Orange County NC Website
rely when making decisions related to issues such as planning, land use, annexation, zoning, <br />and growth management. <br />One of the recommendations contained in the Efland-Mebane Small Area Plan is to amend <br />Orange County's "Primary Service Area" on the map that is part of the Agreement (see pages <br />69-71 and 82 of plan). Attachment 3 is a map that shows the proposed changes to Orange <br />County's Primary Service Area (PSA) in Cheeks Township. The area to be added to the PSA in <br />the southeast portion of the existing PSA (in the vicinity of Mt. Willing Road and Interstate 40/85) <br />reflects the proposed new "Critical Area" boundary for Seven Mile Creek (further discussed in <br />the next section). It should also be noted that the two areas currently in the PSA proposed for <br />removal from the PSA are not part of the Efland-Mebane Small Area Plan recommendations; <br />rather, staff is proposing them for deletion to be consistent with the Land Use Element Map and <br />the County's development goals and policies. The areas proposed for removal from the PSA <br />would be changed to "Orange County Long-Term Interest Area." <br />The Town of Hillsborough is also interested in amending its Primary Service Area to be in <br />keeping with the outcomes of the Hillsborough-Orange County Strategic Growth Plan. Town <br />officials are currently discussing whether the Town will bring its amendments forward at this <br />time. <br />Amendments to the WASMPBA require the approval of all agreement signatories. Planning <br />staff proposes to meet with the staff of signatory entities to discuss the proposed changes and <br />devise a process to bring agreement amendments forward to the various governing boards. <br />Staff is requesting BOCC authorization to begin this amendment process. <br />Upper Eno Watershed Critical Area <br />One of the recommendations of the Efland-Mebane Small Area Plan is to re-evaluate the Critical <br />Area boundary for Seven Mile Creek because the boundary is based upon a reservoir being <br />created on Seven Mile Creek and the full pool elevation of the reservoir was used as the <br />calculation point for the '/2-mile Critical Area boundary. A reservoir is no longer being proposed <br />so the Critical Area boundary should be changed to reflect this. Attachment 4 is a map <br />depicting the proposed revisions to the Seven Mile Creek Critical Area boundary. Since Seven <br />Mile Creek is still a water supply source for the Town of Hillsborough's water supply, a '/2-mile <br />buffer from the centerline of the "fifth order" segment of the creek will continue to apply. As an <br />aside, stream orders are a stream hierarchy determined by the number of tributary confluences <br />flowing into a particular stream. <br />Staff is also suggesting that previous changes to the Upper Eno Critical Area be formalized. In <br />2005, staff re-drew the original 1994 critical area boundary to be consistent with the text of the <br />Zoning Ordinance. The revised boundary was placed on the Land Use Element Map and the <br />Zoning Atlas. Recent developments in other jurisdictions in the State have led staff to conclude <br />that even though the boundary was drawn to reflect the pertinent text in the Zoning Ordinance, <br />the map changes should go through the formal procedure to amend the Land Use Element Map <br />and the Zoning Atlas. Attachment 5 depicts both the original 1994 Critical Area line and the <br />revised 2005 Critical Area along with the various '/2-mile buffers of the stream segments and <br />impoundments. <br />Staff is planning to place the Upper Eno Critical Area revisions on the February 2010 Quarterly <br />Public Hearing agenda. The revisions will be to both the Land Use Element Map and the <br />