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Planning board recommends UDO lighting and landscaping text amendments to Town Council
Summary
The Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend H-2024-02 TA, a package of Unified Development Ordinance edits that correct buffer and landscaping language and add lighting standards including a 2 foot-candle maximum where commercial abuts residential; the recommendation advances to the Town Council.
The Planning and Zoning Board voted Dec. 17, 2024 to recommend that the Town Council approve H-2024-02 TA, a set of text amendments to the Town of Harrisburg’s Unified Development Ordinance that address landscaping, buffers and lighting.
The board approved the recommendation by voice vote after Shelley DeHart, a town planning staff member, summarized the changes and answered questions. DeHart said the amendments include editorial corrections to landscaping categories and a correction to a buffer-width figure, and add lighting requirements to reduce impacts on adjacent residential uses. "So we're putting a maximum foot candles, of 2, within here," DeHart said while describing a new limit for parking-lot or commercial lighting next to residences.
DeHart told the board the package also clarifies street-lighting expectations during the construction plan phase and gives developers and the town more certainty about fixture styles. The amendment aims to align decorative lighting in planned developments with an overall theme (the transcript cites "Hagerstown" decorative fixtures as an example) while using taller "cobra head" fixtures for street lighting where appropriate. The proposal also specifies that required lighting can include fixtures on adjacent streets leading into new developments.
Board members focused questions on a figure/table mismatch that showed different buffer widths. DeHart explained the figure's "b" label refers to width for a Type A buffer and that staff will reconcile the figure and table so the chart and the text match.
A board member moved to recommend approval of H-2024-02 TA to the Town Council, finding the amendment consistent with the UDO and the town's land-use goals; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board did not record individual roll-call tallies in the transcript; the chair declared the motion carried and the recommendation approved.
The Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation now goes to the Town Council for consideration. If the council adopts the ordinance as recommended, the changes will alter how developers design buffers and lighting near residential areas and will give staff clearer standards to use during plan review.
