Item #10

Minor adjustments to the language were needed in the Stormwater section of the LDO to bring the document up to date with North Carolina State requirements

7.2.14   Urban Transition Buffer Regulations

(B)        Establishing General Urban Transition Buffers

(1)        General UTBs are established as follows:

(a)        Cape Fear Basin

1.         A one hundred (100) foot wide buffer directly adjacent to all perennial and intermittent Waterbodies as approximately indicated on the most recent version of the 1:20,000 scale {seven and one-half (7.5) minutes} quadrangle topographic maps prepared by the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

2.         A fifty (50) foot wide buffer approximately adjacent to any surface waters shown on the most recent version of the Soil Survey of Wake or Chatham County, North Carolina.

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(I)         Variances

(1)        Except where General UTBs are modified pursuant to Section 7.2.14(H) above, General UTBs shall not be modified or varied unless the applicant is granted a variance pursuant to this sub-section (I) and Section 3.20 of the LDO.

(2)        Application

A Landowner, or a landowner's agent or contract purchaser specifically authorized in a sworn writing ("the applicant"), who can substantiate that the provisions of this Chapter 7.2.14 leave no legally reasonable use of its property may apply to the Zoning Board of Adjustment for a UTB Variance. The scope of the Zoning Board of Adjustment's review in connection with the UTB Variance shall include the entire lot or portion of a parcel of which would be subject to the contested UTB and any property owned by the Landowner that is adjacent to the lot or parcel where the UTB for which a variance is being sought (collectively "Subject Property"). An application for a UTB Variance shall be filed with the Town Manager, or the manager's designee. The Town Manager, or designee, shall prescribe the form(s) on which applications are made, the number of copies provided, and any other material that may reasonably be required to make the determinations called for in this Section 7.2.14(I). The applicant must also comply with the requirements of Section 3.20 of the LDO, unless inconsistent with this Section 7.2.14(I). Upon receipt of a complete application, the Town Manager, or its designee, shall cause an analysis to be made by appropriate town staff based on the criteria required in subsection 7.2.14(I)(3) below. Within a reasonable period of time, the Town Manager or its designee shall submit the application and a report of staff analysis to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

The applicant shall bear the burden of presenting evidence sufficient to establish conclusively that the requested UTB Variance will comply with each of the criteria set forth below.

After conducting the public hearing, the Zoning Board of Adjustment may deny the application or grant the requested variance, with or without conditions. Any approval or denial of the request shall be by resolution accompanied by written findings of fact that the application meets or does not meet each of the criteria set forth below, stating the reasons for such findings. Any conditions imposed shall be limited to those that address the conformance of development and use of the Subject Property to the LDO and the Comprehensive Plan and those that address the impacts reasonably expected to be generated by the development or use of the Subject Property.