We would like to take this opportunity to give you all some long-awaited good news. Due in part to your support, comments, and involvement in the East End Master Plan (EEMP) process, yesterday’s County Planning Commission work session finally addressed the Diamond Ridge component of the EEMP head-on.
Planning Commissioner Matthew Bayma started the discussion by posing the question regarding Diamond Ridge’s current “Residential Medium” land use categorization, with implications that the Community Housing Zone district (CH Zone) is deemed suitable for that property.
Planning Commission Chairman Lee Taylor suggested the CPC move Diamond Ridge to the “Residential Low” category. This category does not deem the CH Zone a potential zone district, meaning that development approval must be done through the Affordable Housing Planned Unit Development Zone district (AH-PUD). Ultimately, all the planning commissioners agreed to Mr. Taylor’s suggestion, with varying degrees of support.
While this does not foreclose Diamond Ridge’s future development, it would require the County and Town to do their due diligence and propose a development plan for review before rezoning may occur, among other more stringent criteria dictated by the AH-PUD. This is how development proposals should work, especially for large-scale development with inevitable and consequential regional impacts.
As a condition of her support of Chairman Taylor’s suggestion, Planning Commissioner Josselin Lifton-Zoline expressed her desire that the AH-PUD zone district be updated, a reasonable desire given the actions of the day and her good intent to remove extraneous or unnecessary barriers that may exist in the AH-PUD zone district.
While this decision does not solve the “CH Zone anywhere” problem, some Planning Commissioners supported limiting the size of developments considered for the CH Zone, requiring larger projects to go through a revised AH-PUD process. These discussions of large-scale vs. small-scale have also been long awaited and are foundational to remedying the CH Zone itself.
Overall, the events of the March 14 CPC work session provide a reason for optimism, but as we all know, it ain’t over until it’s over!
Our work continues, and as always, we appreciate your support and encourage you to contact info@lastdollarcollective.com with any thoughts, questions, or ideas.
