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1 <br />APPROVED 11/1/94 MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />SEPTEMBER 6, 1994 <br />REGULAR MEETING <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on <br />September 6, 1994 at 7:30 p.m. at the Northern Human Services Center in Cedar <br />Grove, North Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners <br />Alice M. Gordon, Stephen H. Halkiotis, Verla C. Insko and Don Willhoit. <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />COUNTY STAFF PREBENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant <br />County Managers Albert Kittrell and Rod Visser, Clerk to the Board Beverly A. <br />Blythe (other staff members are identified appropriately below) <br />NOTE: All documents referred to in these minutes are in the permanent agenda <br />file in the Clerk's Office. <br />I. ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE AGENDA <br />Chair Carey moved to the top of the agenda reports "B" and "C". He <br />asked that citizens submit their questions in writing to the Clerk because <br />time will not allow all of their questions to be answered. He also deleted <br />from Item VIII-D the refund for the Chapel Hill Country Club. <br />B. REPORT ON APPLICATION OF STREAM BUFFER REQUIREMENTS ON EXISTING <br />LOTS <br />Planner Mary Willis presented information on the stream buffer <br />provisions of the Zoning Ordinance as applied to existing lots of record. She <br />explained that in some cases, the required buffers may render an existing lot <br />unbuildable without a variance, since the width of the buffer was not taken <br />into account when the lot was created. This issue creates a particular <br />problem for the existing lots surrounding Lake Orange. She stated that the <br />County Commissioners may wish to consider a strategy that could be used to <br />address the development on existing lots of record which are now subject to <br />stream buffer or reservoir buffer requirements. This strategy would allow the <br />Planning Staff, in consultation with Environmental Health and the County <br />Engineer to issue a zoning compliance permit for development which does not <br />meet 'the minimum buffer requirements, when specific findings could be <br />documented. In cases, where all the findings could not be met, the applicant <br />would continue to have the choice of going before the Board of Adjustment for <br />a variance. The list of findings would cover most of the situations.. She <br />went over the specific findings as stated in the agenda. This proposed <br />strategy will go to public hearing on November 28. She will be presenting <br />this strategy in detail at a gathering scheduled for 6:00 p.m. this Friday at <br />Lake Orange. She also plans to communicate directly with the property owners <br />and will try to meet with any group that is interested in this information. <br />In answer to a question from Commissioner Insko, Ms. Willis said that the <br />present watershed standards do render some lots unusable. In order to <br />alleviate that, the proposal will list the specific findings that would be <br />