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4 <br />to this request. She requested a postponement of the decision tonight and <br />asked that another public hearing be held so that they can voice their <br />concerns in opposition to this development. They feel this density is too <br />great for this area. They are not opposed to a smaller scale planned <br />development. <br />Paul Andrew, President of the Windy Hill Farm Homeowners <br />Association, spoke in support of Callie Warner's statement. They are not <br />opposed to development but feel this is an inappropriate development for rural <br />Orange County and is out of character for rural Orange County. He asked that <br />they delay their decision until the Rural Character Study is approved. <br />Bob Strayhorn stated he would not be opposed to this development <br />if the County adopts the rural character strategies first. <br />In answer to questions from Commissioners Halkiotis and Gordon, <br />Marvin Collins stated that the County has an agreement with the Town of <br />Hillsborough. One provision in that agreement is that the Town of <br />Hillsborough will not annex any property within the open space area which has <br />been designated around the town. As it presently stands, they cannot annex <br />any developments that are approved under the County's jurisdiction within that <br />open space area. The City of Durham cannot annex within this area. The real <br />issue related to annexation and whose jurisdiction this project stays under <br />centers around what happens if this property is changed to a transition <br />designation ahead of the rural character strategies and ahead of any land use <br />plan for the cooperative planning area. He feels that because the County has <br />an agreement with the Town of Hillsborough and because there is a map attached <br />to that agreement that identifies transition and open space areas, that even <br />if this were changed to transition at this time, the County would still have <br />to go to Hillsborough and ask that the map and agreement be changed in order <br />for this project to qualify for annexation. If the County does not change the <br />map that is part of the Hillsborough agreement, then it stays in the County's <br />jurisdiction and Hillsborough could not annex it. Changing this designation <br />to ten year transition is viewed by the Planning Staff as an interim solution. <br />The applicants plan to comply with the strategies of the rural character study <br />-- 60$ open space and 1.74 units per gross acre. This project will not become <br />an issue in the future but will stay open space and in the County's <br />jurisdiction. <br />Commissioner Willhoit expressed concern that this project assumes <br />that the rural character strategies will be adopted as is and that may not be <br />the case. He feels that the citizens should have input on the rural character <br />plan and then apply that plan to this area and receive input from the citizens <br />again in that context. He asked that when this proposal is brought back that <br />it include the impact on the schools in this area and how this will be <br />addressed. <br />In answer to a question from Commissioner Insko, Marvin Collins <br />explained that the densities for the rural buffer around Chapel Hill are <br />between 1 unit per acre and 1 unit per two acres. In the rural character <br />strategies for the rest of the county, originally they were talking about <br />permitting rural villages, which is the same concept as this planned <br />community. The density being considered was lowered. Then the rural <br />character committee changed directions and instead of allowing the planned <br />communities or rural villages anywhere in the county, they identified areas <br />where they potentially should go and one of the areas was the Hillsborough <br />open space area. One of the factors they took into account was the high cost <br />