MINUTES
YOUNGSVILLE
PLANNING BOARD MEETING
Town Hall Board Room, 118 N. Cross Street
May 3, 2016
6:00 P.M.
Chairman Donnie Tharrington called the Planning Board Meeting of the Town of Youngsville to
order at 6:00 p.m.
In attendance were Chairman Donnie Tharrington, members Janice Pearce, John Cyrus, and
Scott Anderson. Absent were Vice-Chairman Mark Hurt and member Ronald Edwards. Also in
attendance were Mr. Bob Clark, Zoning Administrator, Mr. Don Belk, Senior Planner and
Kathryn Tucker, Administrative Assistant.
Chairman Tharrington stated the first order of business is to approve the minutes from the
Planning Board meeting held on March 1, 2016.
MOTION: TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 1, 2016 PLANNING
BOARD MEETING AS PRESENTED
The motion was made by Member Janice Pearce, seconded by Member John Cyrus and passed
unanimously.
Mr. Don Belk presented the first item on the agenda which is to consider a text amendment to
Section 301 to revise the purpose statement for the MSBD – Main Street Business District and
consider amendments to Section 312 to add a Table 312.1 to Section 312.1 - List of Permitted
Uses. Amend Section 312.2 – Dimensional Requirements and add Typical Specifications for
Private Alleys. Attached is a copy of the amended Sections.
At the March 1, 2016 Planning Board Meeting, the Board considered a petition to rezone the
property located at 102 SW Railroad Street from Residential Single Family (RS) to MSBD. The
Planning Board recommended approval and the parcel was rezoned to MSBD at the March 10,
2016 meeting of the Board of Commissioners. This rezoning resulted in an expansion of the
boundary of the Main Street Business District. Also at the March 1 meeting, Planning Staff
discussed “Talking Points for Amendments to MSBD Dimensional Requirements and Permitted
Uses” mostly driven by the fact that the standards for development for Main Street were the
same as the Commercial District on US 1. This is not conducive to creating the Downtown
atmosphere. Also we have gotten half million dollars from NCDOT to do a Main Street
improvement plan mainly from Cross Street/Hwy 96 down to College Street/Main Street. That is
going to improve/replace/install sidewalks, add bulb outs, street trees and furniture making it a
more attractive environment for pedestrians. There will not be any loss of parking spaces but it
will utilize some of the dead space by putting in pedestrian crossings possibly slowing down
traffic. This project was one of the top priorities of the Bicycle Pedestrian Plan.
1 This request highlighted three major issues that support this Staff-initiated request for a Zoning
Text Amendment:
(1) The current MSBD dimensional requirements (Section 312.2) technically prohibit
‘Main Street’ type development and are not conducive to the denser and more compact
development patterns desired in the downtown core.
(2) The proposed amendments to Section 312.2 will support the improved walkability
and pedestrian-oriented features of the Main Street Improvements Project, a priority of the 2015
Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
(3) The proposed amendments will permit residential uses in the MSBD, including
apartments above shops and stores, attached homes, and conversion of existing single family
homes to commercial, retail, or office uses.
Furthermore, changes to the MSBD will allow for new investment in the downtown area, and the
potential for increasing the town’s tax base, a goal identified in the town’s 2000-2010 adopted
Land Use Plan.
These changes will support the Downtown Business/Economic Development goals of the 2013
Envision Youngsville report (2013) (p. 9), namely, to draw businesses that will be viable and
successful to Youngsville’s Main Street.
Recommend changes as follows:
Section 301. Establishment and Purpose of Districts. For the purposes of this ordinance, the
zoning jurisdiction of the town of Youngsville is hereby divided into the following districts:
MSBD – Main Street Business District. The purpose of this district is to provide for new
development, revitalization, reuse, and infill development in Youngsville’s core
downtown. A broad array of uses is permitted to enable the needs of residents and visitors
to be met. The development pattern seeks to integrate shops, restaurants, services, work
places, civic, educational, and religious facilities, and higher density housing in a
compact, pedestrian-oriented environment, with guidelines for architectural design. The
Main Street Business District serves as the hub of the surrounding neighborhoods and of
the broader community. The Main Street Business District may be expanded over time to
meet the needs of the growing community for downtown facilities and services.
Expansion of the Main Street Business District shall be contiguous and not separated
from the primary district area for offices, services, and businesses with guidelines for the
architectural design.
Section 312. Regulations for Main Street Business District (MSBD). See attachment.
Mr. Clark said one of the things about having a more detailed list of permitted uses is that it help
other agencies, i.e, Real Estate agencies in defining what is permitted.
Mr. Belk stated there will be a number of uses that should have a little more review and
consideration requiring a Special Use which will have more impact on adjoining uses. This is
2 where we consider residential use in the downtown district. We want to encourage work/live
spaces in this district. There are limits to multi-family dwellings.
Mr. Clark stated that our current downtown district does not permit residential at all.
Recognizing that the primary purpose is commercial, there are some houses that are in the
MSBD that are grandfathered. The idea is having second story residential or maybe some
residential in the rear of a business to encourage more activity.
Mr. Belk said the minimum lot size and width has changed (see attached)
Mr. Belk and Mr. Clark said they researched several small towns similar in size to Youngsville
to come up with these requirements that would best suit Youngsville.
Mr. Justin Grainey with the fire department said Youngsville could handle the 50 ft height
requirement.
Mr. Belk stated that parking lots need to be behind the buildings. There needs to be some
separation, possibly planting, between the parking lot and street right of way. There are a lot of
issues relating to downtown parking that need to be addresses now and we need to get ahead of
the demand for parking. If you look at the total area of the MSBD we would like to keep parking
requirements/placement below 10% if possible. The existing buildings have no parking
requirements. Our current parking standards are based on the use. Maybe we can look at a fee
in lieu of parking. In some communities we looked at there were no parking requirements in
center cities. We will be looking at other parking requirements to bring back to the board at a
future date.
Mr. Clark stated the idea is not to prevent parking but how to accommodate parking in the
MSBD.
Mr. Belk said that some language and specifications have been added (see page 6) for width of
private alleys. Mr. Clark stated that all existing alleys would remain. These alleys also serve for
loading and unloading. We need to find ways to address this issue and make sure there is
adequate loading/unloading space.
Chairman Tharrington asked if the National Guard is committed to their current site on Cross
Street/Persimmon Street. Mr. Clark said he did not know of any movement on their part.
Chairman Tharrington said that would be a good site for parking at some future time.
Mr. Belk stated that they did add some language about sidewalks. The bicycle pedestrian plan
did recommend that overall sidewalk width in the town be revised from 4 ft. to 5 ft. Also the
MSBD should have a minimum width of 6 ft. and sidewalks on both sides.
The planning staff supports this request as it is consistent with the adopted Land Use Plan and
more particularly with the goals of the Envision Youngsville report. Moreover, the MSBD line
would more accurately reflect the non-residential history and pattern of development for this and
the nearby business properties.
3 MOTION: TO ACCEPT THE PLANNING STAFF REPORT AND RECOMMEND THE
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS APPROVE THE REQUESTED
AMENDMENTS TO MSBD PROVIDED TIRE SALES AND SERVICE AND
SMALL ENGINE REPAIR/SALES/SERVICE BE MOVED TO THE
SPECIAL USE CATEGORY AND ADDING NO MINIMUM PARKING
REQUIRED
The motion was made Member Scott Anderson, seconded by Member John Cyrus and passed
unanimously.
The next item on the agenda is the Around the Town Report.
a. Wynn Homes, the developer for the Preddy property project is still working with
Franklin County Public Utilities on water/sewer allocations. At the last Utility
Advisory Commission they agreed to set aside a reduced allocation but could not
release them until the infiltration issue is resolved.
b. Hampton Downs project is moving along. They are currently building 60 units.
c. Laurel Oaks will be installing the streets soon. Wynn Homes is the builder for that
project.
d. Holden Meadows has cleared the trees for Phase 1 (61 homes). There will be street
trees planted and they talked with Mr. Gould about a future trail system.
e. Mr. Gould plans to reactivate the last Phase of East Woods of Patterson. He also will
need water allocation from Franklin County.
f. Wake Electric plans to build a tower and will be making a Special Use Application.
We plan a site visit on May 12th. Wake Electric has invited the Town to locate their
communication needs on their tower. Their application will be coming to the
Planning Board for review.
g. There will be a Conditional Use Permit Application being sent soon for a car lot to be
located at 111 S. College Street for 10-12 cars. The idea is to start the business at this
location and then move when he outgrows that site.
h. Taco Bell is still planning to go ahead with their project to build at the Youngsville
Commons Shopping Center.
i. We currently have 540 housing units in the pipeline. This could double the
population of Youngsville. Of these units, 450 would be inside town limits.
With no further business, Chairman Tharrington adjourned the Planning Board meeting at 8:00
p.m.
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