Minutes 01-21-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioners has never had a meeting. He suggested that, before a long-term commitment is made, that there be a meeting in the room to see how it works. Commissioner Yuhasz agreed and suggested having two or three meetings in the room and see how it goes. A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to hold the Board of County Commissioners' meetings at the Hillsborough Commons for the first meetings in March and April before making a decision. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 5. Public Hearings-NONE 6. Regular Agenda a. Dogging Deer Issue in Northern Orange County The Board received findings and conclusions and considered the next steps regarding the practice of using dogs to hunt deer in northern Orange County. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that "Dogging Deer" is the practice whereby deer hunters use dogs to chase the quarry in order to facilitate the kill. Dogging deer has been prohibited in that portion of Orange County lying south of 1-85 since 1979 when the General Assembly adopted NC General Statute 113-291.5. No hard evidence exists as to why this occurred when it did, why the line was drawn the way it was, or if it were preceded by any local debate or special request. Law enforcement speculates the action emerged due to changes in the urban environment and community culture. State approval is required for the BOCC to take similar action on the portion of the County lying north of 1-85; i.e., to ban dogging deer completely throughout Orange County. The County already has a requirement for written permission by the owner to allow hunting to occur on private property. The BOCC expressed an interest last winter in taking action to ban the practice in northern Orange County as part of its package of legislative requests to the local delegation for the 2009 session of the General Assembly. The idea was tentatively raised when the BOCC met with legislative leaders and in the discussion learned several had already been contacted by private property owners. The decision was made to withhold pursuing legislation then in order to provide time and opportunity for dialog among the stakeholders. The BOCC is scheduled to meet with the local delegation on February 22, 2010. As in the past several years, the BOCC previews its legislative requests with the delegation, schedules a formal hearing to allow public comment on its proposed legislative agenda, and authorizes the County Attorney to draft and submit any proposed legislation to the local sponsors by the required due dates. The BOCC is tentatively scheduled to receive public comment on its proposed legislative agenda on either February 2 or February 16. During fall 2009, Orange County staff held two "listening sessions" to receive input and information from vocal and active representatives on both sides of the issue from northern Orange County. These sessions were supported and assisted by officers from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC). The resulting reports were submitted previously to the BOCC as information items and are again attached. Staff has also prepared and attached two maps depicting the population density in northern Orange and locations of contiguous acreage arguably considered "optimal" for hunting deer with the aid of dogs. The County Staff Attorney has also provided the attached report on means within the County control of addressing the issue locally. A summary of findings and conclusions from the two listening sessions are provided below: