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PETITION 96-01(T) <br /> <br />This petition is the direct result of the Bi-Annual Report on the County Zoning Ordinance <br />completed in December of 1995 and submitted to the Board of Commissioners earlier this <br />year. That report included a review of the text and atlas amendments that had been done <br />since the adoption of the Ordinance in December of 1993, and it also made <br />recommendations for necessary revisions. The major revision that was recommended was <br />to the customized development standards portion of Section 5 of the Ordinance. <br /> <br />INTENT <br /> <br />The customized development standards are intended as an alternative to traditional <br />development. The use of these standards instead of the traditional development standards <br />would permit a similar amount of development, but would also allow for the preservation <br />of open space, rural character, and natural resources. This preservation is to be <br />accomplished by permitting the clustering of smaller than standard development lots on a <br />set percentage of the property, while requiring that the remaining percentage of the <br />property be left as open space. The open space in turn can be used for natural area, <br />passive or active recreation, agriculture, pasture, or stom~water management areas among <br />other things. <br /> <br />METHOD <br /> <br />The Customized development standards currently require that 50% of the property be let1 <br />open while 50% is developed. As a result of this and other factors, no one has used this <br />alternative to date. We have proposed changing the required percentages to 30% open <br />space and 70% developed property. It is felt that with this change some of the <br />development that is already taking place will be done through using the customized <br />standards. In addition to changing the percentages of open and developed land, other <br />changes are proposed to the text. The attached revision of Chapter 5 is done in revised <br />text form so that deleted text is crossed out, added text is underlined, and a bar in the tight <br />margin marks revised areas. <br /> <br />The staff worked with a committee of the Planning & Zoning Commission to draft these <br />changes. Katherine Stafford, who helped write the Ordinance, and Ed Hill were on the <br />committee. The entire Planning & Zoning Commission discussed the changes at their <br />February and March meetings and voted 9-0 at the March meeting to recommend that the <br />Board of Commissioners approve the revisions. <br /> <br />Jonathan B. Marshall <br />Senior Planner <br /> <br /> <br />