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LAND@USE .SURVEY AN ANALYSIS LNEW HANOVER. COUNTY 1985 LAND- USE STATISTICS NEW HANOVER COUNTY 60,000-- 50,000 40,000 ACRES 30,000-- 20,000 10,000 cl % 0 %0 HD 1986 211 .N44 N56 CAMA LAND USE PLAN UPDATE 1986 no. 3A Report No. 3A Technical Report No. 3A 1986 Wilmington - New kanover County Land Use Plan Update LAND USE SURVEY AND ANALYSIS: NEW HANOVER COUNTY August, 1985 Prepared by the New Hanover County Planning Department The preparation of this document was financed, in part, through a Coastal Areas Management Act grant provided by the North Carolina Coastal Management Program, through Funds provided by the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended, which is administered by the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. U S . DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCF NOA A Q@- COASTAL SERVICES CENTER 2234 SOUTH HOBSON AVENJIF CHARIIF@QTON, @C, property of CSC Library 7' EXISTING LAND-USE IN NEW HANOVER COUNTY 1. PUIl"SE The.purposes of this report are (1) to present statistics on existing land-uses in the unincorporated area of New Hanover County and the City of Wilmington. (2) to describe a system that can be used to update these statistics-on a regular basis. Color-coded land-use maps have been prepared on property maps (111=4001) for both the City and unincorporated County, and are available for review at the respective Pla-nning Departments. 11. EXISTING LAND-USE STATISTICS Table 1 summarizes land-use.statistics in 1985 and 1980 for the combined area of New Hanover County and the city of Wilmington. It should be noted that several difficulties exist in performing this type of analysis, which can reduce the comparability and accuracy of the results. These difficulties include: (1) Human judgement in assign ing the proper land-use Code and in interpreting whether or not a parcel is developed or undeveloped, e.g. a two-acre lot with one house may be considered to be fully developed even though additional lots may be subdivided in the future. (2) Differences in methodology for calculating statistics in 1980 and 1985. These methodologies are discussed in Appendix One. The statistics presented in Table I indicate significant grow th In the County between 1980 and 1985. Total developed land increased from 34,640 acres in 1980 to 57,413 acres in 1985. Although this increase may be overstated due to the reasons mentioned above, this large increase does reflect the County's rapid population growth and its growing position as a regional economic center. This increased development in the unincorporated County and the City of Wilmington generally appears to have occurred for all land-uses, ranging from residential -to commercial to industrial. The statistics for New Hanover County are comparable to published surveys of land-use for other cities and towns in the United States. Table 2 compares New Hanover County's statistics for 1985 with land-uses for 22 small cities and with 46 large cities. The 22 small cities ranged in population from 7,739 to 41,397 and the large cities from 284,413 to 7,071,030. The results of Table 2 indicate that approximately 50% of urban developed land is used for residential purposes. In addition, approximately 81*,Is used for commercial development. The figure of 8% is greater than the 1960's estimate of 2-51'3 reported in the 1968 edition-of Prippipfes and.Practices,of Urban Planning, possibly reflecting the trend toward large, sprawling retail stores versus traditional multi-level, downtown shopping areas. Although not shown, it should be noted that streets, parking, and railroad rights-of-way may occupy one-fifth of total developed land in urban areas. Table 3 provides a brea kdown of existing land-use statistics for 1985 for the separate areas of the unincorporated County and for the City of Wilmington. Although it.is difficult to be.completely accurate 'with these results due to previously discussed factors, it appears that the unincorporated County is more predominantly residential than the City, while the City has a heavier concentration of office and institutional, commercial, transportation, utilities, and communication uses then the County. It is also interesting to note that the County has a greater percentage of land devoted to industrial use than does the City, reflecting the large areas occupied by the County's operations, the General Electric plant, and industries along U.S. 421. More information on existing land-use in the City is available from the City Planning Department in a separate report titled, "Wilmington, N.C., 1985 Land-Use Survey". 111. SYSTEM FOR UPDATING.STATISTICS AND MAPS Existing land-use statistics and maps can serve as valuable data bases in controlling and directing growth In the County, including the evaluation of specific development proposals, rezoning requests, or Land-Use Plan amendments. These data bases can be further increased in value if maintained and updated on a regular basis in order to facilitate timely analysis. The County and the City of Wilmington have recently initiated the development of a computerized Management and Planning Information System (MAPS). MAPS will be utilized in developing, storing, and retrieving a shared, integrated geographic data bass for public agency use within the City and County.. MAPS will aid in mapping.and geoprocessing related to public projects, public utilities, operations, and functions. MAPS hardwa,re will consist of a central processing unit and both local and remote graphics workstations. Each workstation will include a s,ingle or combination of screens capable of displaying several graphics views and text simultaneously. Certain workstations will 'also include a digitizer and printer. MAPS software will be a general purpose, multitasking system capable of supporting concurrent use of the system. The software will include graphics., da ta . ba se managemen t and. p I otter output software. The MAPS hardware and software will easily allow for development of computerized maps for such aspects as existing land-use, and for computerized area calculations of land-uses. It will be further possible to combine or overlay various geographic aspects, such as determining the number of acres of commercial uses within the 100 year flood plain. Contracts have been let and funds allocated to obtain the MAPS hardware and software, and to digitize geographic information. It is anticipated that MAPS will be in operation by July, 1986. Once in operation, MAPS will be able to provide updated land-use statistics and maps as needed. 2 TABLE 1 LAND-USE STATISTICS FOR THE COMBINED AREA OF THE UNINCORPORATED COUNTY AND THE CITY OF WILMINGTON, 1980 and 1985 7980 1985 % of % of LAND-USE ACRES DEVELOPED LAND ACRES DEVELOPED LAND Residential 13,883 40.2% 33,480 57.1% Single-Family 12,303 35.5% 30,081 51.3% Multi-Family 658 2.00119 1,451 2.5% Mobile Homes 922 2. 7 1,948 3.3t0" Office and Institutional 1,523 4.4% 5,127 8.7% camercla-I 1,413 4.1% 4,458 7.6% Transportation, Utilities, Communication 4,160 12.0% 4,694 8.0% Streets and Railroads 7.480 21.6% 1/ Industrial 4,681 '13.4% 8,529 14.6% Intensive 280 0.8% 526 .9"' Extensive 3,526 10.2% 7,300 12.8% Wholesaling, Warehousing 875 2.500 503 Recreation 1 .500 4.3% 2,351 4.0% T(YTAL DEVELOPED 34,640 100% 58,639 100% Undeveloped Timber and Agric. 78,082 - 57,413 - we ter 19,493 19,493 l/ Streets and railroads are not listed as separate uses. 3 TABLE 2 Land-Use Comparisons of New Hanover County with 22 Small Cities and with 46 Large Cities in the United States ('/0 of Developable Land) New Hanover Small Large Land-Use County (1985.) Cities Cities Residential 57.1% 481/00 48147' @,Ommerclal 7 . 6 7/07 9% Office and Institutional 3.701* 13% NA 8d Industrial 14.6% 121' Source: Longhini, G., and M. Sutton, May, 1983, "Land-Use Ratios", APA Planning Advisory Service, Memo 83-5. 4 TABLE 3 1985 Land-Use Statistics for the City of Wilmington and the Unincorporated County City of Unincorporated Wilminaton County TOTAL Land-Use Acres Acres Acres Residential 5,471 39.9% 28,009 62.3% 33,480 57.1% Single-Family 4,484 32.7% 25,597 57 . 04;'7 30,081 51.34' Multi-Family 987 7.204 464 1.0% 1,451 2.5% Mobile Homes 2/ 2/ 1948 4.3% 1,948 3.3% Office and Institutional 1,417 10.3% 3,710 8.2% 5,127 8.7% Commercial 1,195 8.7% 3,263 7.3% 4,458 7.6% Transportation,, Utflitles, Comunication 2,691 19.6% 2,003/1 4.5% 4,694 8.0% Industrial 1,264 9.2% 7,265 16.2% 8,529 14.6% Intensive 3/ 3/ 31 3/ 526 .9% Extensive 3/ 3/ 31 7,500 12.8% Wholesaling, . Warehousing 3/ 3/ 3/ 3/ 503 .9% Recreation 1,691 12.3% 660 1.5% 2,351 4% TOTAL DEVELOPMENT 13,729 100% 44,910 100% 58,639 100% Undevefoped, Timber and Agric. 6,192 - 51,221 - 57,413 Water 511 - 18,982 - 19,493 TOTAL 20,432 - 115,113 - 135,545 l/ Does not.include -street and railroad rights-of-way (information not readily available) 21 Mlobile home data included with single-family residential for Wilmington Breakdown of industry not available for City of Wilmington or unincorporated County 5 APPENDIX ONE: METHODOLOGIES 1. METHODOLOGY FOR CALCULATING 1985 STAT I ST I CS FOR THE COMB I NED AREA OF THE UNINCORPORATED COUNTY AND THE CITY OF WILMINGTON. Land use statistics foe 1985 for the combined area of the unincorporated County and the City of Wilmington were calculated by a computer program. This .program summed the parcel acreages for each land-use type specified in the County's PCS code, as listed in section three of this Appendix. This la@d-use Information is maintained by the County Tax Department as part of its appraisal system. Acreage information was sometimes ommitted in the computer files' for parcels less than one acre. Therefore, an average figure of .625 ac/lot, based on a survey of lots without acreage information, was used to calculate land-use acreages for parcels without acreage information. 2. METHODOLOGY FOR CALCUUTING 1985 STATISTICS FOR THE CITY OF WILMINGTON AND 1980 STATISTICS FOR THE COUNTY AND THE CITY Land-use Information,-as'specifled in the PCS code described in section three of this report, was color-coded and tranferred to property maps (1"=4001). The Information was verified in the field and acreages of each land-use were then estimated and summed. 3. L I ST I NG OF LAND-411SES BY PCS COIDE As indicated in the Methodology., the codes assigned by the County Tax Office served as the basis for determining the existing use of each land parcel in the Planning Area.. The following list represents the manner in which these codes were aggregated under the land use categories and sub- categories for the survey and analysis. The numbers shown are those used by the Tax Office for each land use. Sinale Family Residential D7 - @amiily Residential 04 - Season Residential I Family 19 - Other Residential Mobile Homes T 10 - Mobile Homc 14 - Mobile Home Park 6 multi-Family'Residential 02 - Fum ly Residential 03 - 3 or more Family Residential 05 - Season Residential 2 + Family Office and Institutional 61 -Finance &'R-e-a=Estate 65 -Physicians and Dental Services 65A -Hospital Services 65B -Sanitoriums, Convalescent and Rest Home Services 65D -Other Medical and Health Services 65E -Legal Services 67 -Governmental 68 -Educational 69A -Religious Activities 69B -Religious Activitiesznd Educational School 12 -Group Quarters Commercial 52 -Retail - Building Materials, Hardware, and Farm 53 -Retail - General Merchandise 54A -Groceries - Retail Convenience Food 548 -Fish and Seafoods - Retail 54C -Other Retail Trade - Food 55 -Retail Auto 55A -Tires, Batteries, and Accessories - Retail 558 -Gasoline Service Stations 55C -Marine Craft and Accessories - Retail 550 -Marina - Marine Craft Docking and Services 55E -Retail Trade Auto, Marine Craft Aircraft, Accesories 56 -Retail Apparel 57 -Retail Home Furnishings 58A -Eating Place - Consumption on Premises 588 -Fast Food Service 88C -.Drinking Place (Alcoholic Beverages) 13 -Residential Hotel 6 -Travel Trailer Park 73 -Amusements 84A -Sport Fishing 848 -Commercial Fishing 84C -Other Fishing and Related 62 -Personal Services 63 -Business Services 64 -Repair - Auto Services 66 -Contract Construction 59 -Other Retail 15 -Transient Lodging 7 Transpoetation,'Comffunicatiahs,'Utilities 41 Rail Transit 42 Motor Vehicles 43 Aircraft 44 Marine Craft @45 Street Right-of-way 46 - Auto Parking 47 - Communications 48 - Utilities 49 - Other Transportation, Communication and Utility Wholesale, Warehousing and Distribution 51 Wholesale Trade industrial (Intensive) ZI - Fo-o-d and Kindred 23 - Apparel and Similar 27 - Printing and Allied 34 - Fabricated Metal 35 - Professional, Scientific and Controlling Instruments 36 - Boat and Ship Construction 39 - Miscellaneous Manufacturing 84 - Fishery Industrial . @Extensive) 22 - Textile Mill 24 - Lumber and Wood 25 - Furniture and Fixtures 26 - Paper and Allied 28 - Chemical and Allied 29 - Petroleum, Refining and Related 31 - Rubber and Plastic 32 - Stone, Clay and Glass 33 - Primary Metal 85 - Mining and Related Recreation 71 - Curtural or Nature Exhibition 72 - Public Assembly 74 - Recreational Activities 75 - Resorts and Camps - Parks Undeveloped and Agriculture 81 - Agriculture 82 - Agriculture Related 83 - Forestry and Related 91 - Unused Land 92 - Non-Commercial Forest 8 Miscellaneous 99 - Other Resource 69C - Other Services 79 Other Cultural, Entertainment and Recreation 94 Vacant Floors 95 Under Construction I/Par cels in the Miscellaneous category were included in the appropriate land use category according to their individual use. 9 DATE-DUE I .1 GAYLORDINo. 2333 PRINTED I-N U S.A. @ 01111111 1 ! 3 6668 14106 3463