Planners hear reactions to proposed zoning changes

By Gracie Hart
Staff Writer

Despite significant proposed changes to the Town of Orange zoning map that effectively could downzone 200 parcels,, only a handful of land owners spoke at a public comment session Monday night.
According to town planner Joshua Bateman, redrawing the town's official zoning map is the next step in a process that began two years ago when the planning commission started looking at ways to revise the 2001 Zoning Ordinance and Zoning District Map to better implement the goals and objectives in the 2006-2026 Comprehensive Plan. To do this, the planning commission drafted a new framework for the ordinance replacing the old zoning districts with traditional character districts which will allow for a wider variety of uses. Some of the new districts include: rural residential district, traditional residential district, low-density residential district, high-density residential district, traditional town center district, town activity center district, traditional industrial district and rural commercial district.
Now those new districts will be applied to the zoning map, possibly "down zoning" some property. "Down zoning" is when a piece of property gets rezoned, as part of the proposed zoning changes, to a zoning classification that permits less intensive uses.
More than 200 people were notified over the last few weeks that their property may be "down zoned" and were encouraged to attend a meeting and public comment session Monday night to speak about the changes. However, only a small portion of the 200 showed up with very few of them actually speaking. Those who did speak mostly addressed property that was adjacent to either a main line railroad or side track.
Larry Sappington of Koppers Inc., a railroad tie merchandising company operated on leased land adjacent to the railroad tracks on Warren Street, spoke about how the rezoning would affect his business.
"I have been informed that [the Koppers Inc.] location will be down zoned from industrial to commercial," he said. "This will have a long-term effect on our business. We spend about $5.6 million in Orange County per year. The future of the railroad is bright. I ask the planning commission to reconsider [these zoning changes]."
According to Bateman, because Koppers Inc. is operated on land leased from CSX, it is exempt from zoning. He said railroad owned land is not covered by conventional zoning and is exempt from zoning.
Jim Darnell owns the Garden Patch, which is located next to a railroad side track. Darnell's property, currently zoned industrial, will be rezoned residential according to the proposed changes in the zoning map.
"We don't know what'll happen in the future," he said. "Don't cut yourself short. The side track next to me is viable and useable. This piece of property needs to be commercial or industrial."
Robert Lovett also owns property adjacent to railroad tracks, but it is undeveloped and would be rezoned residential under the new zoning map.
"It is basically dead property but it will be even deader if rezoned," he said. "If you want me to put a house in-between the two tracks I can try, but I don't know who'd want to buy it."
Council member Kent Higginbotham suggested keeping all railroad-adjacent land zoned industrial and encouraged flexibility in zoning.
"If there is no industrial property around a right-of-way, the right-of-way is worthless," he said. "You don't want a house right up against the railroad. I think you would want to encourage flexibility [and] give property owners flexibility."
Bateman said the ideas mentioned will be further discussed.
"This is really just a start," he said. "We will keep you notified about the process."
Following the comment session, the commissioners began creating an action list for revisions to the proposed zoning map. One of the items on the list: having land zoned industrial on both sides of railroad side tracks.
The Town of Orange Planning Commission will continue revising the proposed zoning map at its meeting next month. A meeting similar to the one held Monday will be held March 22 for people who will have their property "up zoned" as part of the proposed changes to the zoning map.