Orange County NC Website
Mr. Lawrence Bolls indicated that he lives about two miles from the proposed <br />subdivision. He expressed opposition to this development and read from a prepared <br />statement, as follows: "Such a large and dense development would have a significant <br />impact on local traffic. That has not been completely studied. For example, he drives <br />along 70 Alternate on his way to work in Durham and the traffic at Pleasant Green Road <br />toward Hillsborough can be backed up for a mile or more on weekday mornings. This is <br />going to make that significantly worse causing people to take NC 10 and Business 70 <br />Alternate. He wondered how long it would be before all of the intersections need traffic <br />lights if we start putting in these kinds of dense developments. Secondly, such a large and <br />dense development would severely impact the character of this area. The instant town of <br />250 homes would bring in 500 to1000 new residents, probably closer to 1000 residents. <br />All of these people would need places to shop, eat and work. These numbers would <br />overwhelm the current facilities and would drive further commercial development. Those <br />residents who moved to this area because of its relatively quiet character would have to <br />look elsewhere. He is not arguing against development but only against this type of <br />development. Finally, he asked if this development would improve the quality of life for <br />area residents. He cannot understand how traffic congestion, dramatic increase in <br />pollution from automobiles and surface runoff which will occur because of the large <br />percentage of impervious surface in this development and the change in the quiet <br />character in this area, would be an improvement. He asked the Commissioners to reject <br />this plan. <br />Planning Board Member Katz asked what the typical number of bedrooms per <br />dwelling would be. Mr. Krichbaum indicated that he was not in the building end of the <br />business but he believed that they would be two and three bedroom, mostly three <br />bedroom dwellings. <br />Planning Board Member Katz asked if there was a way for him to predict how many <br />individuals would be in each dwelling and how many of those would be children. Mr. <br />Krichbaum stated that he could only rely on the County averages that suggest that it is 2.5 <br />persons per dwelling. Mr. Katz asked if that meant less than one child per household. Mr. <br />Krichbaum stated that was his understanding of what the typical relationship would be. <br />Some of them would have 3 or 4 children, some "empty nesters", with the norm being <br />one/two children. Mr. Katz asked if there could be some determination of how many <br />children are really involved and what the consequences would be with regard to schools <br />and the adequacy of the recreation facilities for the number of children one would expect <br />to be in that area. He has concerns about whether or not there is enough open space to <br />provide activities for the number of children that might be there. That is one issue. We <br />need some answers to these questions. The question has also come up about property <br />values of adjacent neighborhoods. There is concern from neighbors as to whether or not <br />their property values would diminish or remain the same. We heard Mr. Heaffner state <br />that the property values would not be harmed. He wondered if there is a semantic issue <br />here in that the houses around this large development would become less desirable for <br />people because they would be associated with an area that has a high density <br />Q:\19981123.doc®