Growing town of Morrisville alters zoning laws to allow for denser development
Morrisville recently changed its zoning laws to allow for denser residential and mixed-use development in order to better accommodate the rapid growth this Triangle town is seeing.
Apartment, office and retail development will now be allowed in some areas on McCrimmon Parkway and Chapel Hill Road.
There’s potential for new parks, community centers and walkable housing and shopping for the Morrisville of the future, says Mayor TJ Cawley.
“We’re trying to create a mixed-use destination center for all of those in the town — for those who live there, for those who work there,” Cawley told The News & Observer. “We know that having more residents living near offices (and amenities) will make it more attractive for visitors to the area.”
The town worked with Raleigh Durham International Airport to ensure that strictly apartment housing could be built near it while adhering to Federal Aviation Administration rules about residential development near airports.
The zoning changes were recommended by the town’s Land Use Plan, which was updated in February for the first time since 2009.
“Generally speaking, the Plan recommends focusing higher density development away from existing single-family neighborhoods and west of (NC 54) where the infrastructure can better support it,” Morrisville planning director Michelle Stegall said in an email.
The Land Use Plan recommends restricting apartment developments in other residential parts of the town, but seeks to facilitate their construction in better suited parts of the town, Stegall said.
A portion of McCrimmon Parkway located a few miles south of RDU was rezoned to a Business Activity Center, which will allow building retail, apartments and office space — or a mix of the three — up to 60 feet high, or about five stories.
The town’s Unified Development Ordinance says it encourages small-scale mixed commercial developments such as local services, institutional offices, housing, community centers and specialty shops.
The Town Council approved its designation as a Gateway Overlay district. This enhances the initial zoning district with pedestrian-friendly and area-specific development guidelines “to regulate buildings and their relationship to public streets and open space,” the UDO reads.
The McCrimmon subarea was previously zoned as an Industrial Management district, which allowed land use only for warehouses, distribution centers and other industrial spaces.
The Chapel Hill Road subarea was rezoned as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) district, which allows more mixed-use development including restaurants and a range of housing types built near a transit station and a Bus Rapid Transit route. This type of zoning seeks to promote economic development and transportation. The subarea was formerly a mix of zoning districts that allowed for single-family homes and commercial, industrial and office park use.
“These areas were chosen in order to focus higher intensity development near major roads where transportation improvements have already been made or are planned for the future and to position the TOD near envisioned future transit,” Stegall said.
The new TOD zoning has a maximum building height of 75 feet and allows land use for breweries, distilleries and wineries.
This story was originally published September 9, 2021 at 2:07 PM.
