Orange County NC Website
He said that there are many layers of planning documents, which prohibit public water <br />or public sewer service in the rural buffer. These same agreements do not prohibit extension <br />of public water or public sewer lines in the rural buffer, so long as service is not going to be <br />provided in the rural buffer. <br />Regarding the development, the County Commissioners have not seen the project for <br />consideration because there has been no indication from the City of Durham as the proposed <br />utility provider for this subdivision that it will serve this subdivision with public water or public <br />sewer. He has been told that the Erwin Road route for this water line is preferred by the City <br />of Durham. He has also been told that there is another alternative available. <br />Chair Carey asked the Manager to ask the County Engineer to seek some clarification <br />on the possible routes for this water line. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that her understanding is that the City of Durham has not <br />agreed to extend water and sewer. It is also her understanding that it would be their policy to <br />require the line to go along a roadway but, at their discretion, it would be possible for the line to <br />go entirely within Durham County. She said that the water line does not have to go into the <br />rural buffer in Orange County for this development to succeed. She thinks that a separate <br />issue is the interpretation of what the joint planning agreement says. She is not in favor of <br />extending lines into the rural buffer and this should be made clear that it is not the practice and <br />is not consistent with the joint planning agreement. She thinks that the intent of the agreement <br />was not to even extend lines into the rural buffer except in certain very limited circumstances. <br />She is curious as to whether someone could break all of these agreements by demanding a <br />line. <br />Geof Gledhill said that, with respect to the language in the water and sewer boundary <br />agreement, the use of the word "lines" as opposed to the use of the word "service", was a <br />negotiating point in the agreement. Both of the utility providers -Hillsborough and OWASA - <br />wanted the flexibility to be able to extend lines into the rural buffer and any interest area if it <br />was necessary to reasonably serve service areas. The agreement between OWASA and the <br />City of Durham is more explicit. With respect to some developer breaking the agreement by <br />forcing one of the utility providers to provide service, he said that they have done everything <br />that a case law across the country says to do in order to make sure that public water and <br />sewer does not bust a land use plan. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that he has a real problem in making something easy for <br />somebody in Durham that will involve the rural buffer. He has no moral obligation to bail <br />Durham out. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked that a report from the County Engineer be ready by the <br />meeting of the Durham-Orange-Chapel Hill Work Group on March 9th. John Link said that he <br />would try. Commissioner Jacobs pointed out that there are already lines that run through the <br />rural buffer. He agreed with Commissioner Halkiotis and said that none of the County <br />Commissioners would take any action that would undermine the agreements that took so much <br />work to create. <br />Commissioner Gordon reiterated that she is a strong supporter of the rural buffer and <br />she thinks there should be no public water and sewer in the rural buffer. <br />4. County Manaaer's Resort <br />John Link said that if the Board concurs with Commissioner Halkiotis, then he would <br />move expeditiously with the defibrillators at the senior centers. <br />Commissioner Jacobs suggested that at least one person in each building knows how <br />to use them. <br />