TITLE
Vote on a request by Nicolas Robinson, on behalf of NNP-Briar Chapel, LLC, for a Compact Communities Ordinance (CCO) waiver to allow a riparian buffer encroachment and stream crossing between phases 16 South and North.
ABSTRACT
Action Requested:
Vote on a request by Nicolas Robinson, on behalf of NNP-Briar Chapel, LLC, for a Compact Communities Ordinance (CCO) waiver to allow a riparian buffer encroachment and stream crossing between phases 16 South and North.
Introduction & Background:
NNP-Briar Chapel is requesting a waiver for an additional stream crossing and buffer impact between Phases 16 North and South on the approved master plan for Briar Chapel. Riparian buffer requirements of the CCO are outlined in Section 9.1 and are applied to Briar Chapel through the approved conditional use permit. It should be noted that the riparian buffer provisions vary between the CCO and Watershed Protection Ordinance (WPO). The watershed protection standards were adopted after the approval of Briar Chapel and are based on an on-site evaluation, whereas the CCO standards are evaluated based on existing mapped streams and drainage areas. Riparian buffers locations were depicted in the 2005 Briar Chapel approved master plan and reconfirmed in 2012; however in 2014 the stream and associated riparian buffer identified in Phase 16 were added and then reconfirmed with the 2017 conditional use permit amendment.
Discussion & Analysis:
The Chatham County CCO includes the following standards:
9.1 Riparian Buffers
In all residential, commercial, and civic areas in each compact community, vegetative buffers of the following widths shall be permanently protected along each side of the following streams:
* At least one hundred (100) feet along all perennial streams;
* At least fifty (50) feet along all intermittent streams;
* At least fifty (50) feet along all ephemeral streams shown on the Soil Survey maps and having a drainage area of more than twenty-five (25) acres;
* ...
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