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At its meeting August 5th, the Oriental Town Board will once again consider whether the town should adopt a zoning concept called, Conditional Zoning.

Proponents say it will give the Town Board flexibility in “managing growth” by allowing specific projects in zoning districts that otherwise don’t allow them. Members of the Planning Board speak of Conditional Zoning allowing an “ice cream shop” to open for business in a residential neighborhood. Mayor Bill Sage speaks of someone being able to put in a “building for wedding receptions” on a lot now zoned residential that is next to a business zoned lot.

Well chosen examples, because who can be against ice cream and weddings?
But before you throw rice or ask for a waffle cone, consider a few things. For one, would you want those businesses next to your home? The cars? The traffic? The dumpster? The noise?

Conditional Zoning would permit that to happen.

Also, Conditional Zoning will allow a lot more than ice cream and wedding toasts in to your neighborhood. If the town adopts Conditional Zoning, a town board could choose to put, on a lot next to you, something other than an ice cream shop or reception hall. It could allow a gas station. A convenience store. A factory that paints parts. A pool hall. A campground. Storage units. A dog kennel. Large condo and town home projects.

Under Conditional Zoning, and at the whim of a Town Board, any lot in Oriental’s residentially zoned neighborhoods, could be put to use for activities that are currently only allowed in the business zones, the MU and MU1.

That’s not what most residents of Oriental counted on when they bought homes in the R1, R2 and R3 neighborhoods. That is the rub with Conditional Zoning. Its proponents say it is a tool for managing growth. But by turning every residential lot in to the equivalent of a business lot, Conditional Zoning is more of an invitation to mismanage it.

Leaving Well Enough Alone Instead of Painting the Town Red

The zoning we have now gives a clear sense of what one can and cannot do in particular zones. That is fair to both the current residents in those districts and to developers alike. Everyone knows what the playing field is. When you buy a lot, you have a reasonable assurance of what your neighbors can do with their property and how that would affect you. Everything is above board.

A map of Oriental’s Zoning Districts. Under conditional zoning, uses that may happen only in the commercial red and orange districts, will be able to happen anywhere in town.

On Oriental’s zoning map there are swaths of orange, and red. Those are the MU and MU1 (Mixed Use) areas where business is allowed. There are the patches of yellow, the R1 residential lots, with the strictest zoning in town. No businesses allowed. No multi-units. The green bits on the map are the R2. Those are the lots in Oriental’s Old Village, which allow no retail businesses. Amid the single family homes in the R2, only duplexes are allowed, no stacks of condos. The purple bits on the map are R3 — again, residential with no business. (R3 allows condos, but still not as densely as in the MUs)

All of those distinctions change with Conditional Zoning.

Painting the town red, the color of the MU, Oriental’s most permissive zoning district. The zoning in the current residential neighborhoods — the yellow, green and purple areas — could become meaningless — and red — under Conditional Zoning..

With Conditional Zoning, anything permitted in the MU could be allowed in the residential neighborhoods if a town board decides it’d be “good for the town.”

That subjectivity alone is cause for concern. Another concern: just how is the town going to monitor all of these conditionally zoned lots to make sure the owner is living up to the terms of the conditional use? How is the town going to make sure that the property is being used for only an ice cream shop and not a night club? Or that the wedding reception hall isn’t turned in pool hall?

At the July 1st Town Board meeting, Mayor Sage made a comment about enforcement, (in regard to another issue on the agenda.) “We don’t have the capability of monitoring every single thing and enforcing it.” he said, “It’s the nature of any town. Any ordinance is only as good as we make it and enforce it.”

That’s something to consider as the Town Board weighs the wisdom of adopting the Conditional Zoning that the mayor has been promoting. Several town board members have acknowledged that the town’s zoning is not very stringent as it is. So why the need for Conditional Zoning, which makes the rules even more lax?

Instead of Conditional Zoning, which could put heavy-volume businesses and dense condo developments next to homes, wouldn’t it be better and more straightforward and fair for Oriental residents and businesses alike, to stick with and enforce the zoning we already have?

The Town Board held a public hearing at its July 1 meeting. Eight residents spoke against it. Two others, a current and former planning board chairman, spoke in favor.

The Town Board resumes discussion – and potentially, the public hearing – on Conditional Zoning at its next meeting, Tuesday August 5th. The board could vote on the matter then. The meeting starts at 7pm.

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Related Articles on Conditional Zoning:

May 6 Conditions Not Right For Conditional Zoning

June 30 Conditional Zoning Coming To a Residential Neighborhood Near You

July 1 Conditional Use Update: Town Board Tables Action

Posted Monday August 4, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

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