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APPROVED 10/6/2009 <br /> MINUTES <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> WORK SESSION <br /> September 10, 2009 <br /> 7:00p.m. <br /> The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a work session on Thursday, <br /> September 10, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. at the Emergency Services Building in Hillsborough, N.C. <br /> COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie P. Foushee, and Commissioners <br /> Alice Gordon, Pam Hemminger, Barry Jacobs, Mike Nelson, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve <br /> Yuhasz <br /> COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: <br /> COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: <br /> COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: Interim County Manager Frank Clifton and Clerk to the <br /> Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner <br /> Pelissier to approve adding another closed session item to the agenda — "to consult with an <br /> attorney retained by the Board in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the <br /> attorney and the Board," pursuant to G.S. 143-318.11(a)(3). <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 1. County Regulation of Billboard Lighting <br /> County Attorney John Roberts said that this issue involves some outdoor advertising <br /> signs on the 1-40/1-85 corridor and that lighting is the issue. These signs are owned by Ben <br /> Lloyd. He said that Mr. Lloyd petitioned the County several years ago to restore lighting on <br /> these billboards and the petition was denied by the Board of Adjustment. There was a <br /> subsequent Board of Adjustment hearing on it, and the BOA upheld the denial. The sign <br /> company appealed to the Superior Court. At some point during the appeal, the sign company <br /> voluntarily dismissed the appeal and did not, within a one-year period, re-file the appeal, and the <br /> case died in Superior Court. What is left is the Board of Adjustment's decision that lighting <br /> should be denied. There has been some case law decided since that time and the Court of <br /> Appeals of North Carolina and the Supreme Court of North Carolina have ruled in a case of <br /> Lamar OCI vs. Stanley County Board of Adjustment that a county ordinance that makes illegal <br /> an action that the Department of Transportation (DOT) rules to make legal is preempted by the <br /> DOT rules. That is part of what applies to this situation. This is a complex issue and involves <br /> numerous arguments on both sides. He thinks that there are two options for the Board of <br /> County Commissioners to take. One is to hold that this matter has been adjudicated and is <br /> disposed of. The Board of Adjustment has the force of the law. The other option is amending <br /> the applicable portion of the County Zoning Ordinance to reflect what DOT's rules say. <br /> John Roberts said that the difference in the DOT rules and the Orange County <br /> ordinance is that DOT says if the lighting was in the past and was depowered then it can be <br /> powered again; Orange County's ordinance says that if lighting is depowered then it cannot be <br /> powered again. <br />