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Thursday, 17 March 2011 13:39 |
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The City of Wilmington is undertaking an ongoing CBD preservation/teardown ordinance discussion. This item was initially presented at the February Planning Commission meeting. At that meeting in February, BASE suggested that the Planning Commission hold a work session to understand the proposal prior to taking action. That work session was held and illustrated a number of potential complications with the ordinance as proposed.
The proposal reflects a good faith effort by an ad hoc group. The upside is that it intends to provide incentives for preservation. BASE remains concerned regarding the impacts on property rights downtown. Unfortunately, one of the proposal's major benefits (Transfer of Development Rights) is not legal in North Carolina and should be removed from the proposal. That said, it appears that this draft could be a step in the right direction, provided several changes are made before moving forward. To their credit, City Planning Staff has made significant revisions and clarifications to get a draft document before for consideration. However, there are additional issues which staff has outlined and identified as "considerations." These should be resolved, in addition to the changes requested below, prior to moving forward.
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Thursday, 17 March 2011 13:32 |
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As you may recall, BASE worked for a number of months on vesting issues regarding commercial buildings which were permitted under the old New Hanover County water and sewer fee structure and were finishing their upfits under the new CFPUA fees. These buildings were permitted prior to July 1, 2008 when CFPUA became "live" and spanned the old and new methods of impact fee calculation. At issue was the situation where a building owner or developer was caught in the middle of the two ways to calculate fees and was being forced to pay the new CFPUA structure based on water meter size.
In late 2010, at the request of BASE, the CFPUA board voted unanimously to amend its policy and enable vesting for those projects caught in between. In February 2011, the CFPUA Board further amended its policy to expand the provisions and more fully encompass apartment and multifamily projects that may be caught. Specifically, for projects that were permitted prior to July 1, 2008, the owner can elect to use the old impact fee calculation method based on use OR the new CFPUA method based on water meter size. The choice is binding, but credit will be given should the meter have to be switched out at a later date for a larger size. All in all, it is an equitable solution to a complex issue and should positively impact commercial building owners pursuing upfits and tenants.
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Thursday, 17 March 2011 13:04 |
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As the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has embarked on its Capital Improvement Program planning process, significant discussion has occurred on the importance of maintenance projects versus the importance of growth projects. One of the primary growth hurdles locally is the capacity available at the large number of area pump stations. One of the primary time and cost impacts locally is upgrading pump stations before development can be accommodated and new rate payers can be added to the system.
In extensive review of the issue, BASE uncovered a "paper vs. actual flow" issue which was complicating the process and requiring upgrade of stations that may or may not be over capacity. Two specific items were causing complications in this process and increasing costs for local utilities like CFPUA or the first developer which tried to move ahead with a project in a sewershed where the facilities were nearing capacity.
BASE has identified some of the 2T rules regarding pump station calculations, and guidance published by DWQ ostensibly to implement the 2T rules, as unnecessary impediments to orderly growth and economic progress in the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County.
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