MEMO

 

 

 

 

Executive Summary of Amendments Initiated January 25, 2006

 

Purpose of the Amendments

 

The proposed amendments to existing (Zoning) regulations, draft (Subdivision) regulations and to the county’s land use policy document [HORIZON 2020] were created to address specific land use and rural residential development issues raised by the use of the ‘five acre’ exemption outside the City of Lawrence’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) and the lack of a simplified platting tool for rural residential divisions within the UGA of the City. These amendments were also initiated to address three existing Home Rule Resolutions in the County that were temporarily enacted to address land use development issues. HR-05-4-3 was adopted to prohibit ‘piano key’ type of property divisions along County and Township Roads.  It established a minimum road frontage requirement of 250. HR-05-4-4 was adopted to address lack of proper road infrastructure in the creation of ‘5 acre’ divisions.  It established a requirement that prohibited the issuance of a building permit for a tract of land when its only access was to a minimum maintenance road. Both were enacted as interim measures with the intent that the existing land use development regulations, the zoning and subdivision regulations, would be studied and amended to address these issues.

 

On June 8th, the County Commission adopted a third Home Rule Resolution, No. 05-6-5, which placed a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for a structure or dwelling on a tract of land in the unincorporated areas of the County. This action was taken after the Commission became convinced that the time was now to create and adopt new rural development regulations. (Four qualifying exceptions were written into this resolution to address existing land divisions.)  Much of the work done by the Lawrence/Douglas County Planning Commission provided the background and impetus for the decision by the County Commission to address the growing issues & concerns related to rural residential development. The County Commission was unanimous in their decision to study these issues & concerns and as a result of their study have initiated changes to existing regulations and policy documents.

 

In discussions with planning staff prior to enacting the moratorium on building permits, the County Commission explored the following land use planning issues & concepts:

1.       Development of regulations, based on a ‘sliding scale’ of requirements, with higher standards and criteria set for development within the Urban Growth Areas and less complex regulations for residential development within the Rural Area (outside the Urban Growth Area).

2.       Development of regulations within the Urban Growth Area that required pre-planning of rural residential development based on ultimate urban-scale subdivisions and lot-and-block layouts that would easily transition into an annexing city.  [This included discussions of tools such as cluster developments and a process for ‘pre-platting’ urban subdivisions known by terms such as ‘ghost platting’, ‘build thru acreages’, or ‘shadow platting’.]

3.       Development of a hierarchy for county roads and access to county roads based on functional classification of roads and adoption of county-wide access management standards.  

4.       Removing the five acre exemption process from the Subdivision Regulations as a method for rural property owners to divide their lands, over time, based on the conclusion that, the exemption’s purpose and use had strayed from the original intent of the regulation.

5.       Creating clearer policy direction in HORIZON 2020 for rural residential development that would address many of the issues identified in the Rural Planning Committee’s study of rural development issues.

6.       The critical relationship between rural residential development and the provision of rural water meters and the need for a better planning tool than the water meter & treatment contracts the City of Lawrence has with three rural water districts.

7.       The Comprehensive Plan’s direction that development within Service Area #1 of the Urban Growth Area should occur only after annexation of the area.

 

Based on the County Commission’s study of the seven issues & concepts listed above, county & planning staffs have worked with a consulting firm to develop amendments to the draft subdivision regulations, Horizon 2020, the County Sanitation Code, Access Management Standards, and the County Zoning Regulations. After eight months of studying these issues and proposed rural development regulations, the County Commission initiated text amendments to the Joint Lawrence/Douglas County Subdivision Regulations, the County Zoning Regulations, and Horizon 2020, the Lawrence/Douglas County Comprehensive Land Use plan for public hearing in March 2006 by the Lawrence/Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission. 

 

Key points in the rural development regulations recommended as amendments for public hearing at the March 2006 Planning Commission meeting follow:

 

 

A.            Jt. Subdivision Regulations:

 

1)      Remove the ‘5 acre’ exemption as a way to create land divisions in the unincorporated area of the county, outside the Urban Growth Area (UGA) of Lawrence. (The ‘5 acre’ exemption does not exist as an option within the UGA.)  

2)      Require all development requests within Service Area 1 of the City of Lawrence to request annexation and follow the procedures for development upon annexation.

3)      Establish development criteria for development and subdivisions within the UGAs and the Rural Area of the county and map these criteria, adding them to Horizon 2020.

4)      Create two (2) administrative division processes for rural residential development within Service Areas 2-4 of Lawrence and the UGAs of Baldwin City, Eudora, and Lecompton.

a.   Conservation-Cluster Developments that have –

 - a development size between 20 acres and less than 40 acres

 - a rural water meter for each residential development parcel

 - a minimum residential development parcel size of 3 acres or 1 acre with 2

   adjoining acres contractually tied to the 1 acre for on-site sewage purposes

 - a cross access easement to consolidate the access into one point onto a

   county or township road 

 - conservation and drainage easements dedicated separately for protection of

   regulatory floodplains and other sensitive environmental and geographically

   areas or for historic sites and features

 - a building envelope for each residential development parcel based on pre-

   planning of the area for future development as a subdivision with urban scale

   lots

 - development access onto a hard surfaced road

 b.  Large Parcel Property Divisions that have –

 -  a development size of at least 40 acres

 - a maximum immediate development area not to exceed 60% of the total  development’s acreage

 - a minimum residential development parcel size from 3 -20 acres depending on the 

   classification of road access is from

 - a rural water meter for each residential development parcel

 - minimum frontage & entrance spacing for each residential development parcel  

   consistent with the adopted county access management standards

-  conservation and drainage easements dedicated separately for floodplains and other

    sensitive environmental and geographically areas or for historic sites and features

-    building envelopes for each residential development parcel based on pre-planning of

   the area for future development through a ‘build out plan’ for a subdivision with urban scale lots

- access to a hard surfaced road for each residential development parcel

 

5)      Create an administrative approval procedure for rural residential development in the Rural Area of the county, outside the UGAs of cities. This process is described as having –

 - a Parent Parcel of at least 20 acres and an Original Tract at least as large as the Parent Parcel.

- Two divisions are allowed for residential development purposes from the Parent Parcel.

- Each Residential Development Parcel created must have –

§         the minimum parcel area required by sanitation code (3 or 5 acres depending on water source)

§         access to a full maintenance road

§         minimum frontage & entrance spacing for each parcel consistent with the adopted county access management standards

§         conservation easements for lands identified in comprehensive land use plan as environmentally or geographically sensitive or the site of an historic landmark or feature

6)      Create an administrative review procedure, a Certificate of Survey, for the three administrative rural residential development processes. The Certificate of Survey  process  includes the development of a ‘build out plan’ to show the future further division of rural residential developments into urban scale residential subdivisions after annexation by a city.  

 

7)      Create minimum standards for development of platted rural residential subdivisions in the Urban Growth Areas of cities and within the Rural Area of the county, outside the UGAs of cities. Minimum acreages and development criteria similar to those used to evaluate the administrative review procedures would be applied to these subdivisions in addition to the design standards and platting requirements for major subdivisions.

§         The minimum size for a platted subdivision within the UGA of a city is 40 acres

§         The minimum size of a platted subdivision within the Rural Area, outside the UGA of a city, is 80 acres

 

B.   County Zoning Regulations:

 

1)Amendments were initiated to Articles 6, the A (Agricultural) District and to Article 7, the A-1 (Suburban Home Residential) Districts to bring these sections into compliance with the residential development options initiated to replace the ‘5 acre exemption’ development option.   

 

2)Amendments to Article 18, the Height, Area and Bulk Requirements table were initiated to bring the minimum lot frontage requirements into compliance with the county’s access management standards.  Minimum setback requirements were also suggested to be adjusted based upon the classification of road fronted by a parcel or lot. 

 

3)Article 28, the Floodplain Management Regulations, was recommended for revisions in winter 2003 by the Lawrence/Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Commission. A recommendation for approval from this body was received by the County Commission in April 2004. At that time, the County Commission delayed action on the revisions to Article 28 Floodplain Regulations (that includes the two floodplain overlay districts in the unincorporated areas of Douglas County) until a future time. The County Commission’s study of rural development regulations included development in sensitive areas such as regulatory floodplains.  The County Commission is returning the proposed Article 28 amendments to the Planning Commission with a recommendation that these development regulations be revised to require a residence constructed in the floodway fringe within the Urban Growth Area of Lawrence meet the same 2’ freeboard requirement as is in the City’s Floodplain Management Regulations. This recommendation was made to eliminate the construction of structures within the UGA of Lawrence that, upon annexation, would become nonconforming structures.

 

*   In a related decision, the County Commission asked the staff of the Lawrence/Douglas County Health Board to work with the Health Board to amend the County Sanitation Code to prohibit the placement of on-site sewage management systems, including lateral fields, within the boundaries of the FEMA designated floodplain.        

 

C.            HORIZON 2020:

 

The County Commission also initiated amendments to two chapters in Horizon 2020, the Lawrence/Douglas County Comprehensive Land Use Plan to support the regulatory changes recommended in the text amendments initiated to the Zoning and Subdivision Regulations.  These text amendments are to Chapter Four – Growth Management and to Chapter Five – Residential. 

 

In January 2006, the County Commission approved amendments to Chapter Eight – Transportation, in Horizon 2020.  The amendments to this chapter include providing a functional classification for all public roads in the County via the Major Thoroughfares Maps which are a part of Chapter Eight. These maps provide the policy basis for the Access Management Standards the County Engineer has been working on with the County Commission.

 

D.  Access Management Standards:

 

The Access Management Standards are based on the functional classification for every public road in the County that is established in Chapter Eight of Horizon 2020.  Included in the Home Rule Resolution that creates the Access Management Standards are minimum frontage requirements and minimum entrance spacing standards. These standards will be adopted by separate Home Rule Resolution by the County Commission and are incorporated by reference into the text amendments to the zoning and subdivision regulations and to the amendments to Chapters Four and Five in Horizon 2020.

 

 

This executive summary is not intended to convey the details of the amendments recommended to the county regulations and policy documents. For the details of the amendments proposed, please refer to the full text of the amendments available at the Lawrence/Douglas County Planning Department [6 E 6th Street, Lawrence, KS] and published on their website at www.lawrenceplanning.org.