Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
4 <br />Elaine Holmes will prepare a summary of the information to be gathered and a timeline <br />and bring it back to the Board for approval. <br />John Link said that this could be dovetailed with a space study as well as Innovation and <br />Efficiency. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis said that Orange County's pay levels are comparable if not <br />better than most of the counties in the state. <br />Chair Gordon asked if the Board wanted to discuss Flexible Development or go into <br />Closed Session. <br />John Link said that the closed session is not a decision on buying or not buying, but only <br />if the Board is interested and what kind of timeframe is needed to evaluate the property. He <br />said that the owners of the property would rather sell the property to the County as opposed to <br />others who are interested in it. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that when the Board meets on October 19th, Chatham <br />County is also meeting and will be considering University Lake watershed and its jurisdiction. <br />He would like to authorize the Chair to send a letter to the Chatham County Commissioners <br />thanking them for reconsidering it and expressing support for watershed protection and stating <br />that Orange County stands ready to work with Chatham County in the future on similar efforts <br />that are of mutual interest. <br />Commissioner Carey said that the Board should, by consensus, authorize the Chair to <br />send a letter to the Chatham County Commissioners reinforcing the Board's previous <br />communications. <br />2. Text Amendments: Flexible Development Provisions <br />Conservation Approach - there were no questions about this approach. <br />Cluster Approach - there were no questions about this approach. <br />Transfer of Density - Craig Benedict said that density is not transferred into a protected <br />watershed. <br />Configuration and Placement of Open Space - Craig Benedict said that open space <br />was redefined to legitimately be counted toward the open space requirement. <br />Chair Gordon said that she read in the estate option that the open space had to be <br />contiguous, and she wonders how that is always possible. She asked how this could be <br />required. <br />Craig Benedict said that open space might not be contiguous but to the highest degree <br />possible it will be contiguous. The intent of the amendment was for open space to be <br />contiguous to the highest degree possible. The Board approved this amendment by consensus. <br />Chair Gordon asked about carports and open space. Craig said that they would handle <br />that through land use ratios. <br />Buffer - Craig Benedict said that the buffer has been increased for the conservation <br />cluster approach to 100 feet. The Board had no problems with this amendment. <br />Placement of Septic Systems - this amendment was to clarify how much <br />encroachment could occur for placement of septic systems. <br />Geoffrey Gledhill said that on page S of the abstract, in the last bullet, there is some <br />confusion. He thinks this was intended to mean that no more than 25% of the property could be <br />occupied by the septic system, including septic repair system. He made a correction on the first