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Ferry Road, which is a very curvy road. This will be up for discussion with the Chatham <br />County Commissioners shortly. He suggested that either the Planning Director or the Manager <br />communicate with the Chair of the Chatham County Commissioners and make sure that there <br />is an opportunity for citizens to speak to this issue. <br />Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis about writing a letter to Bill <br />Faison expressing concern that local government is the best place to make local decisions. <br />Chair Carey commended the members of the Human Relations Commission on the <br />events that were sponsored. <br />Chair Carey attended the OPC Mental Health board meeting. He said that there are a <br />lot of anxieties related to the transition to an LME that the State has required all counties to <br />move toward. He is optimistic that they will take this slowly and do it right so that no citizens <br />fall through the cracks of care. <br />Chair Carey said that the listening session on February 24th was an extraordinary <br />event. There were 68 people that signed up and participated. He thanked everyone for <br />coming. The topic of district elections was the main discussion item and Representative <br />Faison was there and stated that he was drafting a bill and that he was facing the bill deadline <br />in the house and he wanted to know if the County Commissioners were going to take any <br />action before this date. Chair Carey informed him of the timeframe and the process that is <br />normally followed, which includes at least two public hearings. He said that he would write a <br />letter to Representative Faison and share it with the other legislative representatives, and it will <br />be a public document. <br />Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners have been getting a lot of <br />communication from both Durham County and Orange County citizens related to the Erwin <br />Trace development, which borders on the county line. There are some people that are being <br />led to believe that the Orange County Commissioners can unilaterally derail that project by <br />making a decision that they are not going to permit any utility in the rural buffer. He has <br />consistently tried to tell people that the County Commissioners have not been asked to <br />approve any kind of public utility service in the rural buffer. It is the policy, based on the joint <br />planning agreement, that there is no service in the rural buffer. He asked County Attorney <br />Geof Gledhill to clarify the policy from a legal viewpoint. <br />Geof Gledhill said that there has been a plan presented to Orange County for <br />consideration, which has not come before the Board yet, that includes a water line that would <br />serve Erwin Trace development, all of which would be located in Durham County. He said that <br />the joint planning agreement, which is between Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, has <br />incorporated into it the Water and Sewer Management Planning and Boundary Agreement. <br />This agreement prohibits public water or public sewer service anywhere in the rural buffer. It <br />does not prohibit the extension of water or sewer lines in the rural buffer, but service within the <br />rural buffer. A utility could run a line through the buffer or touch the buffer with a line and <br />serve homes that were not in the rural buffer. With respect to Erwin Trace, there is nothing <br />proposed for public sewer coming into Orange County. The only utility is a water line. The <br />water and sewer agreement also has Hillsborough and OWASA as parties, and those <br />governments have also agreed that there will be no public water or public sewer service in the <br />rural buffer. There is another layer of agreements that includes the annexation boundary <br />agreement between the City of Durham and the Town of Chapel Hill. Durham is not permitted <br />to annex into Orange County in this area and Chapel Hill is not permitted to annex into Durham <br />County in that area. OWASA has a utility agreement with the City of Durham that says, with <br />respect to providing public water and public sewer, OWASA will not go on Durham's side and <br />the City of Durham will not go on the Orange County side of this boundary without permission <br />of the other party. <br />4 <br />