[Durham INC] UDO's sections on "administrative adjustments" by planning director

[Melissa Rooney]

Great points, Pat. I wish I had time to work on this RIGHT now -- that is, review the whole UDO to determine areas requiring our scrutiny/consideration

It seems appropriate for the JCCPC to consider forming a committee of citizens, similar to the EEUDO, to review the UDO for areas where the planning director's unilateral decision-making causes concern, and for recommendations on how to effectively and efficiently keep these decisions from being made under the radar of our citizenry and, indeed, our governing bodies (as was the case in the Jordan Lake Watershed redrawing).

In the meantime, perhaps the planning director could provide a monthly (or biweekly, if necessary) written report of all such unilateral/administrative decisions (while they are STILL pending) to the city council and the Board of County commissioners, or at LEAST the Joint City County Planning Committee and/or the Planning Commission, so that they have a heads-up to intervene via the Development Review Board if there is concern. This list could also be made available to the public, at large. 

I realize that the development review board alerts citizens (who request it) about their meetings and a very brief list of the actions to be discussed, but unfortunately these are easy to dismiss, particularly b/c they are often long and uninformative. A specific list of those decisions made solely at the discretion of the planning director would call much more attention, particularly after the recent debacles with Jordan Lake and Morrene Road.

Of course, I could be oversimplifying the matter here. At the very least a committee should be formed, including people outside the INC (one or two planning commissioners would be very beneficial), to deal with this very important matter. At least two horses have left the barn here -- it's time to, at least, lean against the barn door.

--Melissa (Rooney)




________________________________
From: Pat Carstensen <pats1717 at hotmail.com>
To: inc listserv <inc-list at durhaminc.org>
Sent: Sun, February 28, 2010 5:55:26 PM
Subject: [Durham INC] UDO's sections on "administrative adjustments" by planning director

The UDO specifies a lot of places where the Planning Director can make "administrative adjustments" -- final decision on matters that aren't worth taking to a governing board and to a citizen entity such as the Board of Adjustment.  See Section 3.14 on http://ww2.durhamnc.gov/udo/mainPage.asp.  This is, in itself, not such a bad idea, because the Board of Adjustment might have to meet 3 times a month if they needed to rule on every 6 inches of wriggling of lines.  On the other hand, we have had 2 disastrous decisions -- on the Morrene Road warehouse and the Jordan Lake boundaries.  

My thoughts are that we need to look at the various decisions the director can make and classify them into 4 types:
a.  The planning director should continue to make these decisions.
b.  A governing body or the Board of Adjustment should be making the decision (changing lines around water bodies, for example)
c.  The planning director should continue to make these decisions, but there should be more notification of neighbors (e.g. I should be able to object if my neighbor wants to decrease his side yard)
d.  We should be able to make "hard lines" that the planning director can't change.  For example, if the size of the side yard has been an intense matter of discussion in approving a Development Plan, there's no way that it should be changed.

I also think that we need a credible threat of being able to sue when bad decisions are made.  If developers can claim "takings" if they can't push the envelop, I should be able to sue for "takings" if the director has let them push the envelop to the point that the peace and tranquility of my property is being affected.  You don't want the specter of having the city or county have a big legal fee if the decision goes one way being unmatched by an equally big threat if it goes the other way.

Regards, pat


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