Minutes - 20020218 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Commissioner Carey asked about conditional approval and David Stancil said that conditional approval means that a project is being considered and a recommendation will be received from the IP Work Group. At that time, the Board would decide whether ar not to pursue the project. The IP Work Group will meet next week and take into consideration the comments made tonight and bring back a recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners. Commissioner Carey said that he feels that it will be confusing to the public if we have different processes for different projects. David Stancil said that there would be some principles that would apply to every project. Commissioner Carey specifically mentioned the projects at school facilities and whether they would be open to everyone in the County. Chair Jacobs said that having the facilities open for everyone is a topic to discuss with the schools at joint meeting between the County Commissioners and the two school boards next month. Commissioner Brown said that having one entity take care of all the soccer fields might achieve same economy of scale and also enable better use and scheduling of these types of facilities. Commissioner Gordon said that it would really help if the IP Work Group came back with suggested language for the policy. She said that the IP Work Group was charged with developing the memo of understanding. This is very important because there may be some assumptions about ownership and who is going to pay for construction and operation of these facilities. Chair Jacobs asked if the public is included at any point in the process. Commissioner Brown said that the citizens have been involved in the concept and planning stage. Chair Jacobs would like to have the public included in the process. John Link said that if public participation has not been received, the County should ask for public input through a public hearing or other effective means. Chair Jacobs said that there has been some questions about when we start the projects and if we can have projects simultaneously. He sees several groups meeting at the same time on different projects. Commissioner Brown said that if you take specific projects and look at which ones already have concept plans, then there might be a place for building four soccer fields at the same time, etc. Chair Jacobs said that it makes sense to do them all simultaneously. David Stancil said that the County Commissioners have approved the staff to do the design work in-house with the Open Space Design Specialist. He has been trying to think about how to stagger the concept plans. He has been leaning towards staggering them so that several are going on at the same time, but they would be in different stages. Chair Jacobs asked if the County Commissioners agree with 5-6 groups working on refining different facilities. Also, are some facilities going to be left behind and are these going to be those in which the County is the only participant? We need to be sure that the County projects do not came in last. Commissioner Gordon said that the County Commissioners or the IP Work Group needs a report on the status of projects. The meeting process was driven by the projects for which there were concept plans and for which Chapel Hill and Carrboro were afraid there would be a delay. Chair Jacobs said that if the concept plans are for projects which are located in the southern end of the County, he feels this needs to be balanced with other projects. He wants to make sure that we do not have an unintended consequence occur because of the projects being concentrated in one area of the County. Commissioner Gordon made reference to those projects that are listed for the first year. She said that there has not been preference toward the southern end of the County. Chair Jacobs wants to be sure that there is a sense of balance because we are trying to serve the County in a comprehensive way. He is especially concerned about Fairview Park.