Planning and Zoning Board - meeting_joint_regular

The first order of business is determining a quorum, so if everybody would call out your name, please.

Tiffany Cooper. Kim Sandoval.

Meg Fielding.

Sidney Sandy. Richard Sayre.

Okay, there being a quorum, we can continue. Tiffany, welcome to the board, and the next order of business is to give you the oath of office.

Can we call an order? Call an order. Call an order. in the Constitution of all disability states, the Constitution of all of North Carolina, and that emphasis on women. And I would gratefully be charged with the duties of that, because I'm a member of the United States of America.

Thank you.

The next order of business is approval of the minutes of the June 16th meeting.

Are there any corrections or additions to those minutes?

No.

Okay. I'll entertain a motion to have those minutes approved.

So moved to approve those minutes as presented.

Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, they're seeing no nos. That's approved. The next is to approve the Board of Adjustment minutes from June 1st. Are there any changes or questions about those minutes?

I thought that we had approved those in the previous meeting. Was that something different?

It's on the agenda, that's all I can tell you.

So we actually approved the official board order, and this is just the minutes from the meeting. So what you approved previously was the actual official action to that clause of judicial hearing.

Oh, okay, I understand then. There you go.

Okay.

No other questions?

We're gonna have a motion to approve those.

So moved to approve those minutes as presented.

okay um okay all in favor say aye aye opposed and that carries as well so we will move on to new business good afternoon everyone my name is Josue Pena remember I'm old you have to speak up let me fix this a little bit better

Can you hear me?

That's better.

That's better? All right.

I'm turning everything on. Let's see. I need this.

So our first case for this afternoon is CZ2026-076. It is a conditional zoning. The zoning request is to rezone 1.73 acres from residential to commercial, more specifically SF1 to conditional zoning general business district. The intent is to develop a bank with drive-through windows. And this is an important detail because that's the whole reason why we are going through this process. In order to allow drive-through facilities in a bank, It's only allowed through a conditional rezoning. The applicant is Adam Williamson with NWF Acquisitions LLC. The applicant is here, and after staff's presentation, he will be available for questions. So as we start analyzing this request, a CZ application comes with a concept plan. And we can see here, the concept plan, when we analyzed it, it does not present any major conflicts. You see the 3500 square foot footprint associated parking. The very important feature is that drive through window and vehicle stacking and having showing it on the side yard is is actually a desirable layout versus having those vehicles adjacent to the road. That's the least desirable layout. Now, what you don't see in this concept plan is a few things that the zoning ordinance, if approved, will add as a requirement. The zoning ordinance will add a rear 25 foot landscape buffer, which is not shown here on this concept plan. And also the zoning ordinance will require this development to comply with all other regular standard UDO regulations of the Town of Indian Trail and NCDOT because Old Charlotte Highway is a state-maintained road. Currently, the applicant is in progress with a sketch plan review and we've already finished our first round. Comments have been delivered to the applicant and they're making adjustments to their concept plan to align it more to our standards. We also analyzed property conditions. It's located at 6500 Old Monroe Road. The current zoning, we mentioned already, it's SF1 single family, and you can see here in the image, it is a single family structure. It was built in 1949, but it's currently unoccupied and abandoned. When we look at the surrounding properties, most of it is commercial. You have the ABC store. You have the Harris Teeter supermarket and the fuel station. Across the street, you have Sun Valley Commons. And we also know that there are additional commercial developments coming soon. Next to the Harris Teeter fuel station, we've already reviewed and approved a Chase Bank site plan. CONSTRUCTION HASN'T STARTED YET, BUT THEY HAVE THEIR ZONING APPROVAL. BEHIND THE ABC STORE, WE'RE CURRENTLY REVIEWING PLANS FOR A NEW COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT. IT'LL HAVE THREE UNITS, AND THAT WAS FROM A CONDITIONAL ZONING THAT WAS APPROVED 2015. WE'LL TALK MORE ABOUT IT IN A FUTURE SLIDE. ALSO LOOKING AT THE SURROUNDING CONDITIONS, WE KNOW OLD MONROE ROAD IS GOING TO RECEIVE ROAD IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH THE WIDENING STATE PROJECT. BUT LET'S NOT FORGET ANOTHER IMPORTANT DETAIL, AND THAT IS THE RESIDENTS THAT ARE BEHIND THIS PROPERTY. WE HAVE THREE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES THAT DIRECTLY ABUT THIS PROPERTY, AND THEY'RE FROM THE BRANDON OAKS SUBDIVISION. additional images that we wanted to show you here we're looking southeast and behind that brick wall is where the harris teeter fuel station property is that's also where we're expecting that chase bank to be developed soon this is another angle we're looking across the street looking at the sun valley commons shopping center And here's another angle looking directly across that open space that's still part of some Valley Commons. But now looking southwest, that's where you see the ABC store directly adjacent across that drive aisle or drive, that roadway. If we now consider the zoning conditions, it lines up with the land uses that we've already discussed. The majority of properties are zoned commercial. A few conditional zonings to the left and right of it, across it is general business. And behind it, you have the residential subdivision, the zoning that matches that. Then we look at the future land use recommendations and we see that this conditional zoning petition lines up with the recommendations from the map and from the plans that our comprehensive plan contains. We also know the Sun Valley Subregional Activity Center is that area is planned to be our town's shopping and entertainment district. So we definitely want to encourage this area to continue developing in that direction. And the future land use map here shows that it recommends mixed uses as the future land use. Still talking about the comprehensive plan, we look now at the goals of that plan, and this request is consistent with it. I'm not going to read these goals, but basically this request promotes further commercial development, which in turn supports more employment opportunities. The request also eliminates potential land use conflicts. You know, seeing a single family, a spot of single family zoning in the middle of commercial zoning, that's that's a conflict. And so this is cleaning that up and unifying that area. And finally, the big goal is to ensure sustainable community development. We held two community meetings on June 29th, three residents attended, uh, our community meetings. And, uh, the main question that they, uh, echoed was the residential impacts. They wondered what that would be and how the town is planning to mitigate those impacts. Uh, the next slide, we'll talk about how we're going to address that. Uh, we received no comments in opposition for this rezoning. And so now if this rezoning is approved, staff recommends the following conditions. The first one is a generic condition that we like to add, and that simply states that the development has to or will comply with all the standards of the Town of Indian Trail and NCDOT. The second one is the one that the applicant is desiring and requesting, and that is allowing the bank with drive-through facilities. But on top of that, we are also stating that if rezoned, this property will also allow any of the general business district uses that are allowed currently. and also those that are allowed in the sub-regional activity center overlay. So in the event that the bank concept goes south, the property can still be used for more than just the bank. And the last condition addresses those residential concerns. This will require a landscape buffer, a minimum of 25 feet wide, We're adding an extra recommendation there or condition that it needs to incorporate a six-foot solid wall. The reason we added that is simply because the adjacent commercial developments also have the wall as part of their landscape buffer. requiring this would create a cohesive buffer and you wouldn't see a wall then there's a break and then another wall adjacent to that so it's all the walls are gonna be the same well they're not gonna be exactly the same but they're gonna be similar and we're during site plan we're gonna aim to make sure that it's it's similar as close as possible to to the existing ones And so that's it. Uh, the requested action is before you. Uh, if you have any questions for me, I'm here to answer them. And we also have the applicant here for questions.

I have a few questions. Uh, if you go back to that first, um, picture diagram of the, uh, I think it was an aerial view. Sure.

The gray one?

That one? No, keep going back. Yes, that one. That one right there. That was not in our handouts. And so I like this layout here. First question, we'll just move from the top of the image down. The diagram there, does that take into account the widening of Old Monroe? Because that looks like those parking spaces are not going to be very far from how wide that's going to be.

Yeah, this concept plan is still being adjusted. We're still under review. And yes, those parking spaces may be moved either due to the NCDOT widening, but also along the frontage of Old Charlotte Highway, developments are required to have a 20-foot landscape buffer, not a 10. So that's why we're we're adding to the ordinance that the final site plan approved development will have to comply with all the standards and including NCDOT standards.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. The second thing, the having that driveway that connects from the current Harris Teeter gas station over to the ABC store. that will be of sufficient width and capacity that if people want to, because right now I know that if you want to get to the ABC store, it can be challenging if you're coming from Sun Valley, if you're coming from the other direction, coming like from here, then it's okay. So I know that that would help. uh, alleviate some of those sketchy U-turns and the light.

So sorry.

So the, and then that also means that's a solid brick wall there. So I'm obviously they're going to have to knock down a portion of that wall.

Correct. So cross-access connectivity is a goal that we want to see amongst all these developments. When the ABC store was developed, you can even see this in this concept plan, they left out that cut out. And as the Chase Bank on the other side is being or has been approved, that cross-axis drive aisle was part of it. So we're ensuring that that cross-axis drive aisle is compliant with the town standards.

Yeah, okay. So continuing down the image on the lower portion there that's empty at the moment, I'm presuming that that will just stay as grass or trees or whatnot?

We always try to preserve as much trees and natural vegetation as possible. And according to this concept, they're not going to develop anything behind there. Right. That could change. This is just the concept plan. But in either case, that 25-foot landscape buffer that we're going to require along the rear is going to match the buffer that the adjacent developments already have. So the residents will have a decent buffer that will screen them from this use.

but if i was just wondering i suppose you could put a small office building or something back there but then when you add parking and whatnot uh that uses up a lot of that space real quick yeah um but where would the brick wall that you showed it like the last picture there would that more or less continue where it is currently where the Harris Teeter at the bottom of this picture kind of running across.

Right. So the details of how that wall will be constructed, the layout, the materials, that's all going to be determined during a site plan. But the goal is, and we've discussed it with, with the applicant, our goal is to create a cohesive buffer. And so our aim is going to try as much as possible to connect those elements. Yeah. Um, but the design is, is we haven't worked on that at this stage.

the, you mentioned the development, um, behind or around the ABC store. Is that going to be,

just as i'm looking at it to the left of this gray area here where it looks like there's a bunch of trees is that where that would be yeah uh this image isn't very good at depicting where that new development is going to be but uh it's going to be mostly behind the abc store the bulk of that development will be off to the rear um left if you're looking at at this orientation

So would that brick wall then continue across that property or would it just be.

Yes, we were hoping that it connects to the wall adjacent to to this this property. So they will. Our goal is to connect them now. Will the land topography allow it? Like all those details will be ironed out during a site plan review. Yeah.

Okay. that was all that I had. I got a question. Is there, is there a wall continued behind the ABC store?

There is a wall.

Did we not, did we require them to put a wall there too?

Yes. So the S it's the project's name is sun Valley station. The one that's going to be behind this ABC store and they are being required to install a wall.

Okay. Is there, is there this additional buffer is going to be enough to, um, diminish the headlights of it. And people going to the ATM at night, they're not going to be any, any light shining in these people's houses? I mean, is it going to be diminished or is it going to be situated so when they park that they're not shining lights in the people's houses?

That's a good question. So thankfully, we have also lighting standards. So there's a couple of things that are going to be in place that are going to help mitigate that. You have the 25-foot buffer and the wall. The other factor is that the bank is being developed towards the front. So that's going to create some distance from the residents. But then also when we review lighting standards, we're going to look at making sure that those lighting fixtures are full cut off, that any light poles that are 100 feet from a residential property has house shields. So we look at those details and we do it because we want to make sure that, like you pointed out, there's no light shining to the residents of these properties.

I remember when the zoning for that blue hatch area around the ABC store was originally done, there was concern exactly for that reason with the lights and parking because at that point I think we were looking at a bowling alley.

Yeah, the concept plan, I mean, don't always,

Yeah, I just remembered there were a lot of concern from the residents in Brandon Oaks because of the people coming in and maybe being noisy and their cars and so on and so forth. So actually a bank would be a better neighbor for them than that.

True, true.

Okay, so and at that point there was a buffer.

Yes, so that development was required to install a 25-foot buffer, but that one even included a berm. So it has the buffer, the wall, and a berm. So it's going to provide even a much better screening effect than what the Harris Teeter Fuel Station and this future development will provide.

So what we're considering tonight, is that going to include both the buffer and the berm?

No. Just the buffer? Just the buffer with the wall.

With the wall, okay.

Yeah, no berm. But that's our recommendation. If you have a different recommendation, you can express it.

And you have a lot more work to do on this. Okay.

Any other questions? As far as the abandoned house, how do we know it's abandoned for sure? I've read some horror stories. Someone comes back 10 years later and it was a long-lost relative or something. How do we know? It's pretty unclear.

That determination or that comment is just based on what we've seen in the last few months. I live there. I pass by it all the time, and I don't see any activity. The windows looked broken, and the site just looks abandoned.

That was it for my question. I just read the stories and someone comes back and claims that it wasn't abandoned or it was in litigation somewhere else in some other state.

Well, with these applications, we always get also the property owner's signature on the application, so they're aware.

All right. That was it.

Sure. And do you have any questions for the applicant?

Any more questions, folks? Okay. Okay. Anybody want to make a motion? I'm looking for the number. Where's my crutch?

There it is. We're not approving it. We are approving it, right?

Can we have the screen for the... Where's our script? We need our cheat sheet. There it is. There we go. Yeah. There it is.

Yeah. Motion to recommend approval for CZ 2026-0076-6500, Old Monroe Road, as presented. Second.

Second.

Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, the motion carries.

Good evening board members. Our second agenda item is ZT 2026-0084. This is in regards to Indian Trail Fairview and corridor signage proposal. This is going to be a UDO text amendment. So a little bit about this zoning request. We're looking to amend the UDO language specifically for the Indian Trail Fairview corridor as it relates to signage. We are trying to establish standards for multi-tenants along this corridor, improved visibility and wayfinding for the businesses and the institutional uses along this stretch. We've seen tremendous growth and then we've got quite a few projects that are approved or in the queue as well, aside from what you can see that's been constructed or is under construction currently. we're looking to establish consistent signage standards that meet the demands for this growing area and we we happen to have two property owners that submitted signage requests within the same week i genuinely don't think they knew each other were submitting or they've been talking but if they did kudos to them it worked well this is why we're here tonight those signs the samples of the signs are before you on your screen and you know normally we we deny signs when they come in the plain and text take a look at it it doesn't meet the standard denied end of story this one seemed a little bit different in the fact that it was two folks on the same road right across the street from one another so we dug in a little bit more and started looking at the conditional zoning for a light industrial that was approved a couple of years ago and that conditional zoning included a 15 foot tall sign and then we thought further down the corridor thinking there's another light industrial project our public works facility potentially. And so we thought, OK, there's more here to really justify taking a look at this corridor and in the process, allowing these two property owners to get the signage that they want as well. And so we looked at in the past year and the very near future, this whole corridor is, you know, you've got Old Hickory that's light industrial. You've got, of course, Premier Eye Care, the church, Morning Star. there's a storage facility a little bit further down and then you've got a large project with the concrete tilt walls coming up 74 junction and then there's a couple of other light industrial closer distance and hardest your residential is really pretty much depleted or gone from from there so a larger taller sign is really fitting for this area as it's transitioning those are just some some standards we talked about as far as improving visibility and being consistent among the corridor you can also see a sweet union brewery is moving locations so they potentially would want a larger sign and then extreme ice had a little bit taller sun not sure the story behind that but it certainly fits in with what we're doing or considering here tonight So the actual proposed revisions, you'll see a strike through in red, so what we're getting rid of, and then in blue underlined is gonna be your new language. And what we're doing is we have Highway 74 and Old Monroe are corridors that have little to no residential super streets, higher traffic, and it was easier to just lump this in with that section, so we're adding Indian Trail-Fairview Road into this now we are not treating them like 74 and old monroe but it just it fit nicely because these two areas were called out rather than creating a whole other section we just added in indian trail fairview so dealing only with multi tenants we thought about single tenants but we said let's let's not do too much we don't have anybody knocking on our door for that right now let's just focus on on the needs now with the multi tenant properties and we have added the two additional columns for any initial Fairview based on allowable sign area and depending on how large the property is and then how tall it can be this proposed revision would allow both the church and premier eye care to get the signage that they're requesting but also adapted to the size of the property as well we are considering the church being multi-tenant it is our understanding they are going to be removing the Metrolana sign and the church sign and so we're treating those as multi-tenants just kind of a common sense approach there Circus consistency findings for this request. Staff is of the determination that the following consistency items can be made. This request is reasonable and in the public interest as it promotes the goals of the comprehensive plan in the areas of economic development. Goal number two and quality of life. Goal number one. We do have an applicant here tonight if there are specific technical questions and I'll be glad to answer any questions as well. Thank you.

I'm going to jump in first, Ms. Dees, if I may. Absolutely. Go back to the chart for me, if you would. I'm going to start with the first question I had had to do with the setback of the sign itself. Yes. Where you've got it at 10 feet on the heavier traveled traffic, faster speeds.

roads and only five on this one can you walk us through that explanation yes um so that small language at the bottom um that she picked up on we we did consider that you know 74 in old monroe is much busier much higher speeds you could see cars crashing into it and we felt that that wasn't quite as necessary on indian trail fairview you've got a larger right of way in there for especially pertaining to the speed on that road you know 35 I think there's some sections is 45 but certainly not you know 75 like some people go on always 74 but it does provide you a little bit more than the average so in normal roads they as long as the Sun is on their property they don't have to necessarily set it back. So it kind of meets the standard between, okay, you're getting a taller sign, so we're gonna let you set it back a little bit, but not having to go as far as Highway 74 and Old Monroe.

But it is actually five feet from the right of way.

Correct. Okay.

You took my question, but, but to continue that. So when you say right away, that's like, okay, you've got the street obviously in the curb and got her and whatnot, and then you got the sidewalk. And then I'm presuming that the sidewalk has a little space on the other side of it. So then it's five feet from that point.

It depends among what road you're talking about, the width, width of pavement. If the pavement is in the center of the right-of-way, it's not always in the center of the right-of-way. But yes, generally it'll be some small distance behind the sidewalk. Or if you've had fiber come through your neighborhood, that area where you feel like is your yard, that area that's not really your yard.

well yeah i know not talking about neighborhoods but for this specific road so that it would be at least five feet behind the side right yeah and i only give the neighborhood example as a general rule that that that right-of-way is is further than than you think and not at the edge of the pavement or even the edge of the sidewalk yeah um and you also answered already one of my questions was that the church being technically single tenant, but with the school. But on their sign, they only had the church and they didn't mention the school, although I suppose they could add that later and maybe they would.

Well, the caveat with this revision is that they are considered multi tenant, which allows them to get that height that they're requesting. So we wouldn't be able to allow them to have a secondary sign for that second tenant.

I mean, a sign on because right now their uh proposal just says the church and nothing about the academy correct depending if they met the square footage yeah they could add additional signage yeah so that leads then to another question okay so they have this sign of let's say that it's they're allowed to go to what 40 or 32 because they have pretty good sized property

The church.

Yeah. More than seven acres.

Yeah, they've they're going to be at the very bottom as far as the the property size they've got.

OK, so let's say their sign that they decide to put up is only 35 square feet instead of 70. Can they then put a second sign up, or is that?

No, because we're lumping them under the multi-tenant, which allows them to get more height and more sign area, square footage as well. They could choose to demolish the new sign they're proposing and do single tenants, but the reason they allow the additional height is because we're categorizing them as multi-tenant.

But so if they put up a sign that was 70 square feet, 10 feet tall, seven feet wide, easy math, then they wouldn't be allowed to have other signs. Is that, and not just them, even the other, uh, developments.

Correct. Yeah. Cause single, single tenant would get a six foot sign. So they're getting, you know, a significant increase in their height for being classified as multi-tenant.

Yeah. But multi tenants. The square footage is the sum of all the signs or they just allowed one sign up to one sign up to you. Okay, good.

So I guess the assumption is that they could list the tenants.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. But not have multiple smaller signs.

Just one big sign with everybody, you know, like shopping center, you know, sign that lists all the tenants. It's kind of the, the, where the multi-tenant comes in at.

Yeah. Okay. No, it makes sense because that you're right that there's a lot of development on that road. And yeah, you need to know. And like with extreme ice, you're right.

Visibility.

Yeah. To see. Oh, it's more than just a skating rink. You've got these other things going on there, too.

Do we know the setback in the dimensions on extreme ice right off hand? Ish.

Do not. It looks like from the picture, it's probably right at the property line, so it would be a nonconforming sign. But we create nonconforming all the time. Yeah.

Just as a proxy. Yeah.

I mean, they would be able if something happened to the sign, they'd be able to, you know, if it was damaged, they'd be able to replace it. Yeah.

Just as an example. Back to the chart for a second.

Okay.

Is it, so thank you for the context on the five foot versus the 10 foot. I think that's reasonable to consider. My proposal might be to say from the right of way, just to use that clarifying language, because sometimes we do forget that the edge of the street is not really where the setback point is.

Okay. Yep.

depending on how we move forward.

Are we in agreement with that?

Yeah, I didn't catch that. But yeah, it says five feet from the edge of the road, which that could be in the middle of the sidewalk.

Right. Like if we say five feet from the right of way would be my recommendation. And then I had some questions on the chart itself. Sure. When you converted from the 74 old Monroe to the proposal for Indian Trail Fairview, did you like was there a magic formula or did we just pick some numbers?

No, we we tried to analyze it, make sense of it, and then realize we're not sign experts. So I reached out to two sign companies that we work with on a regular basis and said, Hey, does this make sense? Does does my math make sense? They did not have any recommendations for changes and felt like it it made sense with what they would do right so we didn't want to propose something and then a sign company say well we would we would never do 60 square feet on a 15-foot sign or whatever so we did verify mathing it i looked at ranges and i was like wait it changed in a couple of places i didn't expect it to change so some some of their reasons um my numbers were a little different um and i will say that um jose helped out and said well um so he in his former life not too long ago was uh playing in tech and he reviewed sun permit applications Um, it's been a long time since I've done that. And he, he said, well, wait a minute, you're actually given, um, more square footage, um, than would be allowed by right. And so we, we made some tweaks so that it made sense with the other sections of the code, the ones that, you know, don't fall into, um, multi-tenant or don't fall into the Indian trail fair view corridor.

I was trying to math it, and I was like, but two to one, two to one, two to one. Oh, wait, now it's not two to one. As long as I have an explanation, it's all good. So thank you both.

I had a rhythm going, and then thankfully he shared that with me so that we weren't causing a conflict. Thank you.

IF I CAN ADD A LITTLE BIT, JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, THE MINIMUM 32-FOOT ALLOWABLE SIGN AREA, WE PULLED THAT MINIMUM FROM OUR CURRENT UDL LANGUAGE. A SINGLE TENANT, EVEN MULTI-TENANT PROPERTIES, THEY ARE ALLOWED A MAXIMUM OF 32, SO WE SAID WE NEED TO START THE BASE THERE AND MOVE UP.

90 the highway 7490 is the one that threw me when it jumped to 50. so that's existing yeah if it come if it yes if it's templated off of what exists and y'all math did accordingly that's fine i just this pure by itself i was trying to get there by math so i i'm fine with the explanation thank you both but i had to ask

Okay. Any other questions?

No.

Okay.

You want to take us to the final screen? I'll be glad to. Thank you. Okay. I'll entertain a motion regarding the action.

I move to recommend approving ZT 2026-0084 Indian Trail Fairview Road corridor signage as presented with the addition of from the edge of the right-of-way wording. Please.

Good. Okay. All those in favor? Second. Say aye.

Aye.

Wait a second. Okay.

Sorry. That's okay.

So I'll say again, all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that motion is carried.

Thank you.

And that's why we have so many eyes looking at it so that, you know, catch these little things. because you know someone with, well, it sounds right there from the edge of the road. So

Okay, board, thank you. You've gotten your appetite wet with a UDO amendment, and I'm gonna bring you a second one, because I know you just want another one. It's for ZT20260085. It's to remove the school impact study So this is a request to remove the requirement for a residential applicant to provide a school impact study. The changes will better serve residents and applicants. I hope to show in a couple slides. The intent is to remove the school impact study, which is typically an applicant requirement on them, and retain what the staff did before. So retain and document the requirement to request school district capacity information. And the applicant putting this forward is the planning department. so in the analysis the previous requirement residential developments of 50 lots or units or more must provide a student impact study the student impact study was to provide basically student yield for development on how many kids they may be bringing to the to that area that would support them. Finding a demographer or an analyst to do such a study for them was very difficult. They kept reaching back out to us and we had several when I first started here and then a couple of the consultants fell off and it became very difficult. Plus the findings were not very earth shattering. They weren't very informative. Yes, any residential development, if it's not totally restricted for seniors, is going to put some kids into the system. So we polled one of our bulletin boards and several communities. The basic message in North Carolina was We don't need it. We look at other things. so the more relevant relevant data that we receive is when we also reach out to the union county public schools district facilities department and they have been great with providing just some baseline information actual primary through 12th grade schools that would support that development in the attendance area each school's rated capacity at the time And the total, uh, at times they would also provide a little more detail, especially if, if capacity was getting a little higher, they would do a breakdown and show, uh, in that attendance areas, what residential developments are contributing, you know, and how many units are contributing, uh, to that school's capacity. And then they give some general advisory comments as usual, um, that, Things are subject to change. By the time they get the development built, capacities could move around and they may also need to bus some students elsewhere because of that. And that's a standard footnote they give. So our proposal was to remove the school impact study and modify that to just do that request that staff does. And so in order to do that, the sections that were affected were this division 300, the main section here is further down in the 1300 section in the design standards, which was an odd spot for it. But going back to the 300 section, there was some reference pieces that were upfront in 300. I'll read the little box. The intent of the Division 300 amendments is to move the applicant responsibility item to a staff responsibility to the modified process where we just contact the school district as usual and we no longer put that burden of trying to find a consultant on the applicant. for student yield.

So it kind of sounds as though the information you'd get from the school system would be more accurate than anything you might get from somebody doing the demographical information if one could find somebody to do that?

Correct. And methodologies sometimes would differ between them a little bit. Since the applicant was doing it also, there has been an occasion where they really shot the target low. I don't know if that was for the optics or not, but they looked at it again, had their consultant go back, and miraculously there were more kids. So just our faith in the process and just with what it provides, our best information comes from the county. And it's a simpler process on everybody, including the county. They like this communication. So the thing is, there's two places it occurs under conditional zoning districts, as you see Let me see if I can operate this cursor. How does the cursor Okay, so you can see it on your screen. So he taught me this, this is great. So up here under conditional zoning districts, we move it from application procedures to staff function under a new section for formatting called staff reviews. Under site plan review, we do a similar thing. We remove it from application requirements and take it down to the review comments area. So when we get to the main section, where it was in division 1300 for some reason in design standards, at the last moment we thought, let's try to place it if there's a better place that makes sense. So it's gonna be a subdivision when they come in, where it's required with that many lots. And so we found this little spot here to create a new section for school capacity report is what we're gonna change the name to.

So before you go off this screen, I noticed here and also on the previous one, you've got on this screen 1110.070, then 1110.080, and then .080 again. Yes.

I left, and that's what I'll typically do whenever I'm showing revisions, is I won't go through and mark every number change. I'll put it in the new number, and then just by default, you know those numbers are going to change by default. So the lots will change? The numbers will change as that edit's made. We just go down through the page. It's not a substantive change. It's pretty regular to change the number.

So here's kind of an off-the-wall question. Are the numbers and the values that are assigned to those account numbers, are they in the state regulations or are they internal to the department?

They're internal to this document, to the UDO document. Good question.

So you can make it work?

Oh, it will work out. It will work itself out for that piece. Let me, I think I have to turn this off. Turn the laser pointer off and then I can click on this. So the actual changes. Well, the mouse is jumping around. And let me blow this up a little bit. I had a few more changes, so it was better to just pull this up and just scroll through it. There's the piece that you saw on the slides, but the actual changes are in your packets. This is the 300 section where I'm removing. the references here under application. Also, in the formatting, I moved a couple items around as it was more appropriate to place some things as I was doing it. So I took out technical review committee, because that's a review function, not an application function. Come on, scroll. Here we go. And so I relocated that down here into the new section for staff reviews. I put the school capacity report reference to the new chapter. And then same thing for site plan review. I'm sorry, this thing doesn't work. There we go. Site plan review, the pieces in it were a little bit different, but there was application, changed a little formatting here so I could split things up and move the school impact study, which the name's changed, from an application procedure down here to staff under the review. and moved review fees up under the application because that's where it belongs. So I corrected a few things as I was going along. So the new name and the reference to it. Now down to the section where the main section is for the edits. This just shows the context for where it was placed under subdivision regulations, all the sections in the general provisions. And then you get down to the new section for school capacity report. and I moved all the material up and it shows the modifications from the impact study to this being the request. It still has the size, 50 lots or more, but it mentions and really puts in here what wasn't in here for a staff responsibility to put it in the code that staff will make this request to the school district. And below is just where I deleted it from the design standards. So essentially you're just moving the requirement from the applicant to the staff to get a school study done to get not really a school study, but to, to eliminate the school study and keep what we've been doing, uh, on the side that wasn't documented, but to document it now and say, it's very important that we still contact the school.

Right.

And get, get their feedback.

Yeah, if whatever that it's called now, but I'll call it a school study for lack of a better term. Sure. But that no matter what, the bottom line is somebody in this case, the staff is going to be looking to make sure that, oh, OK, if we put in this subdivision of 500 houses, we're not suddenly going to overwhelm all the schools.

Right. And you'll be able to look at their report and be able to tell how the school's loaded. I mean, you can't really, I guess you're not supposed to deny a whole project just because schools are full. But it may mean that some kids are going to be bused. for a period of time. So it's just good things to keep an eye on.

I'm sure the school system appreciates it that, Hey, we got this big neighborhood coming and there's potential for

lot more kids and yes so plan ahead because we know yeah some of these subdivisions they were approved years ago and they're just now being built so that does give the school system a little time yes and if they haven't gotten word that this this project is is being looked at for a rezoning or is coming up under site plan review it really gives them a heads up to that okay here's some units that are coming possibly coming your way

How long does the school have to respond to a review request or information?

We are collecting this information during, you know, it's a process under conditional zoning as well as site plan review if it didn't have to go through conditional zoning. So time is of the essence more so under the conditional zoning, because the process is going once it's submitted and all the pieces are in, and so we want as much information as we can have preferred before we go into the community meetings, but definitely before we come to you, and we can present those to you as part of the conditional zoning request.

Okay. Okay, I didn't hear an answer there.

Oh, I may have...

Well, I mean, we understand the sequence, but yes, they are, they are pretty, um, pretty quick to respond on those. They need a little bit of time, which is usually a week to two weeks, uh, is, is a rough estimate depending on what their look, you know, their load is at the time. Uh, but the facilities department has, has really been good for us before in responding. So,

Correct. They have been fairly responsive. Um, I had kind of, I think the same thought that you're having is, well, what if, what if they're delayed in their responses? We haven't experienced that, but we don't necessarily have the authority to dictate timelines to them either. Um, I think what would happen is, you know, if a developer's setting up to, to track on July's planning and zoning board, and we don't have that, they would probably obviously help us put some pressure to get that, to meet that deadline.

Okay.

Let me get back to the slides unless there's any questions on this. Here it is.

Oops.

So the consistency findings, staff are of the determination that the following consistency items can be made. The request is reasonable and in the public interest as it promotes the goals of the comprehensive plan under community engagement and economic development. And the requested action is a decision for UDO Amendment Case ZT20260085 to make a recommendation, a motion to recommend that town council approve or deny this project to remove school impact study as presented.

Tim, two quick questions, if I may.

Absolutely.

I'm assuming that the change in charter and private school availability in our community has probably also changed some of the ability of a private consultant to be able to just run those numbers without taking those other things into account. Whereas our school system, theoretically, you said they have the baseline data. They know how many kids out of a neighboring neighborhood they've got something to base it on better than probably a private consultant does.

Correct, and they're also, they have just for their own growth patterns and staffing, they look at each school and do projections on what that enrollment's gonna be. So they kinda already have that information. They, I think, have a way to anticipate, especially in the last few years, they've talked about there's more migration to the charters and the privates. and they're factoring that into their numbers. Yeah. So I agree they they're more of an expert than even, you know, the consultant because that's where they live every day.

So the other question that I maybe shouldn't even say, but I'm I'm going to ask there are districts that have school impact fees, but that's not the case in Union County. So we're not we're not at risk of losing money for the schools, regardless of who does the analysis.

correct so impact fees are illegal in North Carolina there are system development fees which essentially is an impact fee on the water sewer side but you know when you look at your tax bill you can see quite a bit goes to the school system and that model is supposed to help fund additional schools as growth comes in ideally thank you okay any other questions

I will entertain a motion.

Motion to recommend that Town Council approve ZT 2026-0085 to remove the school impact study as presented.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And that passes also.

Thank you.

Hello again. So we've talked about banks. We've talked about signs. We've talked about school impact reports. Now we're going to talk about a topic that if you have a pet, I mean, we'd love to talk about our pets. So this is a conditional zoning rezoning modification. The zoning ordinance already exists. So we're just taking a look at this and changing the language a little bit. That's what the request is. This is CZ case 2026-0086 titled Hanfield Vet Clinic. So the request is to amend CZ 2014-003M. The M stands for modification. Ordinance number 403, which was last amended 2024. You may remember that. the request is to add a land use allowance for a vet clinic or office without outdoor animal areas that's an important detail that we're going to repeat throughout this presentation and the reason why this request is coming is the the landlord the hanfield village shopping center owner and property management wants to allow or open up their their shopping center for veterinary clinic tenants again without outdoor animal areas AND I WANT TO EMPHASIZE, BECAUSE SOMEONE ASKED, THERE ARE NO NEW STRUCTURES BEING PROPOSED OR PLANNED. THE SHOPPING VILLAGE IS GOING TO STAY THE SAME, NOTHING IS CHANGING PHYSICALLY. AND THE REASON WHY WE NEED TO GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS IS BECAUSE A VET CLINIC is only allowed through a CZ if it's in a zoning overlay. So that's why we're here with this request. And the applicant is the Hanfield Holdings LLC. So a little bit of the background of this conditional zoning ordinance back in 2015 is when the town adopted and approved CZ 2014-003, and that was for the development of the shops at Hanfield Shopping Center. You see one of the earliest concept plans there and some of the imagery of the buildings. You may even recognize one as the architecture design for the Publix. Then in 2024, two years ago, we had an amendment, and that was to allow drive-through facilities and a cigar shop on the Wesley Chapel Stouts Road out parcels. Now, this petition, again, does not change the underlying zoning designation. It is going to stay as General Business District. AND HERE'S AN IMAGE FROM GOOGLE EARTH TO KIND OF REMIND YOU OF WHAT THAT SHOPPING CENTER LOOKS LIKE. IT'S LOCATED IN THE EAST SECTION OF SUN VALLEY ACTIVITY CENTER OVERLAY. IT'S FLANKED BY WESLEY CHAPEL STOUTS ROAD AND OLD CHARLOTTE HIGHWAY. THE CURRENT ZONING IS CONDITIONAL ZONING GENERAL BUSINESS DISTRICT. and it has a variety of businesses there. The main anchor tenant is the Publix Market, but then you have other restaurants, other businesses, you have medical offices, there is a dental office, and also an optometry office, and there's health clubs. And I want to direct your attention to the yellow circle on this image. That is the building where the property owners hoping that they can locate this veterinary office tenant. They're hoping they can put them in that building right there.

Okay, we don't have that picture in our packet, right?

No, but you have an aerial imagery that's very similar to that one.

Are they gonna be occupying the entire structure or just part of that building?

Just one unit. So on the left side of that building, if you're standing in front of it, there's the dance studio. There's a little dance club there. And so the other empty unit space is on the right side. We're gonna see a picture of that in the next few slides. So this is the aerial imagery that you do have in your staff report. Shows you the surrounding area. You can see how this shopping center is surrounded by other shopping centers. You have the Sun Valley Commons. You have the shopping center that has the Harris Teeter. Sun Valley High School is right across the street, but then what you don't see here, we would have to zoom out. There's a lot of residential subdivisions that are surrounding this sub-regional activity center, and that's what creates this strong customer base for this shopping center. And I don't wanna forget to mention that Wesley Chapel Stouts Road and Charlotte Highway, they're gonna receive road improvements also due to the state widening project. So there's that building that we were talking about, building 5136. And you can see that it used to be kind of like a chiropractic office, but they are, this is one of the locations that they were hoping to put that clinic tenant. Right across the building, that's where you see all these other businesses. You have three restaurants, you have a health club, and then a GEICO office. Looking at the zoning, we see that the majority of the zoning around it is General Business District, but then you have the SF1, but we know that's the high school. The other large parcel that you see to the east of the Hanfield Village Shopping Center is just vacant farmland.

um and there are no plans to to see that developed uh not yet we did something recently though um on the the solid blue that's kind of to the to the right there down wesley chapel okay oh um something that recently with that

Yes, yes. So let me see if I can bring up the laser pointer. I know what you're talking about. Come on. You're talking about these properties here?

No, further up. There you go with that one.

Ah, yes. Uh, this was a straight rezoning. I can't remember the year, but I was the staff that prepared the report on that one.

Maybe two years ago.

Yeah. Um, yeah, it was just a straight rezoning. There was no concept plan tied to it.

That's correct.

So there was rumors that there would be a Chick-fil-A, but don't, don't believe those rumors.

Yeah.

Everything's a white castle. Yeah.

So that's the zoning conditions in the area. We're not rezoning the property, but we still want to show you the future land use recommendations, show you that this property is within the Sun Valley Village Plan, the activity center. And so all of this, the request lines up well with the goals and the intent of all these plans. The request is consistent with the comprehensive plan. It's basically the same reasons that we mentioned in my first report, the presentation. This is also going to continue promoting village center the shopping center to have a wider variety of businesses in in the center and this is going to create more employment this is going to continue developing the community So why did I put this picture there? So we wanted to get ahead of the question of, you know, if the shopping center and all the plans and the comprehensive plan all kind of push towards allowing a variety of uses, why are vet clinics not allowed by right? Well, the CZ requirement is there to allow the town to assess the potential impacts of a vet clinic that is being proposed if it is associated with outdoor areas for those animals. So that's why we're going through this process. We, we, the town wants to know, is this vet clinic going to have these outdoor areas? And if so, you know, we're talking about what you see in the image, these, these impacts, nobody wants to have that smell those noises in a shopping center where you want people to be shopping and walking. Now this amendment will only benefit veterinary clinics that offer outpatient services only, meaning that their patients go in and out the same day. There's no boarding, there's no kenneling. If a veterinary clinic were to try that, this zoning ordinance is going to block that. Now, if there is a rare need to board a pet, it will only be associated with medical care. And it will all be inside. They will not have an outdoor area for those dogs. And so this is the recommended CZ modifications that we are recommending. The revisions in red are simply just cleaning up the references to those sections. It used to say 520. The correct section is 570. And we're getting rid of that village center overlay designation. we're done with that now it's the sub regional activity center but the blue text is that the language that this petition would add to the zoning ordinance and it reads veterinary clinics offices without outdoor animal areas may be permitted any indoor animal boarding must only be associated with medical care And so if you have any questions for me, the applicant is here. Oh, you have so many questions.

I have dogs. I have two dogs. And when I take them to the vet, I generally have them relieve themselves before we walk into the building, because I would prefer not to have a puddle on the floor once we're in the building. And if there's been a waiting period of an hour, hour and a half, which can sometimes happen, when they come out, they need to do that again. So it's not realistic to expect that there will be no buildup of Yes. And if there's a designated spot, then at least the owner of the property knows that they have to clean that up and make sure that they maintain it. Whereas otherwise, it's going to be all along the border going into the building and not necessarily be easily identified as an area that needs attention. So I think that changing the UDO to say that you can have a vet facility without any identified area for the outdoor use is not realistic. That's me now.

This is my concern is, uh, tenants around it. If some sign longterm leases for a restaurant or whatever, and, and then you put a veterinarian's clinic right in there close by and then they can't get out of the lease and you know, it's a financial issue then for them. So that's my concern.

Okay.

Okay. Now, um, Mrs. Fielding, I want to clarify, We're not modifying the UDO, we're modifying this zoning ordinance that applies only to the shopping center, the Hanfield Village. And yes, so I just wanted to clarify that part. Now, you mentioned that concern about, I have a pet too, and so I take him to PetSmart, I take him to the groomers, and sure enough, sometimes when they come out, they need to find a place to relieve themselves, and usually I will find a parking island that's like, well, there's a patch of dirt But that becomes a maintenance requirement for the property owner. The town can enforce that through nuisance code enforcement. So if we see that the landscaping is dying, it's being not maintained by the property owner, that's a tool that the town has to make sure that that's taken care of. But the property management company for shops at Hanfield, we have a representative here. I'm sure they will talk more about that. But what I try to remember is looking at the center right now, it is a very well-maintained shopping center.

I'm there several times a week.

I did want to quickly interject. We did have a lot of discussions amongst the staff about where does the poop and pee go, right? And one example that somewhat made me a believer is Pet Bar that's next to Katrina's in Sun Valley. I had heartburn over that coming in, but there wasn't a CZ to protect it. But I've taken my pet there and made me a believer that I didn't see any any pets trying to relieve themselves they're in and out and I know that's grooming and a little different design but it did help me understand that if they do relieve themselves it's all internal for them to clean up and not on the exterior effect and folks maybe eating on the patio at Katrina's or whatever. So we do have an example close by that, that it can work, but I do know that they also, you know, as a vet is a little bit different, they may stay there a little bit longer as well.

Would they be so like if you go in the airport, they have indoor pet relieving areas. So could that be something requested? Like have a I don't know what the substance patch of grass or absorbent material for inside somewhere like can they be required to have a it's not a lot of space like an airport, but a closet or something somewhere people can go right just to not to have to go outside and deal with that?

Yeah, that's a good question. I will let the applicant talk more about what research they've done. Staff has done a little bit of their own research on basic requirements that are coming from the state. There is a medical board, the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Board that regulates vet clinics. and they make sure that these businesses are following the state standards, which includes, for example, this doesn't apply to this use, the veterinary outpatient clinic, but if there was animal services that had overnight boarding, those uses are required to have those outdoor areas because the pets are there for a much longer time. But like Brandy mentioned, if there's an animal service that they're not expecting the pets to be there that long, those requirements are more flexible from the state. But I will let the applicant talk more about that.

Before you switch, just to clarify, and you said changing this particular location doesn't change the UDO. Also, if we make it allowed in this conditional use zoning district, that doesn't automatically make it allowed in other CZs?

Correct. This is just for the Hanfield Village Shopping Center.

Okay, thank you for that. My other question was, I think it's outside of our boundaries, and I didn't drive it to check. On Old Monroe Road, there's another veterinary clinic, but is that outside of our boundaries?

That's in Indian Trail, just barely, but it is heading towards Monroe on Old Charlotte Highway on the left. On the left. Correct, that is in Indian Trail. Okay.

And I know there's one on Chestnut. And there's one behind the QT. On 74? Mm-hmm.

OK. Yeah.

Uh, I have a question, uh, the, and, uh, I used to work at, uh, service, a restaurant there where Cooper tap and table is when it was East coast wing. So I'm very familiar with this, these particular buildings. And, and you can see in that picture, there is a fair amount of green area right near the door. And, and I know that's inviting for dogs, uh, and, and that's understandable. And those sorts of things can be mitigated and dealt with. But what about medical waste or biohazard waste? Because you don't want that going in that dumpster that's right near where those other restaurants are. Well, you wouldn't want it in any dumpster. But anyway, yeah, is there are there provisions for them to dispose of that safely?

Not through our land use ordinance, our development ordinance. I think like the medical board agency, the North Carolina agency, they would surely regulate that and have standards on how vet clinics, just like hospitals, there's ways to get rid of that waste. But it wouldn't be through our land use ordinance. Like that would be beyond our scope.

Right. Cause these standalone veterinary clinics. Okay. Well you can have some specialty disposal service, take care of all your waste. Okay. But this being in a probably shared dumpster environment, um, we don't want that stuff. Yeah. Anyway.

So I guess at this point we want to hear from the applicant.

Thank you.

Thank you all for listening to me. My name is Corey Wing. I am with Metcap Commercial, so I represent the landlord for the Hamfield Village Shopping Center. To start with your question, since it was the top of the mind, our lease is going to be very specific as to any medical waste. If they have to have a sharps container or something like that for any type of medical waste, There is a separate dumpster that is away from the restaurant dumpsters. It's actually closer to the vet space at the end of their building, so it's a whole separate dumpster enclosure. To add on to the lease requirements, we will have the tenant required to maintain not only the interior of the space, but also the exterior. whether it be I have like a way station, um, doggy bags, whatever is gonna, um, need to be there to maintain the current, uh, condition of the shopping center. Um, we manage a number of publics and Harris Teeter shopping centers across the Carolinas. Publics is notoriously very hard tenant to keep happy. And so they're gonna be the first ones to let us know if there's a problem out there. And it will be rectified because Publix is obviously paying the most rent. They're the anchor tenant. We don't want to upset Publix. So we would not do anything, put someone in there that would be against Publix restrictions. Publix does have a long list of tenants that are not permitted to be in the shopping center. They have a max number of restaurants that can be in the shopping center. They have a max number of, uh, fitness. They have specific uses that they don't allow at all in the shopping center. And a vet office is not one of them. They like to co-tenant with vets. It's a family friendly. It's, you know, it's complimentary to what they have. It's, it's a neighborhood shopping center. So, you know, when we first started discussing this and going through, um, really thought that, uh, vet office would be a likely use for a shopping center. You know, there's been vet offices and shopping centers, obviously, for years, PetSmart and Petco have had vet offices in the shopping centers. Now there's more and more local vets that are partnering with franchise groups like City Vet, Good Vets, Petfolk. There's a Petfolk in the Fresh Market Shopping Center in Charlotte, for example. There's several city vets in the Whole Foods shopping centers in Cary and Durham. So they're going into shopping centers. It's like the dental offices. They always used to be freestanding dental buildings. And more and more of them are going into shopping centers as a whole community type shopping experience. So those are a couple things I can address on those questions that you've already had if you've got anything else.

Okay, so the vet offices that are currently in shopping centers, are those all offices that have no outside areas?

Yes, ma'am. And I think it's a little bit confusing the way that it's worded. And from what it's sounding like to me, what you're asking about is more of an outdoor kennel. They're not outdoor kennels. And I think that's more of how the UDO is written. Um, so there's not a place where they would have a fence or something and let the dog go off leash, um, which you would find in like an overnight boarding situation or something longer. These are all just outpatient. It's going to be all the same, just, um, outpatient. They're only in there for an hour, maybe a little bit more. Um, and then going home, or if there is a little bit more care that has to be done with them, um, possibly a little bit longer, but as I already mentioned, unless it's an immediate medical emergency that they physically can't leave at night, all the pets will be going home. And that will just be rare instances. Most of those cases will be referred to someone like CVS, the Carolina Veterinary Specialist that is, you know, um elevated emergency type versus just your shots and local veterinary services i know i board my dogs i don't board my dogs at the vet where i go right right so are they going to be occupying just the end unit or the two of the end in the middle So there is a dead space in the middle that was 900 square feet. When the joint originally went in, they only needed 1,600. So there is a space between the dance studio and the original 1,600 from the vet office. The vet office was planned to combine the dead space, that dead 900, and the 1,600 for a total of 2,500. So it'll only be a two-tenant building.

question. Are you partnering with anybody that when the animals have to stay overnight and instead of staying there, are you partnering with anybody with a place to take them to?

It would mostly be that they would just be referred to the emergency vet. Um, as far as someone that would come in and partner with the local vet, I don't, I don't think so. Um, I think that, you know, if they had to stay in the vet because they just had surgery and they're too fragile to move or something like that, um, then they would just stay in overnight and hopefully be released the next morning once they're stabilized.

So if they're fragile and unconscious, whatever, they either stay there or either go home.

Correct. Or get referred to the emergency vet for additional care.

Okay, I didn't know if you had a list or something that you were sharing with the clients.

I'm sure the local vet will have referrals for the emergency vets or someone else that would be able to provide the care that would be needed at that time. They can't do it. I know I've been to CVS with my dog. You would not think that a dog would have a neurosurgeon, but mine does. Yes.

I'm glad you clarified what CVS that you were talking about.

Yes, Carolina Veterinary Specialist, over behind the fiber, yes.

For the bio-waste disposal, they would have their own bin. Is that the city? Does Indian Trail pick that up, or is that a special service?

It would be the medical-type service, yeah. It's similar to a doctor's office, but the sharps containers and all that that you see when you go into the doctor's office is the plastic containers. And if there's anything else, then the medical board, I'm sure the vet board has requirements as to how anything else would be disposed. Thank you.

Any other questions?

No.

I will entertain a motion.

I move that we approve CZ 2026-2086, the Hamfield Vet Clinic as presented.

Okay. All in favor? Second. Yes.

Second.

Okay. All in favor?

Aye. Aye.

Aye. I'm sorry? I voted against it. Okay. You didn't.

So we have one no and the rest approve. Okay, so the motion carries. Thank you so much for coming and giving us all that additional information.

Thank you.

Okay. Is that it for tonight? All righty. There being no further business, I declare the meeting is closed.