TCC Alert – Town of Apex – Peak Plan 2030: Open House on May 9th

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The Town of Apex is in the process of developing Peak Plan 2030, an update of its Comprehensive Plan, to provide guidance for development.  Peak Plan 2030 will look forward and address the most important topics concerning the development of the Town, including land use, transportation, housing, and environment, among others. 

The Town last completed a Comprehensive Plan in 2004, but has since adopted several small area plans including the I-540/South Salem Street Small Area Plan, the North Salem Street Corridor Plan, the Western Area Plan, and has updated the Transportation Plan.  

The Plans intend to be tough on design and appearance.

The TCC has been an active part of the Town’s Citizen Advisory Committee, but encourages the TCC membership to participate in the upcoming Peak Plan 2030 Community Open House on Thursday, May 9th from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall to provide your input on the future of Apex. During this session you will…

  • View a presentation of the draft Peak Plan 2030
  • Have an opportunity to provide feedback on the Draft Plan
  • Hear discussion of potential recommendations and implementation strategies

Presentations begin on the half hour starting at 4:00 pm with the last presentation at 6:00 pm. There will be an opportunity to meet with staff and the Town’s Consultant following each of the presentations. Refreshments will be served. In the meantime, please review the draft of the Peak Plan 2030 Future Land Use Map.

For questions or comments, email peakplan2030@apexnc.org.  We look forward to hearing your voice on May 9th! 

TCC Coffee Chat Summary – Fuquay Varina

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The Triangle Community Coalition had another successful Coffee Chat with the Town of Fuquay Varina on April 10, 2013.
Joining our members in an informal chat were Mayor John Byrne, Town Manager Jon Barlow, Finance Director Carla Morgan, Pubic Utilities Director Jay Meyers, Planning Director Mike Sorensen, Downtown Economic Development Director Jim Seymour, Public Information Director Susan Weis, and Town Engineer Tracy Stephenson.
We provided the Town of Fuquay Varina leadership with a better perspective of the Triangle Community Coalition’s goal to be a proactive partner in growth and land use issues and to work with senior staff and elected officials to develop policies, regulations, and procedures to encourage economic development, produce predictable (yet flexible) outcomes for all stakeholders, and protect the community’s interests.

 

The Town appreciated the TCC’s ability to offer objective facts and information in efforts to improve public policy debates and create effective working relationships between the business community and local government.  We had some great interaction with the TCC membership in attendance and had opportunity to talk about the following:

  • The Town’s focus on mixed use development in downtown and growth in the eight (8) designated “Preferred Growth” areas including twelve (12) identified major sites;

 

  • The Town’s ongoing effort to adopt a new Land Development Ordinance with optional “form based” code similar to the recently adopted plan for the downtown.  The Town’s consult recently conducted a charrette to kick-off the 12-month effort;

 

  • The Town’s partnerships with the Harnett County and Holly Springs to be “comfortable” with to serve the wastewater and water resources demands for continued steady growth;

 

  • The Town anticipates upgrades to the WWTP in the next 2 year and has extended significant water infrastructure into the growth areas of the 3rd largest ETJ in the Triangle;

 

  • The Town’s leadership in CAMPO with Eastern Johnson and Northern Harnett Counties for the future NC-540 corridor;

 

  • The Town’s developer friendly approach and competitive advantages with low development fees and streamline approval process;

 

  • How the Triangle Community Coalition can work with the Town to offer the development community’s perspective on the Land Development Ordinance and more local representation.

v If you are interested in participating in future meetings with the Town of Clayton or future Coffee Chats, watch for notices or contact the TCC offices 919 812-7785 or Charlene Logan at charlenel@tricc.org to reserve your spot!  These programs are a great way for you, as an exclusive benefit as a TCC member, to become active and help the TCC strengthen our relationships with local jurisdictions throughout the Triangle.

SUMMARY: TCC Luncheon Learn Program – March 21, 2013 “Entitlements: A 360 ° Perspective”

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SUMMARY: TCC Luncheon Learn Program – March 21, 2013
“Entitlements:  A 360 ° Perspective”

On Thursday, March 21, 2013, the Triangle Community Coalition hosted a unique panel  discussion with the key stakeholders involved with Entitlements to provide the  Developer, Elected Official, Consultant, and Community perspective on each phase of the entitlement process including the Pre-Application, Application Review, and Public Hearing and Approvals.

We would like to extend a special thanks to our moderator Sal Musarra with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Gregg Sandreuter with Beacon Partners, Mary Ann Baldwin from the City of Raleigh Council, Bob Mosher representing the Community, and Lacy Reaves with Smith Anderson Law for offering insight into the entitlement process through their eyes and accepting the challenge that the Triangle Community Coalition created with our “hypothetical” project . . . The Broughton

The set up for the entirely fictitious project was a premise that new state legislation was approved which granted title to and control of WCBOE properties to the County Commissioners.  And to create some controversy for our panelists, we had the Commissioners decide to close Broughton High School due to its age and influence of the large percentage of registered Democrats located near the site.  When the property is offered for sale, a developer, with the “purest” of intentions, buys the property and proposes The Broughton . . . a mixed use redevelopment project with 500 residential rental units, 100,000 SF of retail, 200,000 SF of office, and 5-story hotel above retail/office with 100-foot height with structured parking and a green town square.

Our series of questions from our moderator and the TCC membership in the audience were posed for each phase of entitlements.  Some of the common themes and best practices for successful entitlements were:

Predictability is #1 for the Developer.  As such, the 1 step for any project is to reach out early to Elected Officials and the Community to identify issues.

  • Predictability is #1 for the Developer.  As such, the 1st step for any project is to reach out early to Elected Officials and the Community to identify issues.
  • Feedback from Elected Officials should be an honest assessment of the concerns (i.e., wrong location, too sensitive, etc.) to ensure adherence to planning goals and polices, an effective process, and quality development
  • Offering an early opinion of potential success is #1 for the Consultant Team to assist the Developer understand risk exposure.
  • As issues are identified, the Developer will assemble a specialized consultant team (i.e., traffic engineers, economists, historic architects, etc.) to conceptualize, refine, and usher the project through the entitlements approval process.
  • Specific issues from the Community (i.e., re-use the historic school, OK with office but not more retail, save the mature trees, more public green space, etc.) will have better results than just general opposition (i.e., just don’t like it)
  • Community Leaders generally respond best to one-on-one discussions with the Developer, but also appreciate regular communications with project updates or use of social media to help inform others in the neighborhood.
  • Developers constantly running the numbers throughout the process to evaluate balance between compromises to the “vision” to reduce risk with return on investment on additional capital costs and delays.
  • For any project, it takes cooperation on a grand scale between all stakeholders with lots of patience, time, and money to ensure a quality project.

Again, the Triangle Community Coalition thanks all our speakers for their time and insightful perspective on the entitlement process.  For more details on how The Broughton might be affected by the new Raleigh UDO, join us for our next Luncheon Learn with Mitchell Silver at our Annual Meeting on May 2nd.

Thank you to our 2013 Sponsors:  Smith Anderson, Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS®, Smith Moore Leatherwood, LLP, Triangle Apartment Association, Williams Property Group, The John R. McAdams Company, Arcadis, Progress Energy, Northwood Ravin, Sepi Engineering, Ammons Development, Gaines & Company, and Newland Communities.

To access the Power Point Presentation and photos of this event, please visit our website at www.tricc.org

TCC Coffee Chat Summary – Town of Clayton

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The Triangle Community Coalition had another successful Coffee Chat with the Town of Clayton on March 13, 2013. Joining our members in an informal chat were Mayor Jody McLeod, Mayor Pro Tem Michael Grannis, Councilor Art Holder, Councilor Jason Thompson, Town Manager Steve Biggs, Deputy Town Manager Nancy Medlin, Pubic Utilities Director Tim Simpson, Town Engineer John McCullen, Planning Director David DeYoung, Downtown Economic Development Director Bruce Naegelen, Town Clerk Sherry Scoggins, and Public Information Officer Stacy Beard.

We provided the Town of Clayton leadership with a better perspective of the Triangle Community Coalition’s goal to be a proactive partner in growth and land use issues and to work with senior staff and elected officials to develop policies, regulations, and procedures to encourage economic development, produce predictable (yet flexible) outcomes for all stakeholders, and protect the community’s interests.

The Town appreciated the TCC’€™s ability to offer objective facts and information in efforts to improve public policy debates and create effective working relationships between the business community and local government. We had some great interaction with the TCC membership in attendance and had opportunity to talk about the following:

The Town’€™s commitment to a vibrant downtown and land banking to provide community amenities including a future 120 acre park along the Neuse River;

The Town’s partnerships with the City of Raleigh and Johnston County on growing demands for wastewater and water resources;

The Town’€™s creative business incentives and grant program to not only encourage new employers to locate in Clayton but also the ongoing partnership with existing industry to ensure stability and support expansion;

The Town’s welcoming attitude, shared political ideals, and customer service focus on development and community outreach;

The Town’s vision for smart growth along the NC 42 and US 70 Business corridors to ensure quality development;

The Town’€™s competitive advantages with quality health care, strong presence in bio-pharmaceutical, and stable school system;

The Town’€™s outlook on continued steady residential growth and demand for services not readily available.

How the Triangle Community Coalition can work with the Town to offer the development community’€™s perspective on Small Area Plans; and,

The Town’€™s geographic challenges related to being on the fringe of the Triangle, landlocked to some degree with U.S. Agriculture and Johnston County development, and less immediate proximity of major highways
as compared to Garner, Smithfield, and Goldsboro.

v If you are interested in participating in future meetings with the Town of Clayton or future Coffee Chats, watch for notices or contact the TCC offices 919 812-7785 or Charlene Logan at charlenel@tricc.org to reserve your spot! These programs are a great way for you, as an exclusive benefit as a TCC member, to become active and help the TCC strengthen our relationships with local jurisdictions throughout the Triangle.

TCC February 21, 2013 Summary – Luncheon Learn Re: Cary’s Community Plan

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On February 21, 2013 the TCC held a Luncheon Learn that featured “Cary’s Community Plan: Steps Toward a Brighter Future” and learned about the Town’s approach to this exciting and ambitious initiative to create a new policy document that will include an updated Land Use Plan and “connect the dots” to Cary’s other issue-specific plans and policy documents.

Keynote Speakers included Scott Ramage, Principal Planner, Town of Cary & Leigh Anne King, AICP, LEED®, AP, Clarion Associates.

In late 2010, the Town of Cary began considering the need to update several of the Town’s existing area plans along with the idea of developing several additional area plans to address growing development needs in the town. Later, it became clear that there was a more pressing need to undertake a comprehensive update rather than updating the individual area plans.

To date, there has been Council work sessions, Council Annual Retreat, a series of stakeholder meetings, and public information meetings to guide the consultant team and staff on the scope of the project to update and tie together existing plans within a unified framework that will emphasize connectivity between issues and allow flexibility for updating over time. Some highlighted key strategies for the new plan include:

· Possibilities for folding the planned update of Cary’s 2008 Comprehensive Transportation Plan into the development of the Cary Community Plan.

· Possibilities for including the topics of economic development, redevelopment and infill policy, economic analysis and the study of emerging markets in the review of land use and development patterns.

· Possibilities for revising the new Community Plan structure to be integrated and unified.

· Possibilities for increasing participation and ownership of the new Community Plan by broadening community outreach.

The PowerPoint Presentation for this program can be found at www.tricc.org.