Agenda - 04-06-2010 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 1 He asked the County Commissioners to support this request. He said that he would be glad to 2 be on a committee and do some research on this issue. 3 4 Cindy Shea spoke about the progress that UNC-Chapel Hill has made at integrating 5 sustainability across the institution in recent years. She presented the 2009 Campus 6 Sustainability Report. She said that sustainability addresses vitality, environmental quality, and 7 social equity issues. She said that they have identified over 200 courses that have 8 sustainability-related content. There is also a concentration in Sustainable Enterprise that 19% 9 of MBA students pursue. She said that they are trying to make education more affordable so 10 that everyone has access to a better life. There is a program that was introduced several years 11 ago that allows students from families within 200% of the federal poverty level to graduate debt 12 free. There have been 600 students to graduate from that program thus far. Regarding energy 13 and climate, there is a Climate Action Plan and it has pledged to become climate neutral by 14 2050. UNC has significantly improved the energy efficiency of the buildings—8% per square 15 foot since 2003--with an accelerated effort that was introduced in the fall that saved over $1 16 million in the last three months. There has also been a solar hot water system on a residence 17 hall as well as a photovoltaic system at the new Visitor Education Center at the Botanical 18 Carden. UNC has also significantly reduced its water consumption on campus--27% per 19 square foot since 2003. Just this year, a reclaimed water system was implemented. This 20 treated wastewater has been used as cooling tower makeup water, which is the largest use of 21 water on campus. This equates to avoiding the use of over 210 million gallons of potable water 22 each year because of the reclaimed water system. 23 Commissioner Pelissier thanked Cindy Shea for this information and said that the 24 County is in the process of implementing its comprehensive plan with the general goal of 25 sustainability and she hopes that the County could do something similar to this report. 26 27 Gordon Neville said that he is a cattle farmer and he spoke in support of the petition that 28 was submitted regarding the ETJ. He gave the history of this petition. He said that in June the 29 Planning Board was instructed to terminate all current and future discussions about farms, farm 30 issues, and the farm code. Can June 16'h, at a meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, four 31 events occurred simultaneously, which unanimously sought a protective farm code. These 32 events were: 1) A Planning Board member submitted a tent amendment; 2) There was a 33 petition from over 700 Carrboro citizens seeking a farm code for the ETJ farms; 3]Another two 34 dozen citizens from the ETJ sought a farm code; and 4) Twenty-five citizens, lawyers, land use 35 experts,erts, ETJ farmers, and landowners sought a protective code for the ETJ farms. Can August 36 25 , all of the aforementioned had disappeared and the existence thereof was denied. He said 37 that what the citizens are seeking is allowable under North Carolina law. He said that 38 provisions are in the best interests of the citizens of this County and they are within the County 39 Commissioners' power to enact. He asked that the terms and conditions specified in this 40 petition be honored as soon as reasonably possible. 41 42 Commissioner Jacobs said that he hopes that this ETJ issue will be referred to staff. He 43 would like to look at more materials and discuss this in more detail. 44 Commissioner Foushee asked the County Attorney to speak on information he has 45 already given out to the Board of County Commissioners. John Roberts said that North 46 Carolina statutory law says very little about ETJ going back from a town to a county. It says 47 that the municipality has to take action to turn over the ETJ to a county and the county has to 48 affirmatively accept that responsibility. Until Carrboro acts, the County Commissioners cannot 49 act on this and interfere in Carrboro's ETJ. He said that he would be glad to look at it further. 50 Commissioner Gordon asked to get information back from the Attorney.