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The Town Board meets with the Planning Board this Tuesday, July 18 at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

They are going to discuss creation of a Harbor Overlay District.

Typically, overlays are districts within a town which may have their own special regulations on growth and development.

If this were to mean stricter rules for the Harbor Overlay District, that would be a good thing.

But a town could also set up an Overlay District so that it allows more densely-packed development and other exceptions to the building ordinances. That would be not so cool. Pretty awful, in fact because higher density would mean even more of the condos and town homes that are cropping up in the waterfronts of so many coastal towns and robbing them of any small town scale.

So what would the proposal drawn up by the Planning Board (Planning Board Chair Don Mau and Vice Chair Dee Sage) do?

Reading it, it’s hard to say. (As before with the PUD, I encourage you to read this proposal yourself.)

When you do, you will note, toward the end, this section.

c) Density.

i) Detached housing shall not exceed ____ units per acre. ii) Attached housing shall not exceed ____ units per acre. iii) Mixed use live/work units or storefront buildings shall not exceed ____ residential units per acre and a maximum lot coverage ratio of sixty percent (60).

Those blank spaces are the part that makes this Oriental resident nervous.

Right now, the density in town allows 14 multi-units per acre, which most people here would tell you, is dense enough, thank you. (Under our current rules, you need 5,000 square feet for the first unit and 3,000 for each additional unit. An acre is 43,560 square feet.)

The last thing our town needs is a special district — an overlay — that allows a density greater than 14 units per acre.

In fact, what the Harbor area — and let’s be honest, all of the rest of the Old Village as well — deserves is an overlay that requires LESS DENSELY packed structures. Only by adopting a policy of LESS DENSITY can we get away from the condo culture and cram-as-many-town-homes-as-you-can-on-a-lot mindset.

As this week’s Town Board-Planning Board meeting gets underway, let us hope that last week’s public hearing over the misguided PUD proposal is still ringing in their ears.

That Public Hearing showed that a clear majority of citizens are concerned about what happens to the Old Village part of town. People turned out and they contacted their Town Board members for a simple reason: they could easily see how the PUD ordinance would loosen building ordinances in the Old Village.

Let us hope that the Town Board truly heard you last week. The evidence will be in how they handle this Harbor Overlay District. If the document that emerges would permit more units per acre than is now allowed, that would be shameful and the common sense of the public will have been ignored. If, on the other hand, the proposal that comes out of there applies a stricter standard, scaling back the number of units per acre, then perhaps we will be getting on the right track.

Speaking of tracks, Town Commissioner Barbara Venturi said at last week’s meeting that she wanted “to see a fast-track on a Harbor Overlay District.” Barbara Venturi has said she has a handshake deal with the mayor on right of first refusal to purchase his 2 acres of waterfront property. That property would likely be in, if not at the center of, a Harbor Overlay District.

If this Overlay District arrangement is indeed fast-tracked, Tuesday may be one of your few opportunities to watch the policy-making in action. The meeting, a special one between the Planning Board and Town Board, gets underway at 7:30pm at Town Hall.

As you follow these events — and I would urge anyone who cares about this to be there to hear it for yourself — ask the question, “Exactly how is this proposal supposed to enhance Oriental?”.

Tuesday night’s meeting starts at 7:30 at Town Hall.

Here is the Proposed Harbor Overlay District as received from Town Hall several weeks ago:
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Article VIII
Part 1. Development

Section 137.
Establishment of Harbor Waterfront Overlay District; promulgation of use and design standards.

1) Redevelopment overlay district established. The Harbor Waterfront overlay district is hereby established as a district which overlays existing zoning districts. The boundaries of the Harbor Waterfront overlay district are as shown on the official zoning map, bearing the date of _____________________, a copy of which is on file in the Town Hall administrative office.

2) Statement of intent. The Harbor Waterfront Overlay District is necessary to protect and preserve the natural and environmental resources of the Harbor Waterfront, and to provide for the orderly growth of development in this district. Development projects should be consistent with good land use planning, protection of the environment and guard the general health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Oriental. It is the intent of this section to provide new standards that will guide development by the following principles: a) Incorporate traditional development patterns of adjacent districts into new infill development in terms of lot size, orientation, setbacks, street patterns and impervious surfaces. b) Development should interconnect new neighborhoods, and greenways, and connect to adjacent neighborhoods and future undeveloped property. c) Public dockage for transient boat traffic. d) Provide for combination commercial below residential above multi-unit structures. e) Development should provide for multi-modal forms of transportation including automobiles, bicycles and walking. f) Development should allow for mixed uses that encourage walking and biking to relieve the burden on town streets. g) New development should provide for recreational spaces that enhance the quality of life for the residents of the neighborhood and the town. h) There should be diversity in housing types to allow for varying lifestyles. i) Good design should not be compromised for density. New development should respect the scale, massing, form and rhythm, and spatial relationships of neighboring properties. j) There should be a grid pattern for streets that connect new development with adjacent districts. k) There should be a pedestrian access to the Neuse River and Raccoon Creek, including the extension of a pedestrian walkway along the entire waterfront.

3) Standards. The following use and design standards and dimensional requirements are intended to guide new development in a manner that is consistent with good land use planning, protection of the environment and guard the general health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Oriental.

a) Building types.

i) Storefront building. Storefront building may accommodate a variety of uses. A group of storefront buildings can be combined to form a mixed-use neighborhood center. Individual storefront buildings can provide a commercial service close to homes with residential use on the upper floors. Building height for storefront building is between two to three stories. ii) Live/work units. Live/work units combine commercial and residential uses within a single dwelling unit. Building height for live/work units is between two to three stories. Live/work units are similar in design to storefront buildings; however, the emphasis is more on the residential use, with commercial uses being secondary. Live/work units create minimal or no foot traffic, with minimal signage. iii) Attached housing. Townhouses, duplexes or multi-family. Building height not to exceed three stories. iv) Detached housing. Suitable for single-family occupancy. Building height not to exceed three stories. v) Other. Other buildings may be considered by the Town Board if they are found to be in harmony, scale and character with the general guiding principles of this section. Metal structures must have a suitable veneer that is consistent with the character of the area.

b) Uses allowed with Land Use Permit. (See Section 146, Table of Permissible Uses)

i) 1.000 RESIDENTIAL (1.111, 1.510, 1.520, 1.530, 1.540, 1.700) ii) 3.000 OFFICE, CLERICAL, RESEARCH AND SERVICES NOT PRIMARILY RELATED TO GOODS OR MERCHANDISE ( 3.110, 3.120, 3.130, 3.210, 3.220) iii) 5.000 EDUCATIONAL, CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, PHILANTHROPIC, AND FRATERNAL USES (5.300) iv) 8.000 RESTAURANTS, BARS, NIGHT CLUBS (8.110) v) 9.000 MOTOR VEHICLE AND BOAT-RELATED SALES AND SERVICES OPERATIONS (9.120, 9.130) vii) 13.000 EMERGENCY SERVICES

c) Uses allowed with Special Use Permit.

i) 1.000 RESIDENTIAL (1.300, 1.310, 1.320, 1.330) ii) 2.000 SALES AND RENTAL OF GOODS, MERCHANDISE AND EQUIPMENT (2.120 –excluding drive-in windows) iii) 6.000 RECREATION, AMUSEMENT, ENTERTAINMENT (6.280) iv) 8.000 RESTAURANTS, BARS, NIGHT CLUBS (8.200, 8.210, 8.220) v) 9.000 MOTOR VEHICLE AND BOAT-RELATED SALES AND SERVICES OPERATIONS (9.140) vi) 17.000 UTILITY FACILITIES (17.100) vii) 19.000 OPEN AIR MARKETS (19.100) viii) 27.000 PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT c) Density. i) Detached housing shall not exceed ____ units per acre. ii) Attached housing shall not exceed ____ units per acre. iii) Mixed use live/work units or storefront buildings shall not exceed ____ residential units per acre and a maximum lot coverage ratio of sixty percent (60). iv) All development proposals should include at least five percent (5%) of the proposed development dedicated as recreational open space, which may include parks, plazas, walkways, trails, bike paths and boardwalks. d) Existing uses. Nothing in this article shall prevent the expansion of a use that is a conforming pre-existing use as of the date of this ordinance within the continuous boundaries of the parcel or parcels of real property used for such pre-existing conforming use.

Posted Saturday July 15, 2006 by Melinda Penkava

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