Pittsboro planners back landscape‑buffer text amendment, ask staff to keep 50‑foot buffer option

The commission reviewed a staff‑proposed text amendment to landscape standards and buffer requirements intended to provide clearer protections where industrial uses abut less compatible uses (including residential and agricultural land). Staff outlined proposed standards (per‑acre tree and shrub counts, frontage planting rates, buffer widths and a berm option) and asked for direction before scheduling a public hearing.

Options included a 50‑foot buffer with staggered trees and shrubs, a 40‑foot bermed option (berm to be 5 feet high), and a 40‑foot flat planting option. Staff said they would not require planting where significant existing tree stands already provide equivalent screening, but commissioners asked that any such claim be supported by a tree inventory showing canopy coverage. "We would require a 50 foot buffer yard," staff said when describing the frontage standard; commissioners also clarified the berm height standard and requested a required inventory and replacement standard for removed trees.

The commission voted to incorporate the changes discussed and to notice the draft for a public hearing in September, directing staff to: (1) add a tree inventory requirement and a coverage metric; (2) keep the 50‑foot buffer option for cases where additional screening is needed; and (3) clarify that berms would be constructed to a specified 5‑foot height where required. Staff said these clarifications will be included in the September public hearing materials.