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Pitt County planning board backs creation of conservation-area overlay to protect buffers and open space
Summary
Planning staff and ARC Consulting asked the planning board to create a 100-foot conservation-area overlay in the county zoning ordinance to preserve permanent open space and strengthen buffers; the board voted to recommend the text amendment to the Board of Commissioners for consideration July 21.
The Pitt County Planning Board voted to recommend a text amendment to the county zoning ordinance that would create a conservation-area overlay district intended to protect permanent open space and provide enforced buffers between new development and adjacent properties.
The amendment, presented by county planning staff member Jonas and by Scott Anderson of ARC Consulting Group, would allow applicants to map a conservation-area overlay that prohibits building encroachments, parking, and other impervious surfaces inside the overlay and requires the overlay area to be undeveloped at the time of its creation. The proposal sets a 100-foot minimum width for the overlay and allows public infrastructure such as streets, sidewalks, and stormwater detention to cross the area where needed.
Jonas told the board the language was modeled after Greenville’s zoning ordinance and is intended to give “some teeth” to buffering promises developers sometimes make only informally. Scott Anderson, who identified himself as an owner of ARC Consulting Group, said the overlay has worked in Greenville and “is something that is more than just a promise. It is something that is put on a map that everybody knows is there, and it's enforceable.”
The amendment would restrict initiation of a CA overlay request to the legal owner of record (or the owner’s authorized agent) and requires that the area proposed for the overlay be vacant and free of vested rights or principal structures. Private streets and pedestrian walkways may cross the overlay if they meet development standards and connect to public infrastructure; temporary or permanent parking is prohibited. The overlay may also satisfy required roadside or property-line buffer yards when it conforms with other ordinance requirements.
Planning staff recommended approval, saying the amendment aligns with policies in the Envision Pitt County 2045 comprehensive land use plan that call for transitional features such as buffers and tree planting when new development abuts existing neighborhoods. The planning board voted to recommend adoption; the item moves to the Pitt County Board of Commissioners for a public hearing and final action on July 21.
The board opened a public comment period before the vote; Scott Anderson answered questions about how the overlay would be applied and who may request it. No vote tallies were recorded in the public transcript.
The proposal will appear before the Board of County Commissioners on July 21 for final consideration. If commissioners approve the text amendment, staff said the overlay could take effect immediately following that vote.
