Orange County NC Website
<br />The Thirteen Point Agreement will be referred to as the Thirteen Point Recommendation from <br />hence forward. The text of the amendments is listed below: <br />A. Amend Section II Natural Environment by rewriting the subsection <br />entitled "B Water Resources" to read as follows: <br />Residents of southeast Orange County obtain water from two sources: groundwater (wells) or <br />reservoirs. However, the most reliable source of water for urban use is a reservoir. <br />Until recently, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and the surrounding areas relied exclusively on <br />University Lake. That source was recognized as inadequate as a long-term water source, and <br />Cane Creek reservoir west of the Joint Planning Areas has been constructed and is now <br />operational. The two reservoirs should provide a raw water supply adequate for the next 20 <br />years. In addition, the Land Use Element of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan has <br />identified possible future reservoir sites to the north of Chapel Hill. <br />The link between land use planning and water resources in the Joint Planning Area lies in <br />protecting water quality by limiting development in University Lake watershed. In 1988, <br />the Orange Water and Sewer Authority commissioned a study to develop a range of options for <br />protecting the University Lake watershed. The consulting firm of Camp, Dresser and Mckee <br />(CDM), nationally recognized experts in watershed evaluation, completed the study in March, <br />1989. Because the consultants did not find improving water quality to be a practical <br />objective, they recommend preventing significant future water quality deterioration in <br />University Lake as a primary goal. <br />The CDM report presented two fundamental ways of meeting the University Lake water quality <br />goal. Nonstructural management practices, such as controlling land use through local <br />zoning and subdivision regulations, could reduce the pollution generated from future <br />development by controlling the amount and location of impervious surfaces and other <br />pollution-causing activities. Structural practices, such as stormwater detention ponds, <br />would not reduce the amount of pollution generated but prevent substantial portions of it <br />from reaching University Lake by trapping pollutants near their point of origin. <br />The report recommended nonstructural methods as the preferred approach to watershed <br />protection. Basic elements of the proposed nonstructural plan included large lot (five- <br />acre) residential zoning, limits on impervious surfaces, and the preservation of stream <br />buffers along streams. The advantages of the nonstructural approach included the lower <br />amount of pollution generated and its reduced risk of entering the lake, the elimination of <br />construction and maintenance costs for stormwater devices, and the ability to provide <br />wastewater disposal through individual septic systems rather than risky community <br />wastewater systems. <br />The CDM report did'find that the water quality goal could be achieved through adopted land <br />use plans and regulations (two-acre zoning) and the construction of a significant number of <br />stormwater detention ponds. While the approach would provide for continued growth in the <br />watershed, the high public and private costs associated with a system of 72_ larger regional <br />detention ponds or an indeterminate number of smaller individual-development-detention <br />ponds and intensive on-going maintenance requirements were noted as disadvantages. In <br />addition, there would be no way to convert back to a nonstructural control strategy if a <br />structural program resulted in unsatisfactory watershed protection. <br />B. Amend Section V Joint. Planning Operating Principles by deleting the following wording <br />from the subsection entitled "Initial List of Principles - University Lake Watershed": <br />C. Amend Section V Joint Planning Operating Principles by deleting the table which