Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
Public Comment <br />Mark Dorosin, Carrboro Board of Aldermen, spoke on behalf of the Chapel Hill Tawn Council and the <br />Carrboro Board of Aldermen. He spoke about the parks and open space portions of the bond package that <br />Chapel Hill and Carrboro have put forward, which is the Carrboro greenway development, Carrboro <br />gymnasium site, Smith Middle School park, the Chapel Hill greenway development, Homestead Park aquatic <br />center, and the Southern Community Park. He said that both Boards have approved resolutions that support <br />the recommendations of the 2001 Capital Needs Advisory Task Force as they pertain to the recreation and <br />park bond referendum. He spoke about the items they support for inclusion in this bond issue. All these <br />projects have derived from needs and will serve residents far wider than the individual jurisdictions in which <br />they will be located. He emphasized the inter-jurisdictional nature of this request. <br />Florence Solyts, Chair of the Orange County Advisory Board on Aging, spoke in support of the $4 million <br />senior centers bond issue. She pointed out that the seniors have never benefited by a bond in this County <br />because the last bond for the seniors failed. She said that it was time for the seniors who have supported the <br />schools and the other bands for many years to have their fair share of the bond money in this County. <br />Pete Langdon said that it is heartening to see that the County Commissioners are considering meaningful <br />projects that address the needs of the seniors in the community. He envisions the senior centers placed on a <br />few acres of property, which would allow apartments to be built around them in the future. <br />Theresa Cox, third grade teacher at Hillsborough Elementary School, asked that the Board support the bond <br />that would fund renovations for the Hillsborough Elementary School. <br />Libbie Houah has two children in the Orange County school system. She read a prepared statement. She <br />said that she was eager to hear the response from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro School system about developing <br />programming currently unavailable in both systems and offering it to students countywide. She said that she <br />was proud of the Orange County school board in that they are proactive. She spoke about the condition of <br />Hillsborough Elementary School and how the school board has kept the school in that building to keep from <br />having to ask for more money for new schools. She said that we need all the facilities recommended by the <br />Capital Needs Advisory Task Force in their report. <br />Susan Houck, resident in the Orange County school district, said that she supports funding for all the items <br />on the bond, including affordable housing, a senior center, parkland and open space, and the local school <br />needs. She spoke about her concern that enough money is earmarked for the new middle school for Orange <br />County. She said that the middle schools are above capacity. She made reference to the surplus seats in <br />the Orange County school systems. She said that Orange County schools did not wait until the only high <br />school was double capacity before opening a new one. As a result, it is unavoidable to not have empty seats <br />when the new high school, Cedar Ridge High, opens next year. She likes Dana Thompson's idea about <br />having an international baccalaureate program at Cedar Ridge High to be shared by both school systems <br />because it makes good use of the seats while helping to relieve the crowding that the Chapel Hill School <br />system anticipates at the high school level in the future. <br />Liz Brawn, a parent in the Orange County School district and a rural Chapel Hill resident, said that the real <br />problem here is the rampant residential growth. She said that we should ask ourselves how much is enough. <br />Matthew Freytaa spoke for full funding for the new Orange County middle school. <br />Marinda Martin said that four County Commissioners out of five voted to act now on the four studies of five, <br />which found that the County has an immediate need for a middle school. She said that the County was <br />offering to use the Smith Middle School plan and did not need a school tailor made. She said that an <br />example of inequity between the two school systems is that East Chapel Hill High School was fully funded by <br />bond money. When Orange County Schools entered a high school for the bond, they requested funding for <br />