New rules would mix it up

North Hills. Glenwood South. Franklinton.

One of these areas may not be like the others — but Franklinton plans to follow in their footsteps, emphasizing residential and commercial properties sitting side by side as the town’s future.

Town planners are readying changes to the town’s zoning plan, and the biggest change will be a push for mixed-use districts along Franklinton’s major roads.

Mixed-use districts can include residential units, retail and office space, and — based on the location — can become high-intensity destinations.

What was once North Hills Mall at I-440 and Six Forks Road in Raleigh was gutted and expanded into a midtown location for shopping, dining and entertainment within walking distance of apartment and residential living.

Glenwood South, formerly a warehouse district, now boasts eight blocks of restaurants, bars, boutiques and luxury condos.

Franklinton’s plans aren’t as bold as the renovations that took place in Raleigh, but the same idea is in place: mix homes and businesses so a trip to the store or a night out is just down the street instead of down the highway.

“I want to spend my money in my town. I’ve spent my money outside of my town all my life,” Town Planner Tammy Ray said.

The mixed-use district is proposed as an area where doctors’ offices, boutiques, beauty shops could sit next to single-family homes or duplexes, or incorporate both, with a commercial business sitting on the ground floor with apartments upstairs.

“We want a quaint little residential/commercial area. Nothing high volume — we aren’t talking car lots,” Ray said.

The mixed-use zones would include properties on the west side of South Main Street up to the N.C. 56 intersection and north of the intersection of Main and Pearce Streets.

Mixed-use would also snake along N.C. 56 East from U.S. 1 to the planning jurisdiction boundary at Lane Store Road.

A two-mile stretch of properties east of U.S. 1 from N.C.56 to Swannanoa Drive would also be designated mixed-use.

“How do we jump-start stagnant growth? We have to capitalize on what we already have,” Ray said.

Areas where mixed-use districts are planned have access to water and sewer connections.

“We want to draw people to this corridor,” Ray said.

He said the mixed-use district zoning would ease the process of bringing development to the area.

“Now you have to jump through hoops to bring in a business — go to the board, get a special-use permit approved, then make a text change … it can take six or seven months,” Ray said.

“If they’re already in the mixed-use district, the requirements are already in place.”

Ray said the zoning of the land would decide what kind of commercial business could go there, instead of the long, tedious path to approval.

A public hearing will be held tonight (Thursday) to review the planning board’s recommendations to rezone sections of town, bringing the commercial and residential areas in line with the town’s Land Use Plan.

The plan — a means to determine how the town would like to see the land used in the next 20 years — identifies changes to residential and business zoning areas within the town’s city limits and planning jurisdiction.

The current plan was approved in August 2001.

To ensure residents knew this discussion was taking place, Ray sent out more than 2,400 letters and placed four large signs along the roads at the boundary on the outskirts of the town.

“There is a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding. Some folks think we’re extending the city limits — we’re not. We’re not extending the ETJ or annexing anything, just zoning,” Ray said.

The planning board has proposed two zoning maps, one for residential and commercial uses and one for density.

In the past, the town’s land use plans have only included zoning use.

The density plan proposes allowing limits on lot sizes in four zones, from low-density to high-density.

Inside the city limits, the high-density areas would be limited to smaller lot sizes than low-density areas. Non-residential areas outside the city limits wouldn’t have any size limitation.

The zoning use plan also moves away from previous plans that allowed residential/agricultural zoning to be located throughout the city limits.

The new plan proposes to move the farm zoning areas outside the city limits. The zoning for all single-wide and double-wide homes is also pushed out of the city limits.

The planning board has also included multifamily residence zoning for the first time.

Properties along Main Street north of N.C. 56 to Pearce Road will remain zoned as residential downtown and downtown commercial areas.

Residential downtown maintains a standard for building new, or renovating, downtown historic homes.

The downtown commercial zone keeps any type of housing out of the main stretch of downtown Franklinton.

Outside of town, Ray has coordinated the zones to match the county’s land use plan, except for the heavy industrial zoning south of Franklinton along U.S. 1. The planners want light industrial zoning there to maintain a buffer between industry and residential zones.

The public hearing is scheduled from 7-9 p.m. in the Franklinton High School auditorium.