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Planning commission recommends employment-campus zoning changes to commissioners; motion passes 5–0 with one abstention
Summary
The commission recommended amendments to Chapter 158 (Employment Campus District) to replace an initial development-plan requirement with site-plan review and to allow greater flexibility of permitted uses. Commissioners added a requirement that bulk and yard rules that protect adjoining residential properties apply to employment-campus parcels; a
The Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission voted July 15 to recommend proposed amendments to the county’s Employment Campus zoning regulations, sending the draft to the Board of County Commissioners with the commission’s modification that commercial/industrial adjacency protections also apply to Employment Campus properties.
Planning staff presented the marked-up Chapter 158 language the Board of County Commissioners had asked the commission to review. The proposed changes remove a requirement for an initial, district-wide development plan and instead substitute site-plan review and site-specific demonstrations that proposed development meets the Employment Campus purposes. The draft keeps limits on retail (no more than 25% of total area) and residential (up to 15%) within a campus and replaces references to the development plan with site-plan review standards. Staff said the change is intended to make the district more usable and flexible while retaining the master-plan purposes that created the district.
Commission discussion focused on compatibility where Employment Campus parcels abut residential properties. County staff noted existing language in the code that reduces building height and increases yards where commercial districts abut residential zones; economic-development staff expressed concern that reducing allowable height to 35 feet across areas intended for office or hotel construction could undercut the district’s purpose. Commissioners agreed to apply the commercial/industrial adjacency yard and setback provisions to properties in the Employment Campus district that adjoin residential parcels; the effect is the bulk requirements would be established at site-plan approval but the adjacency protections would apply.
After discussion, Commissioner (name recorded in roll call) moved the commission recommendation as amended; another commissioner seconded. The chair called the roll: Mister Huff — yes; Mister Kane — yes; Mister Lester — yes; Mister Robertson — yes; Mister Swayeson — yes; Mister Gordon — abstain. The chair instructed the record to show five yays and one abstention. The motion carried and staff will forward the modified draft to the Board of County Commissioners for their public hearing and consideration.
Staff thanked Mary Lane, who the commission noted is retiring at the end of the month; Lane presented the draft and responded to questions before the vote.
