Rolesville board to hold public hearings

It was the discovery of waterfalls such as this one along Harris Creek that prompted the Rolesville Parks and Recreation Advisory Board to request a change to the Open Space and Greenway Plan to ensure their preservation in case of future development.

Five hearings planned for Tuesday.

By Clellie Allen

ROLESVILLE — Town commissioners are set to hold five public hearings at their next meeting Tues., March 18, including three text amendments to the unified development ordinance (UDO), an amendment to the Open Space and Greenway Plan and a hearing on a rezoning of two parcels of land on Rocky Knoll Lane off of Burlington Mills Road.

The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PARAB) is requesting a change to the Open Space and Greenway Plan following a presentation they made to commissioners at the Dec. 2 meeting last year.

The existing plan highlights specific areas for primary trails along Sanford Creek, Tom’s Creek and Harris Creek among others, as well as areas for future parks. PARAB members have somewhat recently come across some waterfalls along Harris Creek and are asking that this area be preserved if ever developed.

The three changes to the UDO involve revising standards for the location and appearance of mobile homes, the creation of an R3 zoning district and, if the R3 hearing is successful, the creation of specifications for senior housing within the R3 district.

The mobile home standards change involves creating a rural mobile home (RMH) district. The current M.H. provision requires frontage on a paved street. The recommended amendment would change that standard to apply only to urban (in-town) zoning districts.

The second UDO hearing on the creation of an R3 zoning district would allow for more multi-family dwelling construction. Currently, the UDO only allows multi-family dwellings, such as apartments, condos, duplexes and the like, in Residential and Planned Unit Developments (R&PUD), and then, only in conjunction with a master planned, mixed use (residential/commercial/civic) type of project.

The text amendment would allow for higher density residential development without all the added R&PUD requirements.

The last UDO hearing is contingent upon the R3 zone hearing and involves a change to create specifications for senior housing.

Details would include a definition for senior or elderly housing services, provisions for increased maximum density (from 12 units per acre for standard multifamily developments to 15 units per acre for senior housing projects), landscape buffer reductions as well as a reduction of parking standards.

The fifth public hearing of the night will address a request by an extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) resident, Ann Faison-Keith, 4244 Burlington Mill Road, to rezone her personal property on Rocky Knoll Lane from R1 to Rural Mobile Home (RMH).

The tracts in question have had mobile homes on them predating the zoning to R1. When the zoning changed during the town’s ETJ expansion, all the mobile homes became legal but nonconforming. That meant that if ever a mobile home needed to be replaced, it could not happen without meeting the R1 code.

The change in zoning will allow for replacement of one or more of the mobile homes, which would then be subject to the RMH requirements, if that UDO change is passed.

None of these hearings will be quasi-judicial or require sworn, expert testimony, meaning members of the public may make comment about any portion of the changes and their comments can be taken into consideration by the board as they make their decisions.

Town board meetings are held the first Monday and third Tuesday of the month in the town hall, 502 Southtown Circle, at 7 p.m. They are open to the public.