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The Huntersville
Town Commissioners adopted our current zoning ordinance in 1996, and further modified it in 2003 to incorporate R (Rural) and TR (Transitional Residential) zonings. The Huntersville Zoning Ordinance guides the growth of the community based upon
principles of New Urbanism. These principles place
great emphasis on building types, street design, and
pedestrians, rather than more typical codes which dictate
inflexible lot sizes, rigid separation of land uses,
and meager public spaces.
Huntersville intends for
its zoning ordinance to be understandable and accessible
to its citizenry. For this reason, our ordinance
is written in plain English with district names that
make sense. The concept of a "Town Center
District" or "Neighborhood Center District",
for example, is easier to grasp than more vague district
names such as "R-17MF" or "MX-5 PUD".
To familiarize you with
our code, the links above will take you to the "intent"
section of each of our eighteen zoning districts.
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R Rural District.
"An environment without
perceivable boundaries is amorphous, indistinguishable
from its surroundings, and generally placeless."
----Alex Krieger, PLACES, Winter 1996, (70)
The Rural District is provided to encourage the development
of neighborhoods and rural compounds that set aside
significant natural vistas and landscape features for
permanent conservation. Development
typologies associated with the Rural District are farms,
the single house, the conservation subdivision, the
farmhouse cluster, and the residential neighborhood.
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Photo © Blair Seitz, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
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| TR
Transitional Residential District.
The Transitional Residential District serves as a bridge
between rural zones and more urbanized development.
It is provided to encourage the development of neighborhoods
and rural compounds that set aside significant natural
vistas and landscape features for permanent conservation.
Development typologies associated with the Transitional
District are farms, the single house, the conservation
subdivision, the farmhouse cluster, and the residential
neighborhood.
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| GR
General Residential District.
The General Residential District is coded to permit
the completion and conformity of conventional residential
subdivisions already existing or approved in sketch
plan form by the Huntersville Board of Commissioners
prior to the effective date of these regulations or
by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission under
the prior jurisdiction of Mecklenburg County.
The application of the General Residential District
is not intended for development projects in the Huntersville
jurisdiction which are initiated after the effective
date of this ordinance (November 19, 1996).
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NR
Neighborhood Residential District.
"...towns offer an important
lesson in both architecture and citizenship: buildings,
like citizens, warrant their idiosyncrasies so long
as they behave civilly toward their neighbors..."
---Alex Krieger, PLACES, Winter 1996, (67)
The Neighborhood Residential District provides for
residential infill development surrounding the traditional town center and its
logical extensions. This district also provides
for town-scaled residential development within walking
distance (generally ½ mile) of satellite village centers,
identified on the Land Development Plan. Streets
in the Neighborhood Residential District must be interconnected,
according to Article 5, Streets, and Urban Open Space
provided according to Article 7. A range of housing
types is encouraged. Low-intensity business activity
is permitted in mixed-use buildings at residential scale,
according to locational criteria. The intensity
to which permitted uses may be built is regulated by
the building type which corresponds to the use.
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Photo © Blair Seitz, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
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NC
Neighborhood Center District.
"Attachment
to the area and the sense of place that it imparts
expand with the individual's walking familiarity with
it. In such locales, parents and their children
range freely. The streets are not only safe,
they invite human connection". ---Ray Oldenburg,
The Great Good Place, (210)
The Neighborhood Center District is provided for the
location of shops, services, small workplaces, civic
and residential buildings central to a neighborhood
or grouping of neighborhoods and within walking distance
of dwellings. A neighborhood center shall be
developed on an interconnected pattern of streets and
is limited to approximately ¼ mile in radius.
Uses in the neighborhood center will have a primary
market area of 1 mile and buildings compatible with
surrounding residences. If a neighborhood center
is the focus of a planned transit stop, it should be
designed to serve the neighborhood’s residential
base plus transit riders. The Huntersville Land
Development Plan shows the general location of new neighborhood
centers.
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Photo © Blair Seitz, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
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TC
Town Center District.
"Place:
a piece of the whole environment that has been claimed
by feelings" ---Alan Gussow, Placeways:
A Theory of the Human Environment, (209)
The Town Center District provides for revitalization,
reuse, and infill development in Huntersville’s
traditional town center. A broad array of uses
is expected in a pattern which integrates shops, restaurants,
services, work places, civic, educational, and religious
facilities, and higher density housing in a compact,
pedestrian-oriented environment. The Town Center
anchors the surrounding residential neighborhoods while
also serving the broader community. The district
is coded to accommodate the higher overall intensity
of development required to support a rail transit station.
It is to be expected that the Town Center District will
be expanded over time through the zoning change process
to an approximate ½ mile radius to meet growth in demand
for downtown facilities and services.
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| HC
Highway Commercial District.
The Highway Commercial District is established to provide
primarily for auto-dependent uses in areas not amenable
to easy pedestrian access and a comfortable pedestrian
environment. It is expected that the Highway Commercial
District will serve not only the Huntersville Community,
but interstate travelers as well. Because of the
scale and access requirements of uses in this category,
they often cannot be compatibly integrated within the
Town Center or Neighborhood Center Districts.
Development at district boundaries must provide a compatible
transition to uses outside the district;
property boundaries adjacent to freeways
or expressways will require a 50-foot foliated buffer
yard; and frontages on major or minor arterials
will require formal street tree planting.
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| CI
Campus Institutional District.
The campus institutional district is established to
provide for large institutional complexes which are
already in place and for new institutional complexes
on 15 acres or more which, because of the scale of the
buildings or the nature of the use, cannot be fully
integrated into the fabric of the community. Campus
districts, unlike town districts, are buffered from
neighboring properties; nonetheless, buildings in the
campus district that front a town street shall relate
to the street as prescribed by building type. Campus
districts are intended primarily for existing institutions,
as most new institutional projects can and should be
designed within the fabric of the town.
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CB
Corporate Business District
"Any serious move
by a local economic development organization goes
hand in hand with an effort to identify and describe
the characteristics of that locality which set it
apart and give it a distinct identity".
---Daniel Kennis, Community and the Politics of Place,
(88)
The Corporate Business district is established to provide
for large business or light industrial uses and parks
which are already in place and for new business or light
industrial uses or parks which, because of the scale
of the buildings or the nature of the use, cannot be
fully integrated into the fabric of the community.
The predominant use is that of the workplace.
The corporate district, unlike town districts, is buffered
from neighboring properties; nonetheless, buildings
in the corporate district that front a town street shall
relate to the street as prescribed by building type.
Individual workplace buildings oriented to the street and scaled for compatibility
with the surrounding environment are also permitted
in the Highway Commercial district and, on a smaller
scale, in the Town Center, Neighborhood Center, and
TND Districts. Such workplaces should
not be reclassified to the Corporate Business District.
The corporate district is reserved for
uses which require very large buildings and/or large
parking and loading facilities such as warehouse/distribution
operations.
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Photo © Blair Seitz, Save Our Land, Save Our Towns
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| SP
Special Purpose District.
The Special Purpose District is established to accommodate
uses that may constitute health or safety hazards, have
greater than average impacts on the environment, or
diminish the use and enjoyment of nearby property by
generation of noise, smoke, fumes, odors, glare, commercial
vehicle traffic, or similar nuisances. Because
uses permitted in the SP District vary as to their impacts
on the community, they may likewise vary as to effective
mitigating conditions. Therefore the SP district
exists as a General Zoning District but will frequently
benefit from application as a Parallel Conditional Zoning
District.
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| TND-U and TND-R Traditional Neighborhood
Development Districts.
The Traditional Neighborhood Development Districts
are provided for the development of new neighborhoods
and the revitalization or extension of existing neighborhoods,
which are structured upon a fine network of interconnecting
pedestrian oriented streets and other public spaces.
Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TND’s) offer
a mixture of housing types and prices, prominently sited
civic or community building(s), and stores/offices/workplaces
to provide a balanced mix of activities. Religious
institution and pre-school/elementary school facilities
are encouraged. A Traditional Neighborhood Development
(TND) has a recognizable center and clearly defined
edges; optimum size is a quarter mile from center to
edge. A TND-U is urban in form, is an extension
of the existing developed area of the town, and complies
with density measures of the Neighborhood Residential
(NR) District. Minimum size of a TND-U is 40 acres.
A TND-R will resemble a rural village, will usually
be surrounded by a rural landscape, and must comply
with the density limits and bonuses of the Rural and
Transitional District. Minimum size of a TND-R
is 65 acres.
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| VS
Passenger Vehicle Sales District.
The Passenger Vehicle Sales District is established
to provide large accommodations for the sale of new
and used passenger vehicles and trucks not exceeding
the size, weight, and configuration of the medium duty
truck standard. Therefore minimum size for a VS
district shall be 15 acres. It is intended for
use in areas not amenable to easy pedestrian access,
where a comfortable pedestrian environment is unlikely
to be achieved. It is expected that the Passenger
Vehicle Sales District will serve the passenger and
small business vehicle needs of those in the Huntersville
Community and in the larger region. Because of
the scale of buildings and parking, and the access requirements
of uses in this category, they cannot be compatibly
integrated within the Town Center, Neighborhood Center,
or smaller scale Highway Commercial Districts.
At district boundaries, compatible transitions must
be provided by the use of landscaping and/or walls.
Property boundaries adjacent to freeways or expressways
will require a 50-foot foliated buffer yard and frontages
on major or minor arterials will require formal street
tree planting.
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| TOD-R
Transit-Oriented Development-Residential.
The transit-oriented residential district is established
to support higher density residential communities that
include a rich mix of retail, restaurant, service, and
small employment uses within a pedestrian village format.
Land consuming uses, such as large lot housing and large
retail outlets are excluded from this district.
The TOD-R may be located on developable and redevelopable
parcels generally found within the ½ mile catchment
area of designated rapid transit station sites.
Nothing in these regulations shall preclude application
of the TOD-R beyond the ½ mile radius when site-specific
development plans demonstrate efficient resident access
to a rapid transit station. The district establishes
a primarily residential village within a 10-minute walk
of a M.I.S. designated transit station that serves a
residential population of sufficient size to constitute
an origin and destination for purposes of rapid transit
service.
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| TOD-E
Transit-Oriented Development-Employment.
The transit-oriented employment district is established
to accommodate general office uses and office support
services in a highly pedestrianized setting. General
office, characterized by 40 to 70 employees per acre,
is the predominant use. Uses that employ relatively
few workers, such as warehousing and distribution, are
excluded from this district. The TOD-E may be
located on developable parcels within the ½ mile catchment
area of rapid transit stations. The district establishes
an employment node within a 10-minute walk of a M.I.S.
designated transit station that serves a workforce of
sufficient size to constitute a destination for purposes
of rapid transit service.
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| MH-O
Manufactured Home Overlay.
The Manufactured Home Overlay District is established
to provide for existing and proposed neighborhoods which
include or are proposed to include manufactured homes.
The requirements herein are intended to ensure compatibility
with existing housing stock by imposing supplemental
appearance standards for manufactured housing.
The Manufactured Home Overlay district may be applied
to tracts zoned NR, GR, TR, or R. It supplements
the range of residential types permitted in the underlying
district while limiting some accessory uses. For
existing neighborhoods, the MH Overlay may be established
by map adoption; for proposed neighborhoods, the MH
Overlay district requires zoning approval accompanied
by a detailed development plan and supporting materials.
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| MIL-O
Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay.
The intent of the Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay
District is to provide for the protection of public
water supplies as required by the N.C. Water Supply
Watershed Classification and Protection Act (G.S. 143-214.5)
and regulations promulgated there
under. The Mountain Island Lake Watershed
Overlay may be applied in any zoning district.
The Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay District
supplements the regulations of the underlying zoning
district within the Mountain Island Lake Watershed Protection
Area to ensure protection of public drinking water supplies.
All regulations for the underlying district shall continue
to remain in effect for properties classified under
the Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay District.
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| LN-O
Lake Norman Watershed Overlay.
The intent of the Lake Norman Watershed Overlay District
is to provide for the protection of public water supplies
as required by the N.C. Water Supply Watershed Classification
and Protection Act (G.S. 143-214.5) and regulations
promulgated there under. The Lake Norman Watershed
Overlay may be applied in any zoning district.
The Lake Norman Watershed Overlay District supplements
the regulations of the underlying zoning district within
the Lake Norman Watershed Protection Area to ensure
protection of public drinking water supplies.
All other uses and regulations for the underlying district
shall continue to remain in effect for properties classified
under the Lake Norman Watershed Overlay District.
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