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4 . <br /> • Approved April 1, 1991 <br /> 1 <br /> MINUTES <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> PROPOSED LOCAL LEGISLATION <br /> PUBLIC HEARING <br /> JANUARY 31, 1991 <br /> The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in Special <br /> Session on January 31, 1991 at 7:30 p.m. in Superior Courtroom in <br /> the new County Courthouse, Hillsborough, North Carolina for the <br /> purpose of holding a public hearing on proposed local legislation. <br /> BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice-Chair Stephen Halkiotis, <br /> Commissioners Verla C. Insko and Don Willhoit. <br /> BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Chairman Moses Carey, Jr. , and <br /> Commissioner Alice M. Gordon. <br /> COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br /> STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr. , Assistant <br /> County Manager Albert Kittrell, Economic Development Director Ted <br /> Abernathy, Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker, Recreation and <br /> Parks Director Mary Anne Black, Clerk to the Board Beverly Blythe, <br /> and Planning Director Marvin Collins, <br /> NOTE: ALL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ALL ITEMS IS IN THE PERMANENT <br /> AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL LETTERS REFERENCED HAVE <br /> BEEN ATTACHED TO THESE MINUTES. <br /> 1. INTERBASIN TRANSFERS <br /> County Engineer Paul Thames made reference to the <br /> proposed bill and the review comments from the Division of Water <br /> Resources, Division of Environmental Management and a minority <br /> report from the legislative review subcommittee. The basic thrust <br /> of this legislation is to institute a permitting process for <br /> transfers of water from one named river basin to another if that <br /> transfer was to equal or exceed 1 mgd. He is unsure what impact <br /> this legislation may have in Orange County on local water usage <br /> and interbasin transfers. This is because of the vagueness in the <br /> bill. What will be impacted will be northern Orange County's use <br /> of water from Jordan Lake, if that use would exceed 1 mgd and <br /> Hillsborough's purchase of water from the City of Durham if that <br /> use would exceed 1 mgd. The potential is such that the Town of <br /> Hillsborough would have to go through a lengthy process to buy <br /> large quantities of water from Durham. <br /> John Hartwell noted that this legislation proposes to <br /> impose criminal penalties for jurisdictions which violate it. He <br /> does not agree with this type of regulation. There are problems <br /> with the West Fork of the Eno River because the bill is predicated <br /> entirely on named river basins and the West Fork is named as a <br /> separate river basin and, consequently, governed under these <br /> statutes. The Attorney General has ruled that even the use of <br /> water in an adjoining basin with its return to the originally <br />