Title
Public Hearing for the Adoption of an Amendment to the Land Development Ordinance: Amending Article 3 (Administration), Article 4 (Review and Approval Procedures), Article 7 (District Standards), and Article 12 (Natural Resources) of the Land Development Ordinance to change the name of the Zoning Commission to either the Planning and Zoning Commission or the Zoning and Planning Commission; and Section 30-4-15.4 (Coordination with Other Procedures) and Section 30-4-6.5 (Effect of Approval) related to Unified Development Plans - OPTION “A”
Body
Council Priority: Create an Environment to Promote Economic Development Opportunities and Job Creation / Maintain Infrastructure and Provide Sustainable Growth Opportunities
Department: Planning
Council District: All
Public Hearing: Yes
Advertising Date/By: June 3 and June 10, 2021 / City Clerk
Contact 1 and Phone: Sue Schwartz at 373-2149
Contact 2 and Phone: Steve Galanti at 373-2918
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the text amendment is to amend the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) to change the name of the Zoning Commission and to update certain sections related to Unified Development Plans
As this request is a text amendment, the City Council will conduct a public hearing to consider and take action on this request at its June 15, 2021 meeting.
BACKGROUND:
In July of 2020, City Council took action to eliminate the public body known as the Planning Board and transition a majority of their responsibilities to the Zoning Commission. This action became effective on September 1, 2020.
Since that time, the Planning Department has felt that the designation of “Zoning Commission” does not fully capture the nature of their responsibilities. Since the Zoning Commission has several planning-related functions, in addition to those related to zoning matters, a more descripted name for the public body would be the “Planning and Zoning Commission” moving forward. The Zoning Commission has expressed a desire ti be called the “Zoning and Planning Commission” instead.
The process for this name change will involve changes to the Greensboro Land Development Ordinance (LDO).
Staff has prepared two text amendments; one to change the name to the “Planning and Zoning Commission” (Option “A”) and one to change the name to “Zoning and Planning Commission” (Option “B”) within the LDO.
OPTION “A” - “Planning and Zoning Commission”
This text amendment changes the name of the Zoning Commission to the “Planning and Zoning Commission” within the LDO.
OPTION “B” - “Zoning and Planning Commission”
This text amendment changes the name of the Zoning Commission to the “Zoning and Planning Commission” within the LDO.
Also, after transferring the Planning Board responsibilities to the Zoning Commission, staff noticed that two additional sections need to be updated related to unified development plan submission for Planned Unit Development rezonings. The text amendment includes provision to clarify that unified development plans are part of the application submission for those types of rezoning requests.
BUDGET IMPACT:
This item will have no budget impact.
RECOMMENDATION / ACTION REQUESTED:
The Zoning Commission recommended Option “B” at its May meeting on a vote of 8-0.
Staff recommends that City Council receive citizen comments and consider adoption of either Option “A” or Option “B” of the text amendment.