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STRATEGIC GROWTH AND RESOURCE CONSERVATION PROGRAM <br />Final (8.7.2009) <br />Chapter 2. SGRC Program and Administration <br />This chapter <br />2.1 SGRC Goals & Objectives describes the core <br />Early in the planning process, Staff and Consultants sought goals and basic <br />characteristics of <br />direction from the Board of County Commissioners as to the the SGRC Program, <br />primary goals for the program, which would then be used to breaking out its <br />guide recommendations for program and administrative design. characteristics into <br />The resulting three goals were identified: Program Design and <br />Administrative <br />Goal # 1 Design. <br />Rural Preservation. Promote the voluntary placement of <br />conservation easements on farms, water quality protection lands, historic <br />properties and wildlife habitat to preserve them in their farmed or undeveloped <br />state. <br />Goal # 2 <br />Strategic Urbanization. Provide incentives for increased development in the <br />Economic Development zoning districts, and the Efland- Mebane and <br />Hillsborough transition areas and Rural Community Nodes as identified in the <br />Comprehensive Plan and on the Comprehensive Land Use Plan map. <br />Goal # 3 <br />Monitor Program Performance. Identify and track appropriate, cost - effective <br />measures of the degree to which the program is meeting the rural preservation <br />and strategic urbanization goals. <br />The Commissioners also indicated an interest in promoting both residential and non- <br />residential development in the urbanizing areas of the County. The creation of a <br />mechanism that would allow nutrient trading or the trade of impervious surface area <br />values between properties to help lower stream and watershed impacts may also be a <br />future modification to the general SGRC process. Finally, they signaled a willingness to <br />allow the program to take several years to mature and establish a track record of SGRC <br />Program transactions. <br />Consultants and Staff identified these two additional objectives for success of the SGRC <br />Program: <br />Simplicity and Ease of Understanding. The program should be nuanced to <br />accomplish the Goals while being easy to explain and straightforward for <br />participants. More complex features can be added to the program as it matures. <br />Legal Framework. The program should rest upon the existing legal framework of <br />planning and zoning authority vested in the County by the State of North Carolina, <br />especially the broader powers granted to county governments in 1973 and <br />embodied in N.C. General Statute § 153A, especially parts 349.1 to 349.13 that <br />outline a procedure for creating agreements with private developers. No new <br />authority is to be requested from the General Assembly. <br />ORANGE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA <br />