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U~11~ <br />1 1VVWVV 1 V!/L 1 L <br />F'O~C7.lS1flgOn the <br />faces and places in ~ 3 <br />mange ~""" "I~ - THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1999 <br />Develo ere <br />es land near Hillsborou h for r <br />p Y g o ect <br />p l <br />Attorney asks ,town <br />to annex 350 acres <br />By BEN EVANS <br />The Chapel Hill Herald <br />HILLSBOROUGH - A developer <br />wants roughly 350 acres of land adjacent <br />to Hillsborough annexed into the town so <br />it can develop the property for mixed <br />commercial and residential use. <br />The developer, an unnamed trusYrepre- <br />sented by the Miami law office of Arthur <br />J. Berk, is in the proress of purchasing <br />the land, which stretches south of Hills= <br />borough from Interstate 85 to Interstate <br />40 between Old N.C. 86 and N.C. 86. <br />The group plans to build a hotel, com- <br />mercial office space, light industrial fa- <br />cilities and single- and. multi-family resi- <br />dential homes, county officials said. On <br />Jan. 5, Berk sent a letter to Hillsborough <br />Town Manager Eric Peterson expressing <br />interest. in having the land annexed. <br />If the land is annexed by the town, any <br />development proposals would be subject <br />only to the town review process, which is <br />potentially simpler than the county re- <br />view process, town Planning Director <br />Margaret Hauth said. <br />Also, the property would receive town <br />services such as police protection, water <br />service and garbage collection and would <br />pay water-service fees half of those it <br />would pay if outside town limits. <br />Hillsborough officials have begun pre- <br />paring afinancial analysis of the income <br />the property could generate and the costs <br />of providing the property with town ser- <br />vices. <br />"What we have now is not nearly <br />enough to determine what the costs of <br />serving that area will be," I-jauth said. <br />Berk declined to comment on the plan.. <br />"My practice is not to discuss my cli- <br />ents' business," he said. <br />Hauth said that once the town has re-, <br />ceived more information, it will prepare a' <br />report for the Hillsborough Town Board` <br />by March at the earliest. The board will <br />then determine whether to proceed with' <br />the proposal. <br />If the board decides to, proceed, the de-: <br />veloper world file a formal petition • for <br />annexation, which would result in a public <br />hearing at which residents could voice- <br />their opinions on the proposal. <br />W <br />