(Sept. 22, 2016) Snow Hill is poised to adopt a new comprehensive zoning ordinance, determining how land within town limits can and will be used for the next several years, barring citizen requests and modifications.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the train station.
“For the most part, all areas of the town remain in their previous zoning classification and most property owners will be permitted to use their property as provided in the existing zoning code,” Town Manager Kelly Pruitt said in a prepared statement.
“Exceptions include properties in the Riverfront Development District, which have either been incorporated into the B-1 Downtown Shopping District or the R-2 Medium-Density Residential District.”
This change on the riverfront, Pruitt said, will permit the Town Council to consider a broader range of both infill and redevelopment options.
The major changes, Pruitt said, are the elimination of the Riverfront Development District, the addition of a new district concerning businesses with direct access to Route 113, and emerging businesses such as tattoo and massage parlors as well as medical marijuana dispensaries and microbreweries have been incorporated into the new ordinance.
Standards, she continued, for things like yard sales, accessory uses and variances inside and outside of the critical area have been loosened, as well as provisions for temporary uses and for solar and wind energy have been added.
“Overall the changes in the zoning ordinance are expected to make administration of the ordinance simpler and less time-consuming by reducing the time and expense in processing development applications,” Pruitt said in the statement.
It will achieve these goals, she continued, by increasing investment in targeted areas and increasing flexibility within the Planning Commission, which should, as a consequence, decrease the number of applications to the Board of Zoning Appeals seeking exceptions or other modifications.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at the train station.
“For the most part, all areas of the town remain in their previous zoning classification and most property owners will be permitted to use their property as provided in the existing zoning code,” Town Manager Kelly Pruitt said in a prepared statement.
“Exceptions include properties in the Riverfront Development District, which have either been incorporated into the B-1 Downtown Shopping District or the R-2 Medium-Density Residential District.”
This change on the riverfront, Pruitt said, will permit the Town Council to consider a broader range of both infill and redevelopment options.
The major changes, Pruitt said, are the elimination of the Riverfront Development District, the addition of a new district concerning businesses with direct access to Route 113, and emerging businesses such as tattoo and massage parlors as well as medical marijuana dispensaries and microbreweries have been incorporated into the new ordinance.
Standards, she continued, for things like yard sales, accessory uses and variances inside and outside of the critical area have been loosened, as well as provisions for temporary uses and for solar and wind energy have been added.
“Overall the changes in the zoning ordinance are expected to make administration of the ordinance simpler and less time-consuming by reducing the time and expense in processing development applications,” Pruitt said in the statement.
It will achieve these goals, she continued, by increasing investment in targeted areas and increasing flexibility within the Planning Commission, which should, as a consequence, decrease the number of applications to the Board of Zoning Appeals seeking exceptions or other modifications.