Subject:
Title
Joint Work Session/Special Meeting with Town Council, Planning Commission and Board of Architectural Review on Preliminary Draft Design Guidelines and Proposed Draft Amendments to the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) Zone
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BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
At its September 17, 2018 meeting, the Town Council voted to temporarily suspend the Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) Zone for 270 days to provide staff time to develop design guidelines, working with the Chair of the Board of Architectural Review, along with related MAC amendments. The moratorium went into effect on September 30, 2018, and ends on June 27, 2019. This past fall citizens provided input through the visual preference survey, which is the basis for creating the draft design guidelines and proposed amendments to the MAC Zone regulations.
Preceding this action, the Planning Commission and Town Council held two joint work sessions in May and June, 2018, on proposed amendments of the MAC ad hoc committee to amend the MAC Zone. The Planning Commission also held a public hearing and made a recommendation on several amendments to the MAC Zone on August 8, 2018. Those amendments have not yet been forwarded to the Town Council for consideration; rather, they will be considered with other proposed amendments to the MAC Zone.
At the direction of the Mayor, an ad hoc committee was formed in spring, 2018 to research and develop potential amendments to the MAC Zone that would ensure future mixed use developments would not result in a loss of commercial activity along the corridor, but rather provide a balanced mix of housing, office and retail uses as was envisioned when the MAC Zone was formed.
OVERVIEW:
The preliminary draft design guidelines and proposed draft amendments to the MAC Zone were provided to the Town Council, Planning Commission and Board of Architectural in February, 2019. Both documents were also posted on the Town’s Maple Avenue Vision webpage. Staff provided an update on the process to Town Council on February 11, 2019.
By the time of this joint work session, the Planning Commission and Board of Architectural Review will have each held two work sessions to review the proposed drafts. The purpose of this joint work session is for the Planning Commission and Board of Architectural Review to share their initial comments with Town Council and for all three bodies to discuss the drafts as a group.