Blue Hill Massing Study

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Project Update

The Town Council is considering adjustments to standards affecting townhomes in the Blue Hill District, including a possible commercial space exemption for small townhome projects. Continued discussion is expected to take place at the February 24, 2021 Council Meeting. Other new massing standards were approved on February 19, 2020.

Proposed Townhome Standards

The Council held a public hearing to consider the following draft standards on November 18, 2020:

TODAY’S REGULATIONS

PROPOSED CHANGES

Nonresidential Requirement: All residential projects in WX- Subdistricts must include a nonresidential use

Minimum 10% of building floor area or 15% of site floor area

Attached Living: Townhomes/rowhouses are not required to include a nonresidential use if
(i) the site area is ≤ 2 acres and
(ii) at least half of the units are ≤ 1800 sq. ft.
Phase-In for Medium Sites: Attached Living on sites with an area between 2 and 2.5 acres –
(i) must only provide at least 5% of building floor area / 10% of site floor area as a nonresidential use
(ii) at least half of the units still must be ≤ 1800 sq. ft.
Stacked Townhomes: A project with no more than two units vertically stacked may be considered an Attached Living use, eligible for the nonresidential use exemption and phase-in detailed above

Other Multifamily Living: Nonresidential use still required, no change to percentages

Residential Lot Requirements

Minimum Net Land Area: 1700 sq ft
Minimum Lot Width: 20 ft

Residential Lot Requirements: Support townhome projects that may have very small lots for individual units, but reasonable overall site dimensions

Minimum Net Land Area: 1700 sq ft per building or series of attached units
Minimum Lot Width: 20 ft per building or series of attached units
Lots for individual attached units can be smaller

Approved Building Massing Standards

The Town Council adopted new standards for building massing in the Blue Hill District on February 19, 2020. The approved standards can be summarized as follows:

Maximum Building Dimensions - vary depending on Subdistrict location and configuration with parking

	Conditions	Max Width and Depth	Secondary Wing
I.	WX-5, WX-7, WR-7 Wrapped Parking (Building wraps deck on at least 2 sides)	330’ x 200’	Allowed, 100’ x 75’
II.	WX-5, WX-7, WR-7 Standalone Building (no wrapped parking) Applicant takes 1 of 2 options	IIA: 330’ x 120’ IIB: 275’ x 210’	Allowed, 100’ x 75’
III.	WR-3	220’ x 120’	Allowed, 100’ x 75’
IV.	WX-5, WX-7, WR-7 Any Parking Deck	230’ x 180’	Not allowed

Inviting Space Between Buildings
- 30’ separation
- Include pedestrian connections and adequate lighting

Reduce Space Devoted to Parking
- Allow 50% parking reduction for mixed use projects
  (at least 25% residential and 25% commercial)
Support Standalone Parking Decks
- Allow CDC to approve reduced structured parking setbacks with quality design

Background

In response to a petition from Council members, the Town conducted a Massing Study to evaluate potential modifications to the Form-Based Code for the Blue Hill District (LUMO 3.11).

Massing refers to the shape, form, and size of a building. Massing that creates a sense of human scale can contribute to the walkability of an area.

For more information and to provide input, please contact Corey Liles in the Planning Department at cliles@townofchapelhill.org

Project Purpose

Objectives for new standards around building massing in Blue Hill include:

1) Increase pedestrian connections (ability to move around buildings)

2) Increase visual permeability (ability to see around buildings)

3) Reduce visual impact of taller buildings (ability to see over and above buildings)

Process

1. Assess Existing Conditions	Aug-Sept 2019
2. Market Overview of District	Sept-Oct 2019
3. Advisory Board Introduction (Community Design Commission and Planning Commission)	October 2019
4. Test Building Concepts (urban design and development feasibility)	Oct-Nov 2019
5. Test Mass Variation Opportunities (urban design and development feasibility)	November 2019
6. Draft Recommended Standards	November 2019
7. Community Review (public and Advisory Boards)	Nov 2019 - Jan 2020
8. Town Council Review	Jan-Feb 2020

The Town engaged Civitech, Inc to develop and evaluate additional standards that would more effectively achieve the objectives for building massing. To ensure that buildings meeting new standards are still economically feasible, the Town also engaged Noell Consulting Group to study development finance impacts.

Blue Hill District Market Overview, prepared by Noell Consulting
Sample Sites for study of building concepts

Council Petition - submitted to Town Council March 14, 2018. Seeking to address community interests for the Blue Hill District.

Council Work Session - June 5, 2019. Town Council discussed potential new massing standards that could achieve the purposes of the Council Petition.

Existing Standards: The Blue Hill Form-Based Code addresses massing through standards such as Height, Block size, Building step back requirements, and Building floor plate requirements.

Existing Guidance: The Blue Hill Design Guidelines describe desired approaches to Building Mass & Scale. These include varied height, varied vertical and horizontal expression lines, varied roof lines, wall setbacks, and upper story step backs. The Design Guidelines support the Community Design Commission's review of projects in the Blue Hill District.