The City of Concord Planning and Zoning Commission approved proposed changes to the Concord Development Ordinance (CDO) at their December 21 meeting. The proposed revisions to the CDO specifically address townhome development across the city. The public is invited to review the proposed CDO townhome revisions and submit comments no later than January 6, 2022 to the Planning and Neighborhood Development Department.
The proposed CDO townhome revisions address the safe movement of vehicles and pedestrians, adequate parking, the provision of public utilities and services, the provision of green space and a sustainable permanent shade tree canopy. The full draft is available for review and public comment at concordnc.gov/CDORewrite. Citizens may submit comments online through January 6, 2022, or in person during the January 13, 2022 City Council meeting, which is currently the anticipated public hearing date.
The main elements of the proposed revisions include:
- Attached homes are required to front on a public or private street, or an open space such as a town square, and are required to be served by either a rear alley or a common parking area.
- Alleys are to be constructed to a minimum width of twelve (12) feet for one-way traffic and sixteen (16) feet for two-way traffic.
- Minimum setbacks are ten (10) feet from all streets. Setbacks from the alley to the garage are also a minimum of ten (10) feet.
- Groups of structures are proposed to be a minimum of fifteen (15) feet apart.
- Two off-street parking spaces are required per unit and may be provided within a garage. In lieu of providing parking on the individual parcel, part or all of the required parking may be provided on-street or within a common parking area. Additional parking (for visitors) is required at the rate of one space per two units and may also be provide on-street or within a common parking area. Off-street parking is required along one side of the main street.
- Curb extensions are required on the street to provide adequate room for street trees.
- Duplex and triplex projects, which have shared driveways and are on existing lots of record, as of the date of adoption of the ordinance, are exempt from these requirements.
The townhome revisions are part of a wholesale rewrite of the Concord Development Ordinance (CDO) to align the ordinance with the recommendations contained in the 2030 Land Use Plan (LUP), which was adopted in 2018. This effort is intended to modernize the development standards and to make the ordinance more user friendly.
The Concord Development Ordinance is the principal document that governs development within the City. The CDO establishes dimensional standards, zoning districts, permissible uses, review processes, and building form, as well as provisions for stormwater, floodplain management, and stream buffers.
Staff is available to address neighborhood meetings concerning the project, and interested parties can contact the Planning Department at planning@concordnc.gov.