has drawn more
diverse shapes for lots to reflect more of the shapes Hillsborough has.
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For corner lots, Hauth said the town has traditionally encouraged locating front doors on the less busy street
because the front door and driveway usually go together. Requiring front setbacks on both street-facing sides
of a corner lot is fairly common in other jurisdictions, she said, but this town has not required them for at
least 28 years.
Motion: Member Doug Peterson moved to send the text amendment to public hearing. Sykes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
C. Text amendment to allow attached residential units in the Central Commercial district
Hauth said the board discussed this briefly while reviewing the nonresidential permitted use table. She thinks
the table should coordinate with the language in Section 5.2.10.5.a.
Hauth noted that the police station, fire station, county jail and the former town hall annex will likely be
subject to redevelopment. She said developers would likely want to build residential units on the second or
third floor of some of those properties.
Sykes said this amendment is not ready to be sent to public hearing. The Planning Board wants to see some
examples of what this could look like in a small downtown. Sykes said Apex may have examples. The board
thought the Meadowmont development and the apartments above Weaver Street Market in Southern Village
in Chapel Hill may also be good references.
D. Text amendment to allow detached accessory dwelling units when primary dwelling is nonconforming with
regard to setbacks
Hauth said 30% or more of houses in town do not meet the setback requirements. In the past month, five
homeowners have asked the Planning Department about the possibility of building a detached accessory
dwelling unit even though the primary structure is nonconforming with regard to setbacks. Hauth said the five
homeowners do not live in close proximity to one another and the request is reasonable to her.
Hauth said there also have been some requests to allow the detached accessory dwelling unit to be
nonconforming with regard to setbacks. She said reducing the setback requirements for the detached unit
would affect privacy in neighboring yards. If the town chose to allow nonconforming setbacks for such units,
more would be built. Requiring the same setbacks as required for the primary dwelling would often place the
accessory unit in the middle of the back yard, which puts people in the position of having a yard or a unit.
Hauth briefly reviewed that a setback is less for a shed than for a house and that there have been setbacks of
only 5 feet for houses in newer developments. Most homeowners in Hillsborough are accustomed to having
more space between houses. A member suggested considering a third setback number that would apply to
detached accessory dwelling units.
The board decided only to send the first part to public hearing, meaning allowing owners of nonconforming
primary structures to proceed with building a detached accessory dwelling unit that would meet the setback
requirements.
Hauth said staff is working on documenting how many houses in town have nonconforming setbacks.
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Motion: Peterson moved to send the amendment regarding nonconforming primary dwelling setbacks to
public hearing. Sykes seconded.
Vote: Unanimous
5. Staff updates
Hauth said the Board of Commissioners has approved all the items from the July public hearing.
Sykes reported that the Board of Adjustment is interested in discouraging payments in lieu for sidewalks or
revisiting the amount charged for payments in lieu. Hauth said the Board of Commissioners set the amount at
80 or 85% of the engineer’s estimate. The Planning Board could ask the Board of Commissioners to raise the
amount to 100% of the engineer’s estimate. The Planning Board decided raising the payment in lieu to 100%
of an engineer’s estimate would be appropriate. Hauth noted this is part of the budget ordinance and could
be changed for Fiscal Year 2021.
6. Adjournment
Motion: Sykes moved to adjourn at 7:59 p.m. public hearing.
Vote: Unanimous
Respectfully submitted,
Margaret A. Hauth
Secretary