Public information sessions on the village’s comprehensive long-range plan are set for Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
The meetings will be conducted by consultant Glenn Chalder Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. in the Fair Barn and 9-11 a.m.Thursday in the village Assembly Hall.
“I’ll provide about 30 minutes of overview on the plan and expect to spend the next hour and a half receiving public comment, taking questions and providing answers,” Chalder said in a telephone interview.
“The time difference is to reflect the time that people may find convenient to attend, based on different schedules: the evening might be best for working people, and then a morning session that retired people might prefer, although anyone is welcome to attend either or both.
“It’s entirely possible that the plan could be changed, depending on council’s re-evaluation of the input at these last two meetings with the public. The morning and evening schedules will hopefully also generate a good cross-section of current Pinehurst residents’ and businesses’ thinking as the council moves into the final phases before implementation.”
The plan is expected to require specific and separate ordinances to be adopted or amended by the Village Council in order to give it the force of law, once the council votes to implement the document. The plan is expected to be adopted not as an ordinance, but only as a guide to council policy.
The plan is meant to be periodically reviewed by the council and updated to monitor progress on goals and strategies. Benchmarks will be worked out by the council and included in the final plan to measure results and progress.
The plan is meant to be a “living” document that will not only guide staff direction during the year but also be amended by the council as conditions change over the next 20 years.
Chalder’s $150,000 contract to do the long-range plan started in 2001. The work has involved numerous public information and input meetings and help from the N.C. Institute of Government in Chapel Hill.
The village also conducted a random 400-resident telephone survey last summer for an additional $15,000, to get a cross-section of residents’ opinions about village’s long-term needs.
High on priority lists were growth-related concerns. People wanted the village to obtain greenways and open space, guide growth and change in appropriate ways, preserve and enhance the unique character of Pinehurst, address community needs and enhance the quality of life.
The recommended plan can be viewed at the Given Library or at the village Planning and Zoning Department.
“We are with them [the village] through completion of the plan, through to adoption by council,” Chalder said. “It could be another 30-45 days, or it could be 90-120 days.”
The council will hold a series of special work sessions this week and next to give the plan a final once-over. Tentatively, the council could vote to implement the plan at its March 25 meeting.
The council will hold special meetings on Wednesday at 1 p.m., Thursday at 11 a.m. and Tuesday, March 11, at 2 p.m. to discuss the plan in detail. The council sessions are open to the public and are in the council conference room in the Assembly Hall.
Steering committee members are Mayor Steve Smith, chairman; Village Manager Andy Wilkison, vice chairman; Louis Clay; Andrea Correll, village planning director; Charles Frock; Mayor Pro Tem George Hillier; Beth Kocher; Howard Warren; Corby Wolfe and Peter Zimmermann.
To complete the plan, the steering committee divided into three subgroups, and each group gave the committee meeting its results. The groups were not in contact with each other before their presentations.
The steering committee received three major issues from its subcommittees, according to an executive summary discussed by the council in a recent work session: growth management, building design standards and open space.
Growth management is a “conscious government program intended to influence the rate, amount, and type of future growth within a local jurisdiction,” says a draft of the executive summary given to the council at a retreat last week.
The steering committee ended up recommending that no overall management of the rate of residential growth or construction be part of the plan. Possibly some type of “corridor protection” measures could be taken to preserve a corridor needed for a greenway system.
The steering committee recommends that the amount of growth be addressed by a policy of buying or otherwise obtaining lots that could be used for a defined public purpose, such as greenways or storm drainage, and that no “upzoning” of land that would increase the number of residential lots be done by policy.
The extraterritorial jurisdiction would then be developed in a manner that does not increase density and promotes open-space preservation.
