Minutes 02-16-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Warren Womble spoke about the ETJ issue. He said that this has to do with financial gain and the landowners are very concerned about their future and their land. He said that they want their children to have a fair shot at an equitable value for their land when the time comes. He asked the County Commissioners to support this request. He said that he would be glad to be on a committee and do some research on this issue. Cindy Shea spoke about the progress that UNC-Chapel Hill has made at integrating sustainability across the institution in recent years. She presented the 2009 Campus Sustainability Report. She said that sustainability addresses vitality, environmental quality, and social equity issues. She said that they have identified over 200 courses that have sustainability-related content. There is also a concentration in Sustainable Enterprise that 19% of MBA students pursue. She said that they are trying to make education more affordable so that everyone has access to a better life. There is a program that was introduced several years ago that allows students from families within 200% of the federal poverty level to graduate debt free. There have been 600 students to graduate from that program thus far. Regarding energy and climate, there is a Climate Action Plan and it has pledged to become climate neutral by 2050. UNC has significantly improved the energy efficiency of the buildings — 8% per square foot since 2003 —with an accelerated effort that was introduced in the fall that saved over$1 million in the last three months. There has also been a solar hot water system on a residence hall as well as a photovoltaic system at the new Visitor Education Center at the Botanical Garden. UNC has also significantly reduced its water consumption on campus —27% per square foot since 2003. Just this year, a reclaimed water system was implemented. This treated wastewater has been used as cooling tower makeup water, which is the largest use of water on campus. This equates to avoiding the use of over 210 million gallons of potable water each year because of the reclaimed water system. Commissioner Pelissier thanked Cindy Shea for this information and said that the County is in the process of implementing its comprehensive plan with the general goal of sustainability and she hopes that the County could do something similar to this report. Gordon Neville said that he is a cattle farmer and he spoke in support of the petition that was submitted regarding the ETJ. He gave the history of this petition. He said that in June the Planning Board was instructed to terminate all current and future discussions about farms, farm issues, and the farm code. On June 161h, at a meeting of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, four events occurred simultaneously, which unanimously sought a protective farm code. These events were: 1) A Planning Board member submitted a text amendment; 2) There was a petition from over 700 Carrboro citizens seeking a farm code for the ETJ farms; 3) Another two dozen citizens from the ETJ sought a farm code; and 4) Twenty-five citizens, lawyers, land use experts, ETJ farmers, and landowners sought a protective code for the ETJ farms. On August 251h, all of the aforementioned had disappeared and the existence thereof was denied. He said that what the citizens are seeking is allowable under North Carolina law. He said that provisions are in the best interests of the citizens of this County and they are within the County Commissioners' power to enact. He asked that the terms and conditions specified in this petition be honored as soon as reasonably possible. Commissioner Jacobs said that he hopes that this ETJ issue will be referred to staff. He would like to look at more materials and discuss this in more detail. Commissioner Foushee asked the County Attorney to speak on information he has already given out to the Board of County Commissioners. John Roberts said that North Carolina statutory law says very little about ETJ going back from a town to a county. It says that the municipality has to take action to turn over the ETJ to a county and the county has to