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For the moment, Oriental does not have Conditional Zoning.

The Town Board Tuesday night pushed aside the proposal, voting 5-0 to table a vote on conditional zoning until the town develops a comprehensive plan.

The vote came after almost an hour of discussion and public comment on Conditional Zoning, a concept that would allow the Town Board to permit uses otherwise not allowed in a zoning district on ‘condition’ it be put only to that use.

Planning Board member Bob Miller, a supporter of Conditional Zoning who has in the past spoken of it as a way to allow an ice cream parlor in a residential neighborhood, said, “I don’t think it would ever be used a lot.” He spoke of the Conditional Zoning as a ‘tool’ to deal with growth in the future and asked, “Does the Town Board want to be proactive or reactive?”

Of the 15 or so people who spoke, two-thirds indicated skepticism, if not outright opposition to adopting Conditional Zoning.

George Smith told the board that, “One man’s proactive is another man’s overturning of the zoning ordinances.” Conditional Zoning, Smith said, “ takes away our most basic protections for zoning.” He was skeptical that it would not be used much. “Asking the town to make only one exception for zoning is like asking an alcoholic to take one drink.”

Teri Reid, referring to fellow opponents of Conditional Zoning, picked up the thread. “Everyone tonight is being very proactive. They don’t want this.” Reid, who has applied to be on the Planning Board, spoke of a recently purchased lot across the street from her home in the Old Village R2 neighborhood. “The way it is now, only a single family home or duplex can be put there. I don’t want an ice cream parlor there. That’s what the MU (Mixed Use District) is for.”

Despite the strong opposition — commissioners say emails from the public also ran against the idea — the Town Board did not completely put the idea to rest. Rather, it voted to table it.

Some who say they favor Conditional Zoning – Jim Barton, an applicant for the Planning Board seat, and former Planning Board Chair Dee Sage – raised the issue about the town having a comprehensive plan first. Then, Commissioner Candy Bohmert moved that the vote be tabled until a comprehensive plan was developed by the town. Nancy Inger seconded it.

Commissioner Bohmert said that “Conditional Zoning deserves another look but not without a comprehensive plan or a long range plan that says, ‘this is what the town should look like.’ When that’s done, we may find that we don’t need Conditional Zoning. Or that we do. “

“We have a reasonable ordinance to look at but nothing to shine it against. There are some who don’t understand it. And some who do.”

Commissioner Dave Cox said that while he understood that Conditional Zoning seemed to work in some cities, the examples offered by proponents didn’t translate well to Oriental. For instance, he said, one town used conditional zoning to allow a martial arts studio in an office building. Cox noted that Oriental would already allow that because, as he put it, the town has “a pretty permissive zoning environment.” Unless Oriental adopted much more complex and stricter zoning requirements, Cox said, “every way I look at it, I don’t see the need” for Conditional Zoning.

Additionally, Cox said he was concerned for the Old Village’s R2 neighborhood if Conditional Zoning were in place. Cox noted that property owners in the MU1 (as well as the MU) could “pretty much do anything” and put their property to many uses already and so woudn’t need Conditional Zoning. Also, Cox said, many of the lots in the R1 neighborhood have covenants, restricting uses there. As a result, Cox said, it would be Oriental’s R2 neighborhood – an older part of town where covenants are not the rule — that would be the one district “most ripe” for the conditional zoning requests if the town made conditional zoning available.

(Cox lives in the R2 and Bohmert in the MU1. The other commissioners live in the R1. Most membersof the Planning Board — which unanimously recommended Conditional Zoning— live in the R1. )

Commissioner Nancy Inger said, “it is not the time to do this.” To do so, she said, would be contrary to the “overwhelming” public opposition to Conditional Zoning.

Commissioner Kathy Kellam asked “Do we really need it?” She said that “the Catholic church” (and its desire to be annexed and zoned so that it could build an assisted living center someday) had been offered as a justification for the Conditional Zoning proposal. But, Kellam said, “I find that example weak,” noting that there was no one in the audience “representing the church.”

Commissioner Sherrill Styron said that he had, “mixed feelings. It’s no big deal with me. Conditional Zoning is better, if the public could be convinced.” But counting heads on the board he added, “if there’s not three members on this board that think we need it, it’s foolish to send back to the PB and later vote against it.”

For the time being, the proposal has been tabled. It could still come back once the comprehensive plan is developed.

(There is precedent for an issue resurfacing after seemingly being put to rest in the face of strong public opposition. In the summer of 2006 the Town Board put aside a PUD proposal ( Planned Unit Development) which could have loosened Oriental’s building regulations anywhere in town. However, the Board did not dispatch the idea entirely, and a year later, it appeared in another form, the PAP — Public Amenities Proffer— which allowed for slacker regulations in certain waterfront properties. It was passed by the board in June 2007.)

Though it took up more than a third of the Board’s time, Conditional Zoning wasn’t the only item on the agenda Tuesday night. Here’s a recap of the other issues it discussed as well:

Planning Board report: A week ago Ron Stevens announced that he would leave the Planning Board after the August 26th meeting. Three residents have applied to take his place at the table. They are: Jim Barton, who lives in the Dolphin Point neighborhood. Roger Cordes, who lives on Hodges Street, and Teri Reid who, like Cordes, also lives in the Old Village, on Main Street. The Old Village part of town has not had an appointee on the Planning Board since Dave Cox stepped down to become a Town Commissioner last November.

The Town Board voted to appoint Rich Wertin to the Tourism Board, and Sandie Beal to the Tree Board.

It was announced that the Town will be swapping land with the Southeast Pamlico Fire District. In the swap, the Town will be exchange its lot next to the fire station on Straight Road for a lot behind the fire station and adjacent to the town’s recreation field. The fire station wanted the land on Straight Road so that an ambulance bay might be put there and have quicker in-and-out access.

The Parks and Recreation Board is recommending that a recycling center for county residents not be put on that land near the fire station as originally discussed. Instead, the P&R Board suggested that the Town investigate putting in on land near the town’s new water treatment plant and water tower.

Town Manager Wyatt Cutler reported that that site for a recycling center would cost the county more to develop because trees would have to be cut down. Estimated cost is $20,000 and would be borne entirely by the county. Because of that, Cutler reported, the county wants a five-year lease instead of an earlier-discussed clause that gave either party (the county or the town) 90 days to get out of the arrangement. The Town Board agreed to a 5 year commitment and the matter now goes to the Pamlico County Board of Commissioners.

(The recycling center on town land would mainly be for the convenience of county residents to dispose of their recyclables, instead of driving to recycling centers farther away. Oriental residents and taxpayers already have curbside recycling.)

In the Police Report, Commissioner Kathy Kellam told fellow board members of her efforts to set up an ordinance in town that would officially allow the driving of golf carts on the streets of Oriental. Legislation passed in Raleigh this session allows the town to proceed along these lines. Commissioner Kellam will present a draft ordinance at the September 2nd meeting.

Commissioner Kellam also spoke about reviewing the town’s existing noise ordinance. She said that with three businesses in town playing amplified music, there have been more complaints from neighbors about both the loudness and the frequency. As an example, she said that a complaint was received Saturday night from a street several blocks away from the Tiki Bar about the music playing there. (Police say they received other complaints as well.)

Kellam noted that the town’s current noise ordinance has a voluntary permit process with no limit on the number of ‘noise permits’ that an establishment could get in a year. She said that the Tiki Bar had 33 “noise permits” to play amplified music after 11pm this year. This past Saturday night, Kellam said that she and a police officer measured the sound at the waterfront near the Tiki Bar. The level of ambient noise – including the generators running on the trawlers in the harbor — registered 68 on a decibel meter. In the one measurement they took of the noise when the band was playing, the meter read 77 dB. That was after 11pm.

The board voted to have Kellam and fellow commissioner Nancy Inger look at how other towns regulate noise. (Some, for instance, set a dB limit a certain distance from the music-making establishment.) The committee of two will also review the language of the current Noise Ordinance and the permitting process. A report is to come at the September 2nd meeting.

In the Manager’s Report, Wyatt Cutler told the board he’d fielded complaints about the high grass growth in some roadside ditches. There was discussion about acquiring a tractor with a side mower. A used one would cost $20,000.

The Board also voted 4-1 (Sherrill Styron opposed) to hire another full time employee for the public works department. Wyatt Cutler said the extra worker was needed largely for the running of the water plant. Pay would be in the $7-9 an hour range, with benefits.

In other news from the Manager’s office, Wyatt Cutler said that a CAMA grant for $12,750 had been approved for the Town to build a pier for small boats at the end of Hodges Street near Smith Creek. The town’s share of this matching grant arrangement would be $4,000. The official word has not yet come from Raleigh, but when it does, Cutler says, the town will put the project out to bid.

Commissioner Bohmert said that she, Commissioner Inger and Dee Sage, who are members of the Duck Pond Committee, had met with an engineering firm from Durham recently. The firm, she said, can write grants which would be helpful in financing what could be an extensive project at the Duck Ponds.

The Overlay District. After much discussion, the Town Board decided to meet with the Planning Board in a special meeting in coming weeks to talk about the Overlay District for Broad Street.

Background: The Overlay District as proposed by the Planning Board would have allowed business structures 25 feet and shorter to have flat roofs instead of the 4/12 pitch the GMO otherwise requires. As a trade-off for that, the Planning Board had called for buildings in business corridor on the approach to town to have Tree Board-approved landscaping, a paved walkway and a porch 8-feet deep. At last month’s meeting, the Town Board sent the Planning Board’s Overlay proposal back to the Planning Board, though without explicit instructions. The Planning Board at its meeting a week ago declined to make changes.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Town Board initially voted – unanimously – to not hold a public hearing on the entire package of Overlay District recommendations that were before it once again. Then Commissioner Bohmert moved that the Board send the part about allowing the flat roofs back to the Planning Board (with the intention of the Town Board then holding a public hearing on that matter as soon as possible.) 4 commissioners voted in favor with Commissioner Kellam voting no.

From the audience Planning Board member Bob Miller questioned whether the Town Board would pass anything the Planning Board sent it.

“You realize what you’ve done,” Miller said, “We worked three years on an Overlay District, put a lot of effort in to it, and we finally came up with an Overlay District and you are now saying you don’t want to do it.”

In response to a reporter’s question about whether the Planning Board could once again add the trade-offs back in to the proposal to allow flat roofs, the Town Board talked at length about what they had just voted on. Commissioner Styron said, ”I think we made a mistake.”

The Board then voted to meet face to face with the Planning Board sometime in the next few weeks, to discuss the Overlay District for upper Broad Street corridor.

Posted Wednesday August 6, 2008 by Melinda Penkava

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