Secondary and Cumulative Impacts Master Management Plan - 2014

SECTION 5 – SCI RELATED TO PROJECTED GROWTH IN PLANNING AREA

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

Estimated Percent Impervious

Estimated Impervious Area (square miles)

Area (square miles)

Percent of Planning Area

Land Use Type

Commercial

0.6 1.0 1.3 1.2 1.3 0.8 0.9 1.6 0.3 0.8 9.8

6%

82% 82% 72% 72% 87% 72% 44% 21%

0.5 0.8 0.9 1.1 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.5

Industrial

10% 13% 13% 13%

Office and Institutional

Mixed Use

Transportation

High-density Residential Medium-density Residential Low-density Residential

8% 9%

17%

Golf Course

3% 8%

4% 4%

< 0.1 < 0.1

Park/Open Space

Total

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.

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