INC NEWS - Another Bad idea on Speeding up Zoning

[Pat Carstensen]

At a time when one of the biggest concerns about development is what it will mean for roads and the state is billions of dollars behind on relieving congestion, Mayor Bell is pushing the idea of nailing up a sheet across the gate after the horses are out of the barn and into the next county.  Instead, we need to be asking developers do contribute a lot more narrowing the shortfall on the transportation funds.

Regards, pat

Rezoning delays may be lessened
		

		
		
			

		
		
			

		
		
			
		

	

		
		
			

		
		
			
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		BY RAY GRONBERG : The Herald-Sun
gronberg at heraldsun.com
Sep 4, 2008


		
DURHAM -- Thanks to a push from Mayor Bill Bell, officials are
considering a developer-backed procedural change that would allow them
to vote on rezoning requests before hearing about a project's traffic
impact from state road planners. 


The idea could shave from one to six months off the time it takes the
city or county government to review zoning requests, administrators
say. 


But it would also cost Durham leaders a chance to make sure developers,
local officials and the N.C. Department of Transportation are on the
same page about the road and sidewalk improvements new neighborhoods or
buildings might need. 


The change would result in a system for reviewing traffic impact that's
"absolutely less coordinated" than the one Durham already has, Deputy
City Manager Ted Voorhees told City Council members earlier this month.



It would also reduce the opportunity for the public to respond to
whatever DOT might say about a project, said Wesley Parham, the city's
transportation office's development review manager. 


The city and county now insist that DOT sign off on development
proposals before they go to either the council or the county
commissioners for a zoning vote. DOT's participates in reviews because
it controls tie-ins to state roads. 


Durham developers don't like waiting on the agency because they think
it's too slow. The DOT division office that handles applications for
this county and neighboring Wake County doesn't review them itself. 


Instead, it sends them all to DOT's statewide congestion management
office in Raleigh, reasoning that it's better able to judge the merits
of urban development, Voorhees said. 


But staff shortages in congestion management force many applicants to wait months to get DOT's sign-off.     


Developers would rather have the city or county vote on their
applications and address any problems that surface as a result of DOT's
work in the permit reviews that follow rezonings. Those reviews occur
largely outside the public eye. 


Bell started pushing the issue early this year, raising it initially at
a City Council retreat. It came again this month, first at an Aug. 21
council work session and again at Monday's council business meeting. 


The mayor had officials put the issue on Monday's agenda so developers
could, if they wished, argue publicly for the change. None did. 


Nonetheless, Bell said the group that initiates land-policy changes,
the Joint City/County Planning Committee, should review the proposal
and offer a recommendation. 


The committee has looked at the idea before and refused to support it.
But members like City Councilwoman Diane Catotti fret that it lost
influence with the council and the commissioners. Bell isn't a member
of the panel. 


Voorhees noted that the city could, theoretically, make the change on
its own. He also noted that city officials in Raleigh don't wait on DOT
to finish its work before acting on zoning requests.

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