Orange County NC Website
12 <br />1 transparent, fair, open, efficient, and responsive. She said that it is the exact opposite of this. The <br />2 data needs to show more accurately the rural population because there are too many graphs <br />3 showing municipal growth. She wants to make sure that the data is accurate and relevant. <br />4 Jay Bryan lives on Old NC 86 in Chapel Hill. He spoke to the County Commissioners <br />5 about the idea of establishing another element in the Comprehensive Plan to address Planning <br />6 Principle #8, Preservation of Community Character, which was adopted by the Board in 2004. <br />7 Such an element could read as follows: Maintenance of community and preservation of <br />8 community character. A possible goal for the element could read as follows: Establishment of <br />9 community building principles regarding community issues and decision making to help citizens of <br />10 Orange County work and live together in harmony. He said that when he was on the Carrboro <br />11 Board of Aldermen, there were some policies and strategies promoted such as Carrboro <br />12 Community Day, which has spun off into a music festival, film festival, Latino festival; rules for <br />13 communication among members of the Board of Aldermen in public meetings; rules for effective <br />14 communication at public hearings; an annual roundtable meeting for representatives from various <br />15 subdivisions and neighborhoods in the Town; a mediation program to help address differences <br />16 between citizens and differences between citizens and Town government; a program for inviting <br />17 school children to observe and learn about local government to promote leadership opportunities; <br />18 the use of mediation to resolve planning issues around development; and the use of facilitated <br />19 meetings for gaining public input and trust. He said that as a result of the standing committee that <br />20 he and Commissioner Gordon served on, the original 15 -step proposal for the Shaping Orange <br />21 County's Future Task Force references community building as one of the two tasks that were to <br />22 be addressed by the task force. He said that a natural extension of this work would be to support <br />23 at least in principle the idea of adding this additional element to the Comprehensive Plan. He <br />24 asked the County Commissioners to consider forwarding the idea of such an element to the <br />25 Planning Board for further discussion and consideration. <br />26 A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to <br />27 refer to the Planning Board for a recommendation to be returned to the BOCC no sooner than <br />28 September 19, 2007. The Planning Board will provide specific recommendations for any <br />29 additional changes to the draft goals and the County Profile Element that may be required in <br />30 response to comments heard from the BOCC and /or public during the Hearing. The Planning <br />31 Board will also consider comments collected at the June 21 St Advisory Boards Meeting, July 31St <br />32 Open House, and August 7t' Public Information Meeting. Additional changes to draft goals will be <br />33 necessary to clarify a few of the goals and establish a consistent writing style among goals. <br />34 Per the adopted Comprehensive Plan Update Process, the BOCC may also refer public <br />35 hearing items to any of the other lead advisory boards that are involved: Affordable Housing <br />36 Advisory Board, Agricultural Preservation Board, Commission for the Environment, Economic <br />37 Development Commission, Historic Preservation Commission, Orange Unified Transportation <br />38 Board, and Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. <br />39 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />