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Psst. You, who thought that Oriental’s height limit debate was over.

It’s not.

Coming up July 11th, the Town Board holds a Public Hearing. You won’t find the words, “Allowing Buildings Taller Than The Height Limit” in any of the advertising for this public hearing.

But that’s what the propsal at the public hearing could do. Here’s how.

The chairman and vice chairman of the Planning Board have drawn up a proposal to change Oriental’s existing ordinance about Planned Unit Developments or PUDs.

(You can read it for yourself, click here to download the actual document provided by the town. It has the actual proposed deletions and additions. Check out page two. Great reading.)

Generally, PUDs are large projects built on multiple acres. Oriental currently requires 25 acres for its PUDs. Oriental also currently requires that PUDs combine residential and commercial building. On multiple acres, combining those uses, PUDs can be a laudable idea.

This proposal though, would change the language so that virtually any — any — project in town could be called a PUD.

No longer would a PUD have to be a combination of retail and commercial. It could be all condos. No longer would there be a minimum lot size. That means the 5,000 or 10,000 square foot lot near you in the Old Village could be the site of a PUD project. (In fact, the village in particular was cited when the Planning Board chair Don Mau, and vice chair Dee Sage laid out the proposal at the Planning Board’s meeting in late May.)

So, you’re thinking, why should I care if a builder wants to call his project a PUD?

Because by calling it a PUD, a developer can seek exceptions to our building ordinances. Big exceptions. Right there on Page 2 of the proposal is where PUD comes to stand for Plainly Unfettered Development.

According to the proposal, if the Town Board felt that a so-called PUD project were “beneficial to the community” the Town Board could grant exceptions to Oriental’s limits on height, setbacks and lot size.

Yes. Exceptions to the height limit.

This PUD is a shameless end-run around the new height limit which was reduced by the Town Board in February. (Set at 43-1/2 feet above sea level, it already gives developers flexibility: They can exceed the limit and go up to 48-1/2 feet if there are greater setbacks from the property lines.)

As proposed, this PUD would let a Town Board make arbitrary decisions that could give us hulking buildings. You might as well rip up the town’s GMO restrictions on height, setbacks and lot size if such exceptions can be made. Once the Town Board makes exceptions for one person, others will expect that leniency too. It’s just human nature. The exceptions — taller buildings, skinnier setbacks, more units crammed on lots — will become the rule.

And you can kiss goodbye any semblance of common sense growth and hanging on to our character.

This twist on PUD’s was first proposed at the Planning Board meeting in late May.

In the presentation, Planning Board chairman Don Mau couched it this way: he noted that the Pamlico County Commission was about to set new rules that restrict condo development. (In mid-June the county did that — allowing only one unit per acre along the waterfronts.) Oriental by comparison now allows about 14 units per acre. If the county tightens its rules, the Planning Board chairman said, municipalities that allow more units per acre would be seen as “prime for the growth” the county doesn’t want.

In other words, Oriental would become a magnet for developers wanting to build condos.

So, what’s a small town to do if it wants to keep its human scale?

(Warning: severe logic disconnect approaching.)

The Planning Board Chair and Vice Chair’s offered up this PUD proposal.

(Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

It makes no sense. It’s like saying 2 + 2 = 5.

With the County Commissioners making it harder to build condos in the county and developers likely flocking to the municipalities such as Oriental where greater density is allowed, wouldn’t our town be in a stronger negotiating position? Shouldn’t our town be taking the county’s lead and scaling back the number of units allowed per acre, especially in the Old Village?

Instead, we face the threat of this slick PUDdle, taller buildings and more densely packed projects in the Old Village. It’s puzzling. Why would Oriental devise a plan that gives developers more latitude and allows them to stray from the simple rules we have on the books regarding height, setbacks and lot size?

It’s as if Oriental were a retailer in a sellers’ market and decided to give away the store.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the PUD proposal and see for yourself, especially those exceptions on Page 2.

And then ask yourself: Who wants this PUD proposal passed? Who needs this? And why has this cynical loophole for developers to avoid our GMO gotten this far —- so far that the Town Board could approve it at the public hearing July 11th?

When the Planning Board chair presented this to the Town Board at its meeting June 6, there were hardly any questions from the Town Board before it set up this public hearing. With some critical thinking, the Town Board could have nipped this PUD in the bud or suggested changes. They didn’t. Not one alteration.

That this PUD proposal has gotten this far, with scarcely any discussion about those exceptions, sends a chill if you care about keeping the human scale in Oriental.

Bad development policy happens when people with good sense sit by and do nothing.

So, if last November you gave more than two seconds thought to your vote in the town board election, if you think our GMO already allows more than enough condos and tall buildings, if you thought you could breathe a sigh of relief when the height limit was reduced this winter, if you don’t want to see row upon row of Myrtle Beach/Wrightsville Beach hulking masses on the harbor and in the Old Village… don’t sit still now.

There’s a public hearing on July 11th. Town board commissioners have in the past said they welcome calls and emails from the public in advance of public hearings.

The time has come to remind the four commissioners who signed the petition last year to scale back the height limit — Al Herlands, Nancy Inger, Warren Johnson and Barb Venturi — that a vote for the proposed PUD is a vote for taller buildings and too-dense development in the Old Village.

This anything-can-be-a-PUD-and-any-PUD-can-evade-the-rules proposal could become law at that July 11th meeting if residents don’t make it clear that they understand Orwellian doublespeak when they hear it.

The way to undo double-speak is to speak out.

For the sake of Oriental.

• Update – Saturday July 1 ******

We have received requests asking for email addresses and phone numbers of the Oriental Town Board members.

Here then, is the contact information for the five Town Board commissioners. To be certain you have contacted the commissioners, phone calls and letters as well as email may be in order. (Some commissioners, don’t check email as often as others do.)

Warren Johnson
5633 Styron Drive
P O Box 724
Oriental, NC 28571
252 249 1667 – Home
252 249 3187 – Fax
252 675 2362 – Cell
kwjohnson@pamlico.net

Candy Bohmert
311 Midyette Street
P O Box 562
Oriental, NC 28571
252 745 4303 × 106 – Work
252 745 5781 – Fax (Work)
252 675 1411 – Cell
candy@pinelink.org

Alan Herlands
2115 White Farm Road
P O Box 466
Oriental NC 28571
252 249 0856 – Home
252 670 4203 – Cell
alherlands@pinelink.org

Nancy Inger
1107 Neuse Drive
Oriental, NC 28571
252 249 7291 – Home
252 249 7291 – Fax
252 671 3012 – Cell
nancying@earthlink.net

Barbara Venturi
1406 Tosto Circle
Oriental NC 28571
252 249 1141 – Home
venturi@coastalnet.com

Posted Wednesday June 28, 2006 by Melinda Penkava

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