TA 21-13 Mountain Island Lake Buffer

1. The proposed amendment is consistent with the Purposes of the Huntersville Zoning Ordinance ( the “Ordinance”) as set forth in Article 1.2 which states that the purpose of the zoning regulations is to encourage the most appropriate use of land throughout the corporate area in accordance with the Huntersville Community Plan and other adopted long-range plans for the Town of Huntersville.

2. The proposed amendment is consistent with the Vision Statement, 2040 Town of Huntersville Community Plan, by, among other things, helping to provide meaningful economic development, balance the tax base, attract target industries, and provide more opportunities for people to work in Huntersville due to expansion of the industrial and commercial base.

3.  The proposed amendment is consistent with the Policy Recommendations, 2040 Town of Huntersville Community Plan, by facilitating industrial and commercial growth in areas that are suitable for business and industrial development.

4.  The proposed amendment is consistent with the Policy Recommendations, 2040 Town of Huntersville Community Plan because the amendment improves a development standard that supports business growth.

5.  The proposed amendment adds the Protected Area (PA2) of the Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay District (MIL District) to Section 8.25.10 and allows, as part of conditional zoning, the Board of Commissioners to approve a modification of perennial tributary buffers in the PA2 areas of the MIL District which drain less than 50 acres, without a variance as long as one of the nine mitigation techniques set forth in Subsection 11(b) are implemented. The provision is applicable only to those streams not indicated on the most recent version of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1:24,000 scale (7.5 minutes) quadrangle topographic maps and therefore do not meet the criteria for a State water supply watershed buffer.

6.  Section 3.3.2, Mountain Island Lake Watershed Overlay District, imposes additional buffer restrictions on the property that is located in the critical and protected areas of the overlay district. The PA2 of the MIL District is the larger, less restricted area of the overlay district and, as such, a significant amount of property that is designated for Corporate Business in the Community Plan is in the PA2.  The PA2 area has fewer restrictions than critical areas because the risk of water quality degradation from pollution is less in the protected areas than in the critical areas. This amendment will allow for industrial and commercial buildings in the Corporate Business, PA2 of the MIL District, that are shown in the 2040 Community Plan as preserved for industrial and commercial businesses, to be built without being required to reduce the size of the building, or not built at all, due to a perennial tributary. Mitigation is still required and the amendment is limited only to those streams not indicated on the most recent version of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 1:24,000 scale (7.5 minutes) quadrangle topographic maps and therefore do not meet the criteria for a State water supply watershed buffer.