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80
<br />Approved 2/2/11
<br />121 May Becker. I would like to go through what is there and what is not there. The way it reads to me is things that were not
<br />122 permitted within this area are now being permitted.
<br />123
<br />124 Tommy McNeill: Could you give an example?
<br />125
<br />126 May Becker: Let's go to page 6-142,143, Section 6.13.6. A whole bunch of things have been added in red. The property
<br />127 owners provide a written notification to the planning department and location of the accepted use. Property owners shall provide
<br />128 a written statement to the planning department that the use shall be designed, constructed, and maintained to minimize soil
<br />129 disturbance and to provide the maximum water quality protection practicable. If structures are proposed, approval of a site plan
<br />130 and all applicable building permits shall be required prior to commencement of land disturbing activities. From my understanding,
<br />131 these particular activities or uses are now being permitted by right according to Section C. For example number 8, driveway
<br />132 crossing on single-family residential lots that disturb less than, or equal to, 25 linear feet or 2,500 square feet of stream buffer
<br />133 number 12, public water and sewer lines that do not disturb over 40 linear feet, and New stormwater management ponds,
<br />134 provided a riparian buffer that meets the requirements of this Section is established adjacent to the pond. So another concern I
<br />135 have is ponds. We have seen in Cape Fear what these waste lagoons do when farmers have industrialized hog production
<br />136 facilities and they put their waste into these lagoons, during storrn events they overflow into the stream and you've got fish kills
<br />137 and you've got...essentially people don't monitor what's going on over these storm events and you have a big mess.
<br />138
<br />139 Tommy McNeill: Regarding the lagoons, do you feel that is really typical here in Orange County? I understand the Cape Fear,
<br />140 and certainly I understand your concern in the Cape Fear River Basin but here in Orange County do you think that would be a
<br />141 concern of Orange County residences to worry about the quality in Orange County.
<br />142
<br />143 May Becker. That was an analogy really.
<br />144
<br />145 Tommy McNeill: Craig, the things that she has brought up, the things discussed, is that a red flag? How does staff feel about
<br />146 them?
<br />147
<br />148 Craig Benedict: Presently, our code allows for private driveway crossings, utility crossings to stream buffers and that is an
<br />149 acceptable encroachment to the stream buffers. We are suggesting for some additional encroachments to be allowed if there is
<br />150 mitigation in accordance with State and the Department of Natural Resources. Terry Hackett is here tonight, he is the
<br />151 Stormwater Officer in Orange County, and can explain the technology behind these mitigation rules. The State presently allows
<br />152 more encroachment than even our modified version. At the appropriate time tonight, I will give somewhat of an answer not now
<br />153 but at the appropriate time, we can go through why the modification that is being suggested will exceed state requirements as we
<br />154 always have in Orange County.
<br />155
<br />156 Brian Crawford: Have you gone through the list and checked the ones of major concerns.
<br />157
<br />158 May Becker: I put a couple of questions I have, what do the ordinances say now, what they do in the proposed UDO. To me
<br />159 when you add something residences are permitted by use or permitted by right, it applies to me that previously....that these are
<br />160 new rights. If somebody has a piece of property now an ordinance is written that says this is his or her right then I would like to
<br />161 know how, is this something new? I have marked those that are of particular concern. I would like to see what the particular
<br />162 rules are regarding ponds as well as the public water and sewer water lines, what kind of vegetative would be maintained? On
<br />163 Page 6-144, I would like to discuss what the steps of mitigation are, also, letter D number 4-6.144, with regard to cumulative
<br />164 impact. I think there were comments on temporary roads by other members.
<br />165
<br />166 Brian Crawford: Perdita, can you flush it out?
<br />167
<br />168 Perdita Holtz: I would like to explain what Orange County regulations and what the state regulations are so we can have a basis
<br />169 to start the discussion. (Reviewed chart projected) On the left is the state requirements and on the right is Orange County
<br />170 existing requirements and as it exists in the UDO. State requires, in the watersheds that comprise Orange County, 50 feet wide
<br />171 on both sides of the stream, which is measured from the top of the stream bank. In Orange County, we have two methods of
<br />172 calculating width and the required methods depends on which watershed you are in. In the UDO, it tells you which method you
<br />173 have to use. In protected and critical watersheds, generally, a 130 foot total buffer. It is measured from the edge of the flood
<br />174 plain for streams that have mapped floodplains, so we are measuring from the edge of the flood plain which is further out than
<br />175 the stream bank. If you have steeper lands, there will be 160 foot total buffer. There are specific nuances for Cane Creek,
<br />176 Upper Eno, Lower Eno that may require a larger buffer than that. In the unprotected watersheds, which is a fairly small area in
<br />177 the county, we require a 50 foot minimum on both sides of the stream. That is a state requirement. The state requires buffers on
<br />178 intermittent and perennial streams, lakes, ponds and estuarine waters and those are shown on the soil survey map or the USGS
<br />179 map. They are fairly major water bodies. In Orange County, we are requiring the same as the state except we also require that
<br />180 you buffer water features identified by field determination. Our storm water folks go out to development projects and look for
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