MINUTES

MINUTES

Town of Blowing Rock

Planning Board Minutes

November 20, 2003

The Town of Blowing Rock Planning and Zoning Board met for a work session on Monday, November 20, 2003. Members present were Chairperson Susie Greene, Dennis Quinn, Jim West, Ron Oberle, Albert Younce, Paul Peterson, Cobb Milner, and Ron Mace. Town staff present were Scott Hildebran, Town Manager, Kevin Rothrock, Planning Director, and Sharon Greene, Recorder.

APPROVE MINUTES:

Jim West made a motion to approve the minutes of the September meeting as presented, seconded by Dennis Quinn. All members were in favor.

SECTION 16-172 RESIDENTIAL OCCUPANCY:

Planning Director Kevin Rothrock stated to the Board that he had received a complaint recently concerning the number of unrelated people living in a single dwelling unit. He examined the ordinance and determined that the Town’s occupancy controls were ineffective. The section that pertains most to occupancy controls is listed as an accessory use and doesn’t effectively prohibit a specific number of unrelated occupants. The current code reads:

"(3) The renting out of one or two rooms within a single family residence (use classification 1.110 or 1.120) (which one or two rooms do not themselves constitute a separate dwelling unit) to not more than two persons who are not part of the family that resides in the single family dwelling."

Mr. Rothrock presented the Board with the Town of Boone’s residential occupancy controls as a guideline and for them to make changes they felt were necessary. It read as follows:

" Section 16-172 Residential Occupancy Controls

Any residential dwelling unit occupied by a group of more than two (2) persons

who are not related by blood or marriage shall contain at least one (1) bedroom for each two (2) persons residing in the dwelling unit."

Residential dwelling units which are occupied by a family shall be permitted

as a principal use in all zoning districts and will not be limited to the number of

persons in the family.

Residential dwelling units which are occupied by zero to three (3) unrelated

persons shall be permitted as a principal use in all zoning districts.

Residential dwelling units which are occupied by four (4) unrelated persons shall

only be permitted as a principal use in the R-10M, R-6M, HMC, CB and GB

zoning districts.

Residential dwelling units which are occupied by five (5) or more unrelated

persons shall not be permitted in any zoning district.

A motion was made by Ron Oberle to accept the above residential dwelling controls with the following changes to the wording highlighted above. It should read " by a family and up to 3 unrelated persons shall be permitted as a principal use in all zoning districts", Mr. Oberle’s motion was seconded by Jim West, with all members being in favor.

Planning Director Rothrock also stated that the definition for family was presently as follows:

"One or more persons living together as a single housekeeping unit."

He proposed that the definition for family read:

"Family. One or more individuals related by blood, marriage, or adoption,

Occupying a premises and living as a single, non-profit housekeeping unit, including

domestic servants, live-in help. The following individuals shall be included in this

definition:

a single person or married couple;

a single person or married couple’s biological, foster, or adopted child, s step-child, or other legal word;

a single person or married couple’s parents, siblings, and persons of preceding or

succeeding generation denoted by the prefixed of grand, great, or great-grand;

spouses of any persons named in the above groups;

cousins, who are defined to be relatives who are descendents from a common

grandparent."

Ron Oberle made a motion to accept the above definition as it reads, seconded by Jim West, all members were in unanimous favor.

The Board then discussed the definition of "occupied". After some discussion, the board decided that it should read that non-dwelling occupants would be in violation if staying more than seven (7) days in a row and/or eight (8) days in any 30-day period. Mr. Oberle made a motion to accept this definition, seconded by Mr. West. All members were in favor.

AMENDING PRIMARY FIRE DISTRICT:

The Blowing Rock Fire Department requested that the Primary Fire District be expanded to include all of the Central Business District. This would not be an amendment to the Town Code, but an amendment to the Primary Fire District Map. The primary district is currently an area 150 feet wide measured from the center of Main Street, where the northern limits is Hwy. 221 and the southern limits is Globe Road.

Primary Fire District Map Attached as Exhibit "A"

A motion was made by Mr. Oberle and seconded by Mr. West to expand the Primary Fire District to include all Central Business District. All members were in favor.

CLUSTER DEVELOPMENT GUILDELINES:

The Town Council requested that the Planning Board review Section 16-186, Cluster Subdivisions. Development concepts, such as cluster development, open space requirements, and the term "usable open space", were also topics of discussion.

After some discussion, the Board decided to form a committee of the following people, Susie Greene, Jim West, Ron Oberle, Paul Peterson and Kevin Rothrock who would study cluster development. This committee would be unable to meet until after Thanksgiving. Because of the time restraints Mr. Oberle made a motion to recommend to Council, that a 180-day moratorium on Cluster Development be issued until further studies could be done. Cluster Development would be studied further at the January 2004 meeting. The motion was seconded by Dennis Quinn with all members in favor.

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:

The Board felt that their focus should be on the Comprehensive Plan for the next couple months, in order for a draft to be ready for the Council Retreat in January 2004.

There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

CHAIRPERSON __________________________________

Susie Greene

_____________________________

Sharon Greene, Recorder