More Information on the Master Plan and CH Zone

For those wishing to know more before signing, we acknowledge that this is a complex topic to try to convey succinctly, as it touches on master planning, the Land Use Code, existing constraints on rezoning and development (e.g. PUDs vs. subdivisions, private covenants, etc.), and interplay between all.  That said, we are always happy to explain and discuss such details, but provide the following summary of our grave concerns—points that need be discussed in a public forum:

• • • By explicitly referencing the Land Use Code CH Zone in the East End Master Plan (“EEMP”) as being appropriate “in all areas” where services can be provided, the County is paving the way for CH Zoning to be applied virtually anywhere.
    • By allowing “small print” in the EEMP to supersede the intent of the Future Land Use Map (now called “Future Land Opportunities”), the vital planning tool of a Future Land Use Map is relegated to a meaningless document as to possible densities of development. This demonstrates the County’s willingness to put all sound big-picture planning on a shelf, solely in the name of creating opportunities for high-density workforce housing.
    • The current language of the CH Zone itself (in the Land Use Code) is intentionally written so broadly that it only sets the stage for irreversible unintended consequences. For example, whether an applicant is the County, Town or a private developer:
    • The density of a CH Zone application cannot legally be considered by the County at any stage of either rezoning or development;
    • The County is not obligated to consider the surrounding uses or characteristics in regard to the possible density;
    • The County likely has little to no discretion to deny a CH Zone application on any basis;

  At the rezoning stage when a density by right of 20 units per acre is potentially granted, the CH Zone does not require any of the normal development review standards to be met—basic standards like a site plan, actual density identification, traffic, environmental, wildlife, water and sewers studies, to name a few.

  Even at the development application stage, the CH Zone does not require the normal development review standards documents designed to curb development concepts that adversely affect the area.