80 / 634
SECTION 5 – SCI RELATED TO PROJECTED GROWTH IN PLANNING AREA
5-5
Open spaces, such as forests, will potentially be lost to development; these impacts will be
minimized by the development requirements in the UDO. Open spaces still may become
fragmented, except along stream channels where riparian buffers and floodplains will serve
as habitat corridors.
Currently, non-residential use (41 percent) is the predominant land use, while residential use
(30 percent) is the second most predominant land use within the Planning Area. This
relationship is maintained in the 2035 Land Use Plan, with non-residential and residential
composing 55 percent and 34 percent of total land use, respectively (Louis Berger Group,
2009a). The majority of residential land uses both currently and in the 2035 Land Use Plan is
classified as low density (14 and 17 percent of total land use, respectively). Small amounts of
clustered high- and medium-density residential developments exist. Residential development
is primarily clustered around the Town Center and along the NC 54 corridor. The Town
Center Plan, developed in 2007, further defines the proposed land uses and historic
preservation for that area (Town of Morrisville, 2007). The most heavily urbanized areas lie
along NC 54 and to the east in proximity to the airport. The largest changes between existing
and future land use will be in the reduction of undeveloped land and growth in mixed use,
medium-density, and high-density residential uses. Table 5-2 provides a more detailed
breakdown of future land use within the Planning Area.
TABLE 5-2
Planning Area Detailed Future Land Use
Land Use Type
Area
(square miles)
Percent of
Planning Area
Estimated
Percent
Impervious
Estimated
Impervious Area
(square miles)
Commercial
0.6
6%
82%
0.5
Industrial
1.0
10%
82%
0.8
Office and Institutional
1.3
13%
72%
0.9
Mixed Use
1.2
13%
72%
1.1
Transportation
1.3
13%
87%
0.6
High-density Residential
0.8
8%
72%
0.4
Medium-density Residential
0.9
9%
44%
0.4
Low-density Residential
1.6
17%
21%
0.5
Golf Course
0.3
3%
4%
< 0.1
Park/Open Space
0.8
8%
4%
< 0.1
Total
9.8
100%
-
5.6
Source: Town of Morrisville, 2013
Note: The Town’s land use categories are described in Appendix D
1
Mixed use was categorized within the non-residential developed category in Table 5-1.
2
Transportation is not included in the land use coverages. The area used for transportation was
estimated by subtracting the land use area from the transportation area.
4
Percent impervious values come from estimates from a modeling analysis (CH2M HILL, 2002a). Percent
impervious values are capped in water supply watersheds. Thus, actual percent imperviousness for
a given high-density development may not be as high as presented in the table.