After years of fine tuning, county supervisors at a meeting next
week are poised to consider final changes to the contentious
hillside ordinance outlining which geographic factors would trigger
a review.
After years of fine tuning, county supervisors at a meeting next week are poised to consider final changes to the contentious hillside ordinance outlining which geographic factors would trigger a review.
The current ordinance has been criticized by some for being inflexible, while opponents also claimed that the law was being applied too broadly, covering many areas and projects never originally intended to fall under its provisions.
The proposed revision, unanimously approved by the county planning commission at its Oct. 21 meeting, is designed to clarify the application of the ordinance and allow flexibility in the review process.
Art Henriques, county director of planning, said that the revised ordinance specifies three primary criteria to trigger a review. The county intends to use its geographic information system (GIS) to help determine if a project meets those criteria. The GIS integrates hardware, software and data for capturing, managing, analyzing and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.
The proposed criteria are as follows:
– The building site has to be on a slope exceeding 15 percent.
– It has to be visible from between one and 1.5 miles of a major transportation corridor.
– And the building site has to be at more than 200-feet of elevation.
The current revision of the 2004 ordinance has been in the making for two years as the board and planning commission has grappled with the issues of development and property rights versus the environmental and aesthetic considerations of the county viewshed.
Look for the full story in the Free Lance on Tuesday.
MEETING PREVIEW
Who: SBC Board of Supervisors
What: Consider the hillside ordinance
When: 9 a.m. Nov. 10
Where: County Administration Building, 481 Fourth St.
