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Smithfield council approves zoning text amendment updating parking, septic and frontage rules
Summary
The council approved zoning text amendment ZA‑2306 and the updated standard details manual, adopting new parking guidance (1 space per 3 seats for restaurants including outdoor seating), larger septic‑served lot minimums, clarified street frontage rules and a utilities standard aligned with state statute.
The Town of Smithfield council on Monday approved zoning text amendment ZA‑2306 and the town’s updated standard details and specifications manual, changes staff said are intended to refine performance standards and respond to questions raised at earlier meetings.
Planning staff presented the amendment, saying it would revise articles 2 and 10 and Appendix A to update lighting, parking and lot‑size rules. “So we’re recommending 1 space per 3 seats including outdoor seating,” planning staff said, describing the proposed restaurant parking minimum. The proposal also would require street lighting at all intersections “in accordance with the national standard,” and would adopt revised minimum lot areas for septic‑served parcels: 30,000 square feet for lots served by septic with no public sewer, and 40,000 square feet in watershed or environmentally sensitive areas, staff said.
Councilmembers questioned measurement parameters and implementation. One member raised whether the town could codify a specific luminance standard for intersections; staff and council discussed the practicalities of where to measure light and whether the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) should include a lumen requirement. Planning staff said the town typically checks lighting during development review and can require adjustments during plan review.
Council also discussed language clarifying street frontage: the amendment explicitly states every lot must be on a public street, a privately owned street that conforms with town standards, or a private driveway inside a multifamily development with documented maintenance responsibilities. Staff said the change resolves ambiguity about private driveways and private streets and helps assign maintenance responsibility should an area be annexed.
Councilman (name recorded on the transcript as speaker 6) moved to approve ZA‑2306, finding it consistent with the town’s Comprehensive Growth Management Plan and adopted plans, and to add a lumen requirement for intersections; the motion was seconded and carried. Council subsequently approved the updated standard details and specifications manual by a separate vote.
The amendments will take effect per the town’s normal ordinance procedures. The council did not specify an effective date in the meeting record.
