Friday, August 29, 2008

Town Considering Elminating Oversight of Most Building Plan Approvals


At the 8/26/08 Board of Commissioners (Town Council) meeting, the Planning Director proposed that he be given greatly expanded “administrative authority” to unilaterally approve building plans and projects without public oversight by the Town Council and Planning and Zoning Board. Advance details of this proposal did not appear on the agenda of the meeting. For projects approved at his discretion, there would be limited prior public notification and no public hearings.

The following types of construction projects are being considered in this proposal as long as it conforms to zoning regulations, requires no variances and complies with other ordinances:

Public Facilities
Commercial Buildings smaller than 40,000 square feet
Hotels
Office & Institutional Buildings smaller than 40,000 square feet
Flex Buildings smaller than 40,000 square feet
Uses in Approved Planned Unit Developments (PUDs) and Master Plans
Residential Recreation Centers
Single Family Detached Preliminary Subdivisions
Single Family Attached Preliminary Subdivisions & Site Plans
Community Utility Facilities
Projects in Town Center (in compliance with Code once adopted)

The proposal removes public oversight on most of the future building projects in Morrisville. The Town Council directed that the proposal be formally prepared for it and the Planning & Zoning Board.

Please email:
Town Council: TownCouncil@ci.morrisville.nc.us
Planning & Zoning Board: PlanningBoard@ci.morrisville.nc.us
Ben Hitchings, Planning Director: bhitchings@ci.morrisville.nc.us

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is sensible, specifically because if it meets all of those criteria the town cannot legally disapprove the development. This will remove unnecessary projects from the political process and ensure projects which need greater scrutinity can receive it.