 I know the time is five thirty one we're actually waiting on another commissioner who had foot surgery primarily because the parking deck is not in service so we had to scatter to find parking spots so if you can give us maybe another two or three minutes that's okay okay well thank you good afternoon welcome to the Durham Planning Commission the members of the Durham Planning Commission have been appointed by the City Council and County Board of Commissioners as an advisory board to the elected officials you should know that the elected officials have a final say so on any issues brought before us tonight if you wish to speak on the agenda item please go to the table to my left and sign up to speak for those wishing to speak please state your name and your address clearly when you come to the podium speak clearly into the microphone each side those wishing to speak in favor of an item and those wishing to speak in opposition to an item will have ten minutes to present each top each side the time will be divided amongst all persons wishing to speak if you're here opposing a rezoning tonight you should be aware of what's called a protest petition a protest petition can be helpful to those residents who live in a rezoning area please consult the planning department staff for any details on a protest petition and they will be happy to help you you should also keep in constant touch with the planning department as to when your case will go before the elected officials for final vote finally all motions are stated in the affirmative so if motion fails or ties the recommendation is for denial thank you can we have roll call Commissioner Beachwood Commissioner Bieland Commissioner board Commissioner Davis Commissioner Gibbs Vice Chair Harris your Jones President Commissioner Kimball Commissioner Lamb Commissioner Padgett Commissioner Smutsky President Commissioner Whitley Commissioner Winders move down to adjustments to the minutes good evening Mr. Chair members of the Commission Pat Young with the planning department no adjustments to the agenda tonight but I will certify for the record that all public hearing items before you tonight have been advertised in accordance with the provisions of law and we have affidavits to that effect on file with the planning department thank you we have approval of the minutes the moving property second all those in favor let me know my raising your right hand the motion carries 12 to 0 I'm gonna open the public hearing plan amendments Hendricks South Point plan amendment case a 1 2 0 0 0 1 4 and zoning case z 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 5 good afternoon I'm Hannah Jacobson with the Durham planning department and I'll be presenting the plan amendment case for Hendricks South Point the applicant is Durham Investment LLC and they are proposing to amend approximately 12.87 acres of the future land use map from low-medium density residential to commercial the proposal affects two properties located in the suburban tier on the west side of Fayetteville Road south of Renaissance Parkway and north of Massey Chapel Road the site for the plan amendment is represents only a portion of the larger site area that is the subject of the zoning case which you'll hear about next many of you are probably familiar with the broader area interstate 40 and the streets at South Point are located to the north of the site just north and west of the site is also the residential neighborhood called Kennington Heights this area has been the subject of a number of different planning initiatives in recent decades the earliest of which was the 1993 triangle township plan this was a small area plan that recommended that the neighborhood remain low density residential but by 2002 a lot had changed in the area specifically the streets of South Point had been built and improvements had been made to the interchanges off of I-40 so there was a lot of development pressure in the area and to address some of those issues there was an NC 54 I-40 corridor study that was completed in 2002 it recommended that the Kennington Heights neighborhood be become a commercial node with slightly higher residential densities surrounding it it also recommended that Kennington Heights should develop should redevelop according to kind of a according to kind of single ownership or as a single project the 2005 comprehensive plan largely adopted those recommendations but then in 2009 the joint city county planning committee requested that the planning department change the policy to to the special redevelopment areas and that policy kind of modified it so that they're no longer needed to be a single project single ownership for redevelopment but instead that subsequent phases of development be able to develop to similar standards in their justification statement the applicant suggests that conditions have changed even since 2009 specifically they point to the Jordan Lake rules which would restrict some piping of the onsite stream that in effect limits the amount of developable area and makes a parcel nearly infeasible to develop as a low medium density residential project so instead the applicants are requesting that the site be amended to commercial so that it can be integrated with the rest of the site of the rezoning and staff has reviewed that request according to these four criteria that are found in the unified development ordinance we find that the proposed amendment is consistent with land use policies and the comprehensive plan for commercial development in the suburban tier including its location and its ability to be integrated with the rest of the commercial node we also find that the proposal is compatible with surrounding future land use patterns the plan amendment proposal represents a southern expansion of that commercial node however the committed buffers as part of the development plan offer kind of a inadequate transition to areas south we determined there not to be any substantial adverse impacts but we do have some concern over the impact to the historic Massey Chapel which was Durham County's first historic landmark but finally the site is of adequate shape and size to accommodate the proposed use it meets all four criteria for plan amendments and so staff is recommending approval good evening Amy Wolfe with the planning department presenting the accompanying zoning map change case for this item this case Z 1 2 0 0 0 2 5 Hendrick south point again is a zoning map change request the applicant is actually the city of Durham acting through the agent Gary Wallace this due to the fact that there is a pending annexation for this site it's presently in the county's jurisdiction and has been reviewed under both ordinances but again it's a pending annexation therefore the city of Durham is the applicant and all the land use decisions will be made through one item at council the request is from the current designation of residential rural to a commercial general with the development plan the site acreage is 33.373 acres which is larger than the plan amendment site and the proposed uses for 180,000 square feet of commercial development the site is along Fayetteville road just south of the south point mall as indicated it's a total of 36 parcels and there is a right-of-way running through the center of the parcel Kennington Drive there's and I'll expect expand on this in a moment but also Chaparral Drive on the northern boundary with Roland Rolando Drive running into the north part of it the proposal does satisfy the zoning standards for the commercial general district as demonstrated on the development plan the summary is here on the slides by meeting the setbacks and the minimum site area here is the existing conditions shown on the development plan for the site generally ends towards the bottom of the screen and the northern boundary is Chaparral Drive Kennington Drive runs through the site here there is a number of environmental features there's a perennial stream which is also portion of that stream is an intermittent stream there are some steep slopes which you can see with the darker area of the stream there the sum of the site is is clear of trees there are few structures on the site and much of it is forested the proposed development plan is shown here there's a number of commitments what which I'll describe in a moment you can see the area around the stream has shown the appropriate 100 foot buffer this property is within the FJB watershed protection overlay it also reflects some road improvements site access points there's four of them to coming on to Kennington Drive here on the west one to the north off of currently Chaparral Drive on Rolando Drive as well as on to Fayetteville Street and there's a number of traffic mitigation commitments which I'll summarize the proposal is for a maximum of 180,000 square feet of non-residential area again there's four external access points they are committed the impervious surface maximum is 70% which is the maximum allowable in the FJB watershed protection overlay and the tree coverage committed is 14.1% which is greater than what the ordinance requires 10% the commitments shown graphically the entire development plan is is a commitment there's the access external access points internal access points there's a continuation of Rolando Drive is a commitment for that to be a 60 foot right away Kennington Drive improvements and all of this is detailed in the staff report right away dedication on Fayetteville Road there's a sanitary sewer easement shown and the location of tree coverage areas there's a number of text commitments including the applicant will request closure of Chaparral Drive which was the northern boundary of the project street lighting transit facilities widening of the roads and other traffic improvements with turn lanes Kennington Drive there's a number of turn lanes committed as well as improvements at Rolando Drive and Renaissance Parkway just a bit off-site as well as Fayetteville Road and Massey Chapel Road a westbound turn lane there there are design commitments associated with this request the buildings will be one and a half or two stories and this is just a summary they will be fronting along the main road or drive that runs through the site with the main entrance along the the main road facing the the road running through the site if there's going to be additional entrances they can have up to two additional entrances but they must be used for loading vehicles onto a showroom floor aluminum overhead doors and there's a committed roof line and materials for the main buildings accessory buildings also have a committed roof line and also materials and there's more details for that on the development plan and in the staff report the request is not consistent with the comprehensive plan more specifically the future land use map the majority of the site is shown as commercial but the plan amendment is is for the southern portion of the site from low medium density to commercial we looked at a number of comprehensive plan policies which this request satisfies those this currently should say no because of the plan amendment staff determines of this request if the plan amendment is approved is consistent with the comprehensive plan and other policies and ordinances thank you we have 12 people signed up to speak did everyone sign up who wanted to speak yes okay so we have 12 people signed up for and one against so you have an option to eat all 12 you could speak or you can designate a spokesperson but the time is still gonna be a lot of 10 minutes per unless we want an extension if you want to speak individually so if you're signed up for you can kind of just get in line and go in order as you lined up we can do it that way or you can designate a spokesperson we have several speakers I'll start off and then we'll use our 10 minutes okay so 10 minutes will work yes okay good enough mr. chairman and members of the planning commission my name is Lewis cheek I represent the developers of Hendrick's out point we're here seeking a plan amendment for 12.87 acres in a rezoning of 33.373 acres of property in the Kennington Heights area we ask that you recommend amendment of the comprehensive plan to change the designation of the 12.87 acres from low medium density residential to commercial there are a number of reasons to look upon this request favorably the commercial designation is in character with the way surrounding property has developed and is developing Kennington Heights has been indicated as a future commercial node since 2002 and this is a natural extension of the node to additional frontage on Fayetteville Road requirements for stream buffering stormwater management and road widening make this parcel economically infeasible for low medium residential development stream buffering creates two oddly shaped building areas which physically restrict low medium density residential development there's no water and sewer to the property stream buffers provide a natural boundary between this proposed commercial area and the residential which is to the south the amendment is consistent with comprehensive plan policies and with future land use patterns there's sufficient infrastructure for development of this property is commercial designating this property as commercial will not adversely impact necessary dwelling units in the city of Durham the site is of adequate shape and size to accommodate the use the planning department has thoroughly reviewed the request and recommends approval of the plan amendment we also request that you recommend rezoning of the entire 33.37 three acre track from residential rural to commercial general with the development plan we are bringing you precisely what was envisioned for Kennington Heights in the 2005 comprehensive plan a development through single ownership or as a single project employing unifying design elements roadways and buffers Kennington Heights was recognized as a neighborhood in transition and was designated as a special redevelopment area this recognized that the character of the area had experienced a substantial change over time and that a commercial use had become the appropriate use this morph from agriculture and very low residential to suburban scale subdivision surrounding a regional mall Kennington Heights was designated commercial but without water and sewer was left to wait for the developer to come along who had the vision and economic ability to bring folks what they wanted opportunities like this don't happen very often the Hendrick folks want to bring an auto mall to the property they propose to bring their entire operation out of downtown Durham as well as operations they have in Chapel Hill a total of 10 franchises to the site this is not strip development this is an orderly configuration of automobile dealerships on their own campus Hendrick believes that this is a prime location a much better location than the one that was attempted out on 751 and that it will fit their needs perfectly as a matter of fact without this much property they cannot do this deal staff has studied the request they have concluded that with the plan amendment the request will be consistent with the comprehensive plan and applicable policies and ordinances this is the opportunity for Kennington Heights to get the commercial user it has sought and fought for over all of these years it's an opportunity for Durham to realize a substantial increase in tax base in sales in property taxes and to see beneficial use made of property which is sat mostly vacant for many years please hear the folks from Kennington Heights and vote in favor of the rezoning I would ask that everyone from Kennington Heights who request this change to commercial to stand please thank you we have our entire team here to answer questions at the end of the presentation my name my name is Dorothy crew well good evening my name is Dorothy crew I live at 10 blanche spring place it's great to have the hindrance our point dealership coming into southern Durham I have met Rick Hendrick on several occasions my husband worked for Rick Hendrick back in the 90s he's a great person and he really look out for the community that they come to and I just want to say I'm glad to have them part of our community thank you good evening my name is Jeanette Wilson and my address is 222 Kennington road I'm here this evening for myself and for my neighbors who reside in Kennington Heights and in support of the development plan that's before you at its peak Kennington Heights consisted of approximately 32 homes however today only about 15 of those homes are occupied the rest of them are vacant abandoned and deserted which has led to increased crime in our neighborhood and a source of blight and decay and not only in southern Durham but for the city and County of Durham as a whole Kennington Heights is a residential community no longer fits with the rapid growth of development of commercial development there on the corner of Fed for road and Renaissance Parkway because of the soil there has been a long history of well-inceptic problems many homeowners have had to bear the cost of expensive well repair and rebuild there are properties with multiple wells on them some property owners have resorted to using water holding tanks just to have an adequate water supply we have had a neighbor who's had to have his septic tank cleaned on the weekly basis and this has called a severe and financial hardship on him and his family there are times when the water will appear discolored undrinkable and unusable for food preparation we must buy drinking and cooking water there are also vacant homeowners who have had their property for 30 or 40 years who are unable to sell or develop their property because the land simply will not perk we have residents senior citizens who have never been able to wash a load of clothing clothing in their own home they have to take their clothes to a laundromat on a weekly basis we have disabled disabled homeowners also who must do the same thing we have homeowners who are paying mortgages on their homes in Kennington Heights but are renting houses elsewhere just to have access to an adequate source of water we have residents who have become ill and have been unable to be discharged back to their own homes because of the situations that we live with on a daily basis this is no longer an issue of property value and who wants what for their property we are in a critical and a desperate situation and we need your help in 2002 the city of Durham was developing a comprehensive long-range plan and at that time my neighbors and I stood right here in petitioned the city council to have the land known as Kennington Heights to receive that designation for commercial development in the future and we were granted that commissioners this is a win-win for everyone involved this is an opportunity to continue what was started in 2002 it is an opportunity to read Southern Durham of a rundown dilapidated 40 year old community it is also an opportunity for the residents of Kennington Heights to move on to standard and suitable housing as I stated earlier commercial development fits on the corner of Fayetteville Road and Renaissance Parkway Kennington Heights does not and we need your help to move on thank you good evening my name is Reverend Rachel green I live at a thousand seven Alma Street but I have property at on Kennington Drive and we have been going through so much and there have been so many of the residents that have become deceased waiting for this property to be commercialized so that we can move forward and everything come to fruition I'm glad that we are at the point that we are I've I've just been so elated because we have come this close to fruition and I'm a senior citizen myself and I speak on behalf of some of the others that did not want to say anything they yielded their time to me and so I say that since we have gotten so close to fruition to get this property disposed of and to make a way for progress I think we should move on and just allow the Lord to show us that this is our time and yielding over to any of the others that may want to speak on behalf of standing for the right and standing against the wrong do we have anyone else wishing to speak in favor of okay so we have one person wishing to speak in opposition that okay sir sir you would have the same a lot of time of ten minutes good evening my name is David Brooks I live in Chelsea Meadows which is just south of the area that's proposed being re-zoned and the future land use plan changed when I purchased my home in 2007 I looked at the future land use plan and saw that there is a step down a natural step down from the commercialism of the mall in the areas north of Renaissance and actually some of Renaissance itself you see if you go from helpful road over to 751 there's no heavy commercial it's all residential even though they're you know high residential it's all residential on the south side of Renaissance across from this proposed auto complex there's also there's also a high residential area as well my concern is that we're changing I made my plans for my future on my property based on a future land use plan that had this as is a step down area transitioning out of the commercial into the urban and suburban areas and now I can't trust that anymore if we go in and start changing it I think that this will only be the initial piece quite logically across the road from here will be the next and it will most certainly creep down the palpable road and into my backyard and I sincerely hope that you guys will consider a lifelong citizens request that you honor or put some teeth in your plans back your plans up your future land news plans I sympathize with the people in Kensington Heights I don't see any problem with putting in you know residential apartment complexes and things of that nature that actually take down the notch of the commercial area but you've got a lot of people living south of here that will be impacted by this this heavier commercial there's also you know it was reference brought up to the to the auto mall area over office 751 that hasn't been developed fully developed there's plenty it looked like a lot of source land over there that could be used for this the same kind of thing I know there was a lot of conversation and when that was rezoned as to support auto the auto mall over there and it's pretty much that vacant other than two places thank you all right thank you sir do we have anyone else wishing to speak on this matter yes sir you can come to the mic and state your name and address are speaking for or again sir I'm speaking for or think they had a 51 seconds left can you do it okay my name is Steve Foreman I live at 5513 Pelham road but I own property that fronts on Fayetteville Road and James Ross drive directly across from this property and I just want to say that I think the people of Kensington Heights deserve this annexation and rezoning to commercial because they've been held back they've been denied what is available to other people further south from them and that is water and sewer the people Ellison Heights have been denied water and sewer for too long they've been normal neighborhoods would have been annexed and given water and sewer they've been denied all these long decades and it's just not fair to hold them in this jeopardy and continue this almost imminent domain situation that has been created by the city and County holding again hostage the people of Kensington and Ellison Heights so I support this and I wish the people of Kensington Heights well thank you if we don't have anyone else wishing to speak I'll close the public hearing and bring it back before the commissioners for any additional comments or questions we have anyone wishing to speak mr. Campbell miss cheek please when I look at this topology and being that we have a lack of actual development plan as far as structures where do you propose or what is the proposed building site and this is it north of the stream yes let me have my engineers I my names Greg Hartley I'm with EMHNT 301 McCullough Drive sweet 109 Charlotte North Carolina as far as building locations there'll be multiple building locations be approximately four primary locations here for the main buildings to located north of Kensington Drive to the south the current is the current layout north of Kensington Drive and to on the south side when I look at the intermittent stream buffer yes and I look towards the Fayetteville roadside on the southern side yes there will be no buildings located south of that that area is basically going to be utilized for stormwater treatment and parking area from from where the buffer extends towards Fayetteville road to the south okay and right now I'm looking at not much tree coverage but are we thinking about buffering some of that yeah there there's a 50 foot buffer along the residential side in that area yes so through natural intermittent stream and environmental current environmental rules there'll be a natural buffer between that and the neighborhood that's on Massey Chapel Road is that correct that is correct so therefore we don't have to worry about encroachment in that area of a commercial that that is correct that that area except for a if you look at the buffer there's one area where we connect a sanitary line through it's kind of a break in the shaded area yeah the remainder of that area will remain heavily wooded as it is now okay so therefore if we're looking at anybody wow if we're looking at anybody in the south of Massey Chapel Road in that development area they really won't see a car dealership will they no sir okay the other question I have is because the comment was made a Mr. Cheek that we're going to move all of the Hendricks Auto Mall Park to that locations to the area that the downtown operation will what's going to happen to the downtown area because then we have an open vacant area in our downtown well we'll look for purchaser for it but okay but we we intend to move the the entire operation and operations out of Chapel Hill into that Auto Mall there'll be 10 the total of 10 franchises there okay thank you Commissioner Smusky thank you Chairman Jones well while you there there was mention in the report that there would be that there might be some adverse impacts on the part of the neighborhood that you're not going to be touching but there would be some kind of mitigation to those impacts can you tell us about that well I think we're talking again about the buffering if I understand you correctly Mr. Smutsky I think that would be on the west side because that's that's part of the neighborhood that's going to be left on the cross matter horn and moving west okay my name is Stacy Woodhouse from I'm work for the developer we'll work at a 550 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant South Carolina the plan is is we're going to be shortly coming back with a phase two that's going to cover the western portion of the neighborhood and we plan on purchasing both portions of the neighborhood so there will effectively our plan is to have nobody left thank you about that there was a mention of a bike lane down Fadfield how far you're going to build that through the you know from I guess Renaissance Parkway down Pat down to your the end of your property it's gonna be a bike lane it goes to I believe it goes to the south end is that correct Reynolds the south end of our property have you considered any other kind of I'm with Durham Open Space and Trails Commission and I'm not sure about the about the whole Commission but would it be possible in the to use some of this buffer for additional trails if there was a way to get access to it in general I don't think a bike trail of a dealerships a fairly secure environment I don't know that we'd want to bike trail through the bike trails gonna be on February well I'm sorry I wasn't clear I was thinking hiking and and other open space facilities you know hiking mainly walking through and where where would you envision this being near the stream a lot of our a lot of our trails are long streams is that something you can consider for the future it's fairly steep there isn't it yeah the stream buffer area is fairly steep the stream there the stream buffer area is fairly steep I'm not sure be conducive to that but as long as you've considered it thank you Commission of Board I find that I'm a big mind about this first of all I agree the Kentingham Heights neighborhood is waited far too long to have somebody come in and work with this land I wish it were something else on the car dealership but I do appreciate that it looks like it's gonna be fairly well buffered to the south was there no possibility of doing like a mixed-use commercial and vertically integrated residential in this area not not from our point of view the the use that Mr. Hendrick proposes is the use that's most conducive for what he does and and so we've always looked at it from the point of view of an auto mall commission Beachwood perhaps staff could point out to me on the map where where the church is south of this project please Massey Chapel Hannah Jacobson Durham Planning Department the church owns these two parcels immediately south of here the church itself is located on this southern parcel this parcel I believe is vacant okay thank you we have a man Miranda from the open space and trails Commission that is is concerned about these two properties because they are historic properties and asks that there be additional buffering and some additional additional buffering and additional tree safe to protect these areas are you familiar with the request that they made are you familiar is your development team familiar with the open space and trails Commission's recommendation regarding this I'm not you I don't think we are right well they've said they've sent it along to the City Council so you probably will be coming up against it there that they mentioned here that the areas will be impacted from the creation of this project and they would request that the property in the surround that area to the south of Kennington Drive directly adjacent to the church property and surrounding the stream buffer will remain as a permanent open space they want to know if that's going to remain permanent open space or tree coverage or if the stream and its buffer will remain intact so the area to the south of that stream buffer to the property line that it that a buts the church property will that remain intact it's you mentioned a little earlier that you intended to make it there would be some parking in there the the buffering as a result of the stream that's a hundred foot buffer on each side which is a committed element yes it is I think what they what they've asked for in addition to this because I think they've had access to look at this also is what is the intent for that wedge of space between the buffer and and the property line my understanding is that the intention is to use it for stormwater and for parking and what do you mean by stormwater that once again Greg Hartley with the MHNT the intent would be for stormwater treatment to meet the ordinance detention and water quality requirements would be either a pond or a stormwater wetland that'll be a permanent feature there yes thank you Harris thank you chair just one comment I've talked to a number of residents of Kensington Heights and also other neighbors in surrounding this property and everything I've heard there in favor of this and I plan to vote for it and I'll ask you to do likewise do we have any other commissioners mr. Gibbs thank you mr. Chairman this is a difficult case I think I really feel for the residents who have had the problems with water and sewer for all these years and I think it's something that and this is not the only neighborhood that has this problem in this part of the county and I think it should be addressed some way now this particular proposed project to me I think I've heard a comment while ago that it was I wish it was something other than a car dealership I have nothing against car dealerships because I love to go to them but this area to me had in our comprehensive plan is it should be as we have been referring to it a step down area I would really like to see more I'll say diverse development in this area from from the mall down Fayetteville Road and the furthest south we go and and it's especially troubling to me and that there is another option if there was no other option and you know what's coming right the auto park at South Point there should be there's enough room there and that and I would like for you to tell me or explain to me why something there wouldn't work as well as this a lot of planning has gone into this whole area including the city and county of Durham and consultants but well the two points I wanted to make is the environmental impact of this and all the other things that have been mentioned the historic preservation of this church which is near and dear to me and the water issues for the residents there has to be another way to do this y'all been living there for what on how I don't know how long you've been living there but this issue has been going on for decades something needs to be done but you don't have to have a big well a car dealership to get that done and again I'm not against car dealerships I just think this would be better serve Durham up closer to South Point thank you thank you sir we don't have anyone else wishing to speak and I would say one thing I want to thank the residents for coming out we enjoy cases where residents and communities show their support or opposition to cases we know it took time out of your schedule we want to thank you for coming but if we don't have any other commissioners wishing to speak I'll ask for someone to make a motion I'd like to make a motion Reverend Whitley you had a question I would like to make a motion that we approve case a 1 2 0 0 0 1 4 all right it's been moved and properly second all those in favor let me know my raising your right hand you got to get any opposed let me know my raising your right hand motion carries 11 10 to 2 can we get a motion on the zoning case I'm gonna prove a zoning case D 1 2 0 0 0 2 5 second that's been moved and properly second all those in favor let it be know my raising your right hand any opposition let it be know my raising your right hand motion carries 10 to 2 thank you so all right we'll move down to agenda item 6 a open public hearing for green edge self storage case Z 1 3 0 0 0 0 5 good evening Amy Wolf at the planning department okay but before you start Ms. Wolf give them a good few seconds to kind of clear out okay we'll give them a few more seconds to clear out okay you can proceed I think once they close that door it'll be okay thank you Amy Wolf at the planning department this case is zoning map change request case Z 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 5 for green edge self storage the applicant as culture jewel teams this case is within the county's jurisdiction and the request is from residential suburban 20 to commercial general with a development plan this chairman is okay you good okay if you can if you can just press rewind again Amy Wolf at the planning department this case Z 1 3 0 0 0 0 5 for green edge self storage the applicant is culture jewel teams the jurisdiction is within the county or the site is within the county's jurisdiction the request is from residential suburban 20 to commercial general with a development plan the site is 3.7 acres and the proposed uses for up to 350 self storage units the site is located at 3802 and 1 0 0 9 Ren Road it is two parcels again with frontage on Andrew Avenue and Ren Road it also has frontage along a railroad right away along the south and western property line again it's in this county's jurisdiction so any zoning approval is for a project that would not require connection to city services the request does meet the requirements for the commercial general district and is demonstrated on the development plan there is a reduction of side yard because it is adjacent to a railroad right away the existing conditions of the site show it that it is largely tree covered there are some specimen trees included there is a structure on the side single family structure and there are no other environmental features on the site the proposal shows one access point off of Ren Road it does show the appropriate building and parking envelope as well as tree preservation areas shaded here along the northern and eastern property lines and it commits to a self storage use and it says you're all other uses are prohibited with a maximum of 50,000 square feet and I'll detail some other commitments as well again maximum of 50,000 square feet building area there's the one access point which is on Ren Road the impervious surface maximum is 70% this site is not within a watershed protection overlay which would otherwise be allowed to do 100% they're committing to 70% the tree preservation is 10% commitment other graphic commitments are the location of the access point and tree preservation areas the committed use is a self storage as well as 10 feet of right-of-way dedication along both Andrew Avenue and Ren Road there are a number there are design commitments for both buildings and roofline which includes building materials they're summarized here on this slide that's also in your staff report and on the development plan the request is consistent with the future land use map of our comprehensive plan which shows this area as commercial and this request is consistent with the other applicable policies of our comprehensive plan and staff determines that this request is consistent with the plan and other applicable policies and ordinances thank you ma'am we have one person signed up to speak so you state your name Patrick biker should only need about three minutes of your time chairman Jones all right good evening chairman Jones members of the planning commission my name is Patrick biker I live at 2614 Stuart Drive I'm an attorney with Morningstar law group here in Durham I'm here tonight representing Brad and Cliff Minsley who are local Durham based developers we are requesting the zoning map change to allow self storage development at the corner of Andrew Avenue and Ren Road in eastern Durham County also with us tonight are the projects landscape architect Dan Jewel the president of culture Jewel Thames and the long-time owner of this property Mrs. Harriet Brinkley you've just heard the planning staff recommend approval and compliance with all applicable plans and ordinances so I will try not to repeat their comments we think there are three key reasons to support this zoning map change the first reason is to stimulate significant tax base increase from the current tax value of 3.7 acres located at the current current I'm sorry at the corner of Andrew Avenue and Ren Road at the present time the Durham County assessed tax value for these 3.7 vacant acres is just over $51,000 the green edge self storage development upon completion will yield a tax value of approximately one million dollars which represents about a 20 fold increase on property taxes generated from this 3.7 acres also in addition to increased property tax revenues it's important to recognize that the tax revenues from this development also will benefit the Bethesda Volunteer Fire Department which provides fire protection for both city and county residents in this part of Durham so approval of this zoning map change creates financial benefits for the county as a whole and also for the volunteer fire department which serves eastern Durham County the second reason for approving this zoning map change is the recognition that the existing zoning residential suburban with 20,000 square foot lots makes no sense at all right next to an active railroad corridor this active rail corridor is 150 feet wide and it has freight rail service running on it today further more this rail corridor may have regional rail transit or high speed and or high speed passenger rail service in the future I doubt anybody in this room would want to live in the type of residential development that would occur under the existing zoning for this property third and last the property is designated as commercial on the future land use map and this rezoning creates invest creates needed investment for this section of Durham County personally I was surprised at the number of boarded up houses I saw in the vicinity of this project the rezoning before you tonight allows for much needed investment to occur and without any negative impacts on city or county services as is well documented in your staff report so for all these reasons we respectfully asked for your approval our team will be happy to try to answer any questions thank you we don't have anyone wishing to speak I'll close the public hearing and bring it back before the commissioners Reverend Whitley yes I want to say the neighborhood is in favor the community is in favor of the storage facility it would add something new to that area and I would I would ask that you support this thank we have no one else wishing to speak can we get a motion has been moved and properly second all those in favor let it be known by raising your right hand any opposition motion carries 12 to 0 thank you thank you move down to item 7 a and the new business the briefing on the village plan good evening I'm Laura Woods with the Durham Planning Department the project manager for the village of Rouge Montt plan and this is merely an interim report I expect to be brief I do want to begin with an emmendation to your staff report there is an error at the top of page 2 concerning locations of community meetings and the church identified as incorrect that should be new Red Mountain Missionary Baptist Church we apologize for the mistake because some of you are new to this board and may not be familiar with this project and besides some of you may have kind of forgotten about it just a brief review this is based on this policy of the comprehensive plan the planning department shall develop land use plans in design guidelines to promote the continued and sustained sustainable economic viability as well as protect the character of the rural villages of the Heyman Rouge Montt we elected to begin by planning for Rouge Montt we held six community meetings and this is what we accomplished in those meetings we explained the project and the planning process we determined the issues that were of concern to residents we conducted visioning exercises and explained a whole host of options available to residents and guard got their opinions on whether these various options were something to be interested in or not in many cases they were not and we developed a set of recommendations based upon what residents told us presented those recommendations to determine their level of support and we determined that they were very supported by the community we opted in the end not to write a full scale plan that was not warranted we developed some recommendations the first is a plan amendment for the area this is the adopted future land use for Rouge Montt and in large measure the future land use was not considered closely when we developed the comprehensive plan in 2005 so this land use is really based upon the zoning and much of the zoning literally goes back to the 1950s so the conditions or assumptions pertaining may not be valid working with the community we suggested that moving that commercial to a village center which would be largely commercial would be warranted and this would be in the vicinity of Red Mountain Road at 501 Pool Road and Bacon Road the acreages by the way for commercial don't change very much it's simply moving them we suggest to tax amendments and they have to do with watershed protection this is in Lake Mickey Little River Reservoir B it's in the rural tier currently parcels are limited to 6% impervious surface and that's a pretty severe limit even on residential users we suggest that within the village of Rouge Montt which court is approximately 1% of the total watershed the percentage the impervious surface be allowed to go up to 24% that would have two effects it would possibly make the development of a small commercial node more viable it would also allow the residential landowners in in the area a bit more flexibility with the property in terms of adding an addition if they wish to their to their home building a larger home possibly which in some cases may not be possible at this point with the 6% limit the second part of the tax amendment we suggest is has to do with minimum lot size in that protected watershed the minimum lot sizes one dwelling unit per three acres we suggest that within the village that be altered to one dwelling unit per one acre now realistically because of the soils very few very little of the land can actually meet that but it does give some landowners that option of course keep in mind that the overarching regulation here is still and won't be altered by this tax amendment is the overarching regulation is your septic system regulations which are state requirements now their next steps in this project we went to the board of commissioners at their May and June work sessions to go over these proposals to see if they were okay before we proceeded to the rather tedious task of preparing these amendments and in principle they agreed so our next steps will be to draft the plan amendment and draft the UDO tax amendment the processes diverge somewhat the simpler of the two is the plan amendment that will proceed like all plan amendments under the same requirements of all the plan amendments you see before you the tax amendment for the UDO is a bit more complex because we're proposing to alter watershed regulations we'll need to write the text amendment show it to the board of commissioners make sure they're okay and get their approval to contact the state and request this change in the watershed regulations assuming the state says okay then we can proceed to a public hearing before the board of period well obviously we'll be at the planning commission first for a public hearing and then the board of commissioners we hope to accomplish this over the next few months and that concludes my presentation thank you I think this is mainly for informational purposes so it doesn't require a vote quite right we did have a anyone else wish me to speak don't go ahead Mr. Wood this question actually go beyond the scope of what you were doing here but as you hear it tonight in the southern part of Durham we have a serious problem of water quality in the northern part of Durham we also have a problem in northern quality they go beyond the scope of your village and the question is in you invest I know one of the issues that the residents had was water and the quality of the water my question is in your investigation did you guys come up with some kind of solution or how we can address the problem with the quality of the water yeah there are three large contamination plumes in the groundwater in Grishbott there is a separate project being handled taken care of by the county to provide a community well system that is not associated with this project but this is kind of being timed to coincide so that they come before various things like contracts and so forth come before the board of commissioners all in one fell swoop and that's more convenient for residents and it's easier for the commissioners to keep track so yes that issue is being addressed by the county but not by this point this plan okay but you are doing it just for the village correct I was talking about beyond the scope of the village are we other filters you're asking a question that is well beyond my pay grade this this project was assigned to me and this is my project the well system is another project and that's been assigned to someone else and you're asking the third question and I do not know the answer okay thank you which the Kim Ms. Woods how you doing it's in line with what Commissioner Harris was talking about because of the fact we know that right along North Roxburgh Road has been this contamination bloom from the gas stations that were there and had leakage when you look at the village of Rouge Mount proposed plan are you looking at that community you know where the community well would actually supply water to would it be within the boundaries of the village do you know is there it would yes I have seen a sort of draft for the area served in it corresponds roughly to the village core in the future land use map that I showed you before it's a bit larger but it's sort of in the same general area the second and incidentally the core there is actually where the largest contamination plan is that correct now the second question I have is these two isolated commercial pods that sit off of the core one for the down Roxburgh Road and one further out Red Mountain can you give us an explanation of why yes those do yes I that's a question I've filled it a few times those are existing commercial uses one is a gas station sitting on top of one of the plumes by the way the other is a large animal veterinarian's office and we expect that to stay so therefore we simply left it as commercial then is there reason why we didn't have some type of mixed zone use between the to kind of pull it all together because otherwise you're looking at encroachment either way in growth as I say these are existing uses they're unlikely to go away they're unlikely to propose to enlarge or expand there was no expressed community support for the kind of link you're talking about therefore we opted for the more conservative approach was there even a discussion amongst the residents about how that shape in a future land use actually gets affected through sale of property and further on very little was discussed at the meetings the few questions I had were much like yours what are those and once I responded then that was the end of the conversation there were no further no one asked about implications okay thank you any other questions no thank you miss woods and we move down to 7b committee assignments or committee appointments we have two open committee appointments one was the development review board and the other one was the bike and pad commission mr. Whitley has asked to serve on a development review board we'll grant that request and the bike and pad we're still contemplating so if anyone has a burning desire to serve on the bike and pad you can speak now we can work something out or not we'll perhaps hold this off until the next month that we could no burning desires so miss young is that okay for us to hold the bike and pad off till next month yes sir I'll just remain vacant until filled okay good enough yes so the existing committee assignments will stay the same until otherwise noted so any other so we move down to 7c which is any announcements any announcements from anyone what do we have next month this chair we have three three cases on your agenda next month and also I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce our newest staff member who's sitting to my left is Julia black she's one of our new executive assistants and one of her many many tasks will be the official clerk to the planning commission so the first time since 2009 you guys will have a real clerk not me no we still like you Scott yes so we want to thank you so I'm assuming next month she'll be ready to go like full yes she'll be the one calling your names and counting your hands okay well thank you so if all hearts and minds are clear no one else has any other announcements we'll go ahead and adjourn