Minutes - 10-02-2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

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work on the EDD and the utility goals in the Efland-Cheeks/Buckhorn area. He said that there are some important policy decisions such as where the sewer system is extended and how far it goes that will need to be made. Geoffrey Gledhill said that it seems obvious that a solution would be to redefine the Orange-Alamance System area to include everything east of the ridgeline, so the role the County might want to play is to broker that in some fashion to make it passible for that to happen. By partnering with Orange-Alamance to make that happen it would eliminate the interbasin transfer and free up 80% of the water. This would make it possible for Orange-Alamance or their successor to provide public water that the County Commissioners are talking about. Commissioner Jacobs said that the issue of groundwater needed to be addressed in other areas as well. He made reference to a booklet from Huntersville about transferable development rights and said that this discussion goes back to same fundamental planning questions. The first step would be to define what we want to have happen in Efland and what the water and sewer boundary area is for Efland. The way it is now, the County can not transfer density. He thinks that this should precede what is done in the Upper Eno because a transferable development rights program would be useful. Commissioner Brown does not want to postpone the issue with the Upper Eno. She thinks that the transition area could be reduced to not allow high density. She suggested having the staff develop a list of requirements for developers for well systems. John Link made reference to the next topic, the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. He said that same kind of criteria needed to be put in place that require that there be a guarantee for requirements for any area that does not have adequate facilities in place. Chair Carey verified that the County had ten years to spend the bond money from 1997. The staff will come back with a response as to what the Board of County Commissioners is asking for in relation to this issue. 2. SCHOOLS ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE Geoffrey Gledhill made reference to his letter that captures the important issues of the final recommendation from the Schools and Land Use Council. The first issue is to what degree the County's financial ability to respond to school needs can be factored into the Adequate Public Facilities process. The objective of an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, particularly schools, is that you can use that kind of program to pace development and not to limit it. This may cause the County to increase the spending for public school facilities beyond what it otherwise would spend. The ordinance paces the way in which facilities are provided, such as telling developers to wait on subdivisions. The Constitutional standard for counties is that they must provide sufficient facilities. Commissioner Gordon made reference to a memo that she sent regarding questions about the financial impact. She said that it was not clear what the Board of County Commissioners' responsibility would be. Same of the questions deal with the capacity levels and the number of seats. She thinks the Commissioners' responsibility is sketchy in the ordinance. She thinks the financial obligations of the County, the towns, and the school boards should be spelled out. She read some questions, and they are as follows: 1) Is the County expected to fund school construction at an unlimited rate to keep up with whatever development is approved, or is the County allowed to set limits on the amount of money to be allocated for school construction based on reasonable considerations like debt service limits, competing needs, reasonable tax rate increases, etc.? 2) Is the County expected to fund school construction if a school bond referendum fails? 3} Have we caught up or are we already behind with our next wave of construction? Chair Carey said that he was uncertain about the financial impact also. He asked about the school capacity levels.