Quote[/b] ] Posted on Mon, Aug. 02, 2004
N.C. GROWTH
Brunswick planners map out development
By Steve Jones
The Sun News
BOLIVIA, N.C. - Developers will submit plans for putting houses, commercial buildings and parking lots on 50 percent more Brunswick County acres this year than in 2003, if the pace seen in the first six months keeps up through the rest of the year.
The demand will only increase in the next few years, as the county's West Regional sewer system comes on line and officials solidify plans for new lines serving the southern end of the county.
"We've seen growth," said Leslie Bell, Brunswick County's planning director, "but we'll see a different type of growth."
Central sewage treatment and improved roads planned by the state Department of Transportation will not only bring more residential development to an area that's become an alternative to intensely developed Myrtle Beach and Wilmington, but there will be more commercial projects and mixed-use developments similar to Horry County's Carolina Forest.
The county is approaching what some anticipate to be an impending boom with a rewrite of its zoning ordinances, an update of its Coastal Area Management Act land-use plans and the creation of a unified development ordinance.
The combination will allow developers, elected officials and residents a clear picture of what Brunswick County should look like for the next 10 to 15 years.
Bell hopes to have the parameters ready within the next few weeks so consultants can bid on the zoning ordinances rewrite. With an eight-month timetable to completion, it will be the first of the three to reach fruition. The unified development ordinance, which will take development requirements and group them to be easier to use, is likely to take shape on a similar timetable. The land-use plan update is a two-year process.
Bell said the county expects the zoning rewrite will cost about $60,000. Officials chose to let consultants do the work because the county's five-person planning staff has all it can handle in dealing with an average three to five new projects submitted each month.
The county will direct the consultants to target a look at permitted uses in each zoning district, requirements for buffers between commercial and residential development and the use of performance-based development standards. The latter will give developers more flexibility in that standards will be tied to things such as setbacks and green space.
Bell said the county is not looking to change zoning classifications, but some areas may see their specific zoning changed to reflect the new sewer lines and roads.
He said the rise of mixed-use development may ease pressure on secondary roads. For example, if St. James were a mixed-use development, its 1,800 residents wouldn't have to rely solely on N.C. 211 every time they needed groceries.
Bell said he doesn't expect the rewrite to include any radical departures from existing policies. Officials still want less-intensive development and more green space than in either Myrtle Beach or Wilmington. He did say that the distinction between rural and agriculture classifications might be clarified in the rewrite. Now, he said, developers use the rural designation as a "holding" zone for property until they are ready to submit plans. With clarification between it and agriculture, potential buyers would know that the property next to theirs will be farmed and subject to the dust and fumes that come with growing crops.
Bell said the county wants residents and developers to be a part of the rewrite process. The consultants will be required to hold public meetings for input and feedback.
The county planning board will have the first chance to tweak planners' recommendations and make changes.
But the decision over the final wording will be up to county commissioners.
Bell wants to have a document ready for their consideration by June.
