Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, and Wake County for targeting future premium transit service (bus rapid transit) in the area. Policy 2.4: Place Government Uses in Downtown (or at least growth activity centers) Too often, we see government centers, post offices, and individual departments moving out of downtowns to remote locations where they can affordably expand or consolidate services. That’s unfortunate, since those government employees shop and eat at local places, and if they can walk to a variety of options they will. Keeping these functions downtown (preferably) or at major growth nodes (second choice) is recommended. Policy 2.5: Grow in Downtown Downtown has returned to the forefront of municipal selling points, and Fuquay-Varina has seen positive private investments establish a core of activity to attract millennials and empty- nest adults. Action should be taken to keep this momentum going. Multifamily and vertical mixed-use in Downtown are in play, especially in the long-term, and contribute to the on-going downtown renaissance. The creation of eighteen- hour municipalities is a goal for many places, and achievable in Fuquay-Varina, as well. Policy 2.6: Encourage Commercial Development The Town’s Future Land Use Map reserves locations along major corridors for commercial development. These areas should be reserved for commercial uses when Town officials are making rezoning recommendations and decisions. This will support the goal of achieving a balanced tax base.
cool streets and buildings. Tree planting and preservation programs, a tree advisory committee, tree care ordinance, conservation easements, and capital investments should all be considered as ways to increase and sustain the Town’s tree canopy in the future. Recognition of the Town’s future efforts to sustain meaningful tree canopy in the community should include a Tree City USA designation application. American Forests ― a national conservation and advocacy group for creating healthy and resilient forests throughout the country ― recommends a target of 40% to 60% urban tree canopy for a forested state. Character Areas represented on the Future Land Use Map include tree protection and tree planting elements that promote greater tree canopy in Fuquay-Varina. Town officials should implement local tree planting and tree care policies and ordinances to include minimum criteria for tree save areas, preferred number of new tree plantings, native species list, tree caliper at planting, and tree spacing criteria. In some instances, Town officials may want to consider payment-in-lieu provisions in the tree ordinance for more dense, urban development projects where tree save area requirements adversely impact other goals of the Land Use Plan. The funds collected should be used to purchase tree save areas in other parts of the community. New single family neighborhoods should not participate in the payment-in-lieu program. In addition, Town officials may want to fund an awards program to celebrate urban forestry and the people who advocate for it. For example, the City of Charlotte makes annual awards for specimen tree of the year, personal connection to a tree (story submission), corporate friend of the urban forest, and proud partner of the tree canopy for advocacy. Policy 3.3: Increase Local Tree Canopy to 45% by 2040 Shade trees planted throughout the community provide simple and beautiful solutions to clean the air, prevent stream erosion, save energy, and cool streets and buildings. Tree planting and preservation programs, tree ordinances,
Future Land Use
Open Space
Policy 2.1: Encourage Infill Development & Redevelopment Inside Town Limits Town officials should advocate for and, if possible, incentivize infill development and redevelopment projects inside Town limits as a way to reinvest in Downtown, the Judd Parkway Loop, and the emerging activity centers and neighborhoods identified on the Future Land Use Map. Doing so will shorten vehicle trip lengths (both in distance and time), minimize expensive infrastructure expansion investments, and avoid the loss of rural areas for future development far outside of Town limits. It will also simultaneously increase land values, sales values, and potential tax revenues (without an increase in tax rates) inside Town limits. Policy 2.2: Concentrate Development in Mixed-Use Centers The Town’s Future Land Use Map advocates for multiple high-density, mixed-use communities located throughout Fuquay-Varina. They should be places where people can live, work, shop, play, and be entertained. Several communities located near one another ― connected via local bus circulator, bicycle lanes, or sidewalks ― provide additional opportunities to meet daily needs inside Town without a vehicle. Policy 2.3: Support through Town policies and ordinances the redevelopment of existing suburban-scale, automobile-oriented shopping centers into mixed-use activity centers, which provide new opportunities to work, live, shop, and entertain in Fuquay-Varina. Promote specific locations along US Highway 401 and NC Highways 42 and 55 as future transit-oriented development centers to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Support Transformation for Newly- Identified Mixed-Use Center Sites
Policy 3.1: Create a Comprehensive, Connected, and Continuous Network of Green Space Open space includes the parks, plazas, squares, greenways, floodplains, forests, natural areas, and other amenities existing now or planned in the future. Together, they form a general open space framework that helps Town officials and their partners prioritize land acquisitions, organize infrastructure projects, and coordinate land or facility dedications from future development applications. Individual decisions about open space in Fuquay-Varina should consider the context and needs of a larger open space framework, which is aimed at maximizing a comprehensive, connected, and continuous open space network that is easily recognizable and accessible to Town residents. Town officials should partner with State, regional, or other nonprofit groups working in the area to mitigate the impacts of new development on existing natural systems. At a minimum, include new rules and standards in the Town’s LDO that incorporates open space as a meaningful component of new development, including parks, tree preservation, floodplains, other stormwater retention, recreation, animal habitat protection, or preserving scenic views. Policy 3.2: Implement a Tree Canopy Preservation Program Undeveloped land in Fuquay-Varina generally includes a mixture of grasslands and tree stands. Older neighborhoods in Town have mature street trees and landscaping. Some newer neighborhoods display minimal tree-save canopy in aerial photography; however, new plantings along streets and in parking lots, common areas, and private yards are expected to replace a portion of the tree canopy lost to new development. Shade trees planted throughout the community provide simple and beautiful solutions to clean the air, prevent stream erosion, save energy, and
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Fuquay-Varina Land Use Plan
Chapter 6: Policies & Recommendations
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