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A PAGE 1 APPROVED 10-16-90 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING WITH TOWNS OF CHAPEL HILL, CARRBORO AND HILLSBOROUGH JANUARY 18, 1990 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in Special Session on January 18, 1990 at 7: 30 p.m. in the meeting room of the American Heart Association, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The purpose of the meeting was to hear a report from Consultant Lane Kendig on the Rural Character Study. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chairman Moses Carey, Jr. and Commissioners Stephen Halkiotis, John Hartwell, Shirley E. Marshall and Don Willhoit. STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr. , Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker, Clerk to the Board Beverly Blythe, Planner David Stancil. Chairman Carey made opening remarks. He stated that the purpose of the meeting is to hear the preliminary recommendations of the Rural Character Committee and for the elected officials of the three municipalities to ask any questions they may have about this subject. He emphasized that public comments will not be heard at this meeting. A public hearing will be held at a later date for receipt of public comments. The presentation was made by Lane Kendig. He used slides to illustrate his narrative. Below is a summary of his presentation. Lane Kendig referenced the meetings which had been occurring with the Rural Character Study Committee, the individual townships, County Commissioners and Planning Board. He noted that the one issue which repeatedly arose was that of the constant conflict of the resource view of the land. The landowner basically looks at the land as a commodity and the planning view of the land is preservation and protection whether it be watershed protection, agricultural preservation, etc. He stated that the vast majority of very competent plans that fail, or seem to fail, that there are two separate views of the land. Mr. Kendig stated that his strategy was to try and give a system that will deal with rural areas of the County from four different viewpoints; agricultural preservation, preservation of natural resources, preservations of visual resources and the growth management element. He noted that the structure of the Land Use Plan with the Rural Buffer appeared to him to be predominantly a growth management strategy. He continued, that even though that element of the plan is well crafted, there is a giant loophole in it; you do not really create a rural area with two-acre zoning. A sizable amount of development will continue to occur in the rural areas, particularly the unzoned 4 townships. The containment of the sprawl will not really happen. The policy recommendations by Mr. Kendig, when they are translated into a Zoning Ordinance, will not look like the zoning ordinance which