Orange County NC Website
47 <br />~! local radio stations, unless citizens are alert and willing <br />to listen and read and inform other citizens who do not <br />access the local stations and newspapers. Mr. Williams noted <br />that those citizens are in attendance now and asked if the <br />Board is listening to them and their concerns. He asked also <br />if the people involved in developing the greenways system <br />were lifelong residents of Orange County, owners of single <br />lots or large landowners of the County. Ms. Marshall <br />responded that, some of all those groups were involved. Mr. <br />Williams expressed doubt that this was true. Mr. Williams <br />expressed concern that land will not be donated or sold to <br />the County for the greenways system. He indicated that he <br />felt establishment of the greenways was a contrived way of <br />taking land from the taxpaying landowners for the primary <br />purpose of providing access to privately owned lands in rural <br />Orange County for the use of the non-taxpaying student <br />population of UNC at Chapel Hill and the Chapel Hi11 area. <br />Ms. Marshall responded "absolutely not". Mr. Williams <br />continued expressing non-belief and stated that he felt the <br />monies required for the Plan could be put to better use for <br />the citizens of Orange County within the school system. Ms. <br />Marshall responded that the choice is not between the schools <br />and out-of-state students at uNC. She stated that the <br />schools must be funded but if the County is to develop and <br />get the kind of economic industrial development that many <br />___, want to help the tax base, the amenities that really fine <br />industrial people look for are schools and recreational <br />opportunities. This is a requirement far the high class tax <br />base that many in Orange County would like to have. Mr. <br />Williams responded that the residents of rural Orange County <br />have means of recreation and noted again that he felt the <br />greenways were solely for the students of the Chapel Hill <br />area. Mr. Williams stated that he had been informed, as a <br />recent member of the Board of Directors of White Cross <br />Recreation Association, that the statement had been made that <br />the Orange County Recreation and Parks Department was going <br />to take-over the White Crass Recreation Association .when it <br />went broke and asked Ms. Black if that was a true statement. <br />Ms. Black responded that it was not. He noted that there had <br />been mention of a joint effort of development between the <br />White Cross Recreation Association and the County Recreation <br />Department and he expressed opposition to such an endeavor. <br />He noted that the community center was built through <br />volunteer efforts with no assistance required from the County <br />and that the white Cross Community residents are totally <br />opposed to the greenways as an unnecessary and ridiculous <br />idea. <br />Bill Ray referenced the fifty-foot stream buffer noting that <br />the greenway requirement would be an additional sixty feet. <br />He cited a California case and stated that the greenways <br />