Orange County NC Website
2. Collaborative Planning <br /> a. Courtesy Review <br /> Craig Benedict said that the purpose of this item is to consider a revised courtesy review <br /> agreement between the town of Hillsborough and Orange County. This item was previously <br /> discussed at a joint meeting between the Boards on January 31 , 2001 . A few of the issues were <br /> unresolved at that time, such as the size or threshold limit activating review of a project. A joint staff <br /> work group has discussed these items and a revised agreement is now presented for consideration. <br /> The primary difference from the previous agreement involves setting a threshold for project review <br /> of five acres for land use amendments, rezonings, special use permits, conditional use permits and <br /> annexations, or a project with a 50-unit residential component. These thresholds include both <br /> residential and non-residential projects. As with the previous agreement, the area includes the <br /> water and sewer service area boundary both in Orange County and the Town of Hillsborough <br /> jurisdiction. The agreement does include a five working day timeframe for return of comments. This <br /> is because the review process in Hillsborough has a quick turnaround. It is understood that in some <br /> cases an increased timeframe may be warranted for certain projects and this is something that <br /> needs to be discussed by both Boards. Either jurisdiction may request a joint meeting of the <br /> elected boards to discuss a development proposal subject to a courtesy review. A process is set <br /> forth in the agreement on how this can be accomplished. <br /> Ken Chavious feels that there needs to be a confirmation that the material has been <br /> received. <br /> Commissioner Gordon asked Margaret Hauth to explain the 5-day time frame because <br /> she feels it is too short. Margaret Hauth said that when the agreement was first written it included <br /> site plans which have a very quick turnaround. They are no longer included in the agreement. <br /> However, she feels that the timeframe should be short. She understood that this timeframe was for <br /> comments from staff and not for comments from elected officials. <br /> Mark Sheridan said that they have had several things come up where they have <br /> postponed projects for a number of weeks. If a development application is submitted that may have <br /> significant ramifications, the Town would have no problem with postponing as necessary to allow a <br /> meeting with the County Commissioners or to allow the time necessary to get meaningful <br /> comments. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that it might be possible to include in the courtesy review <br /> agreement the type of projects with some requiring only comments from the staff and others which <br /> may warrant review by the elected officials. The problem is that this is a single threshold where we <br /> may need to decide which projects are handled by staff and which projects are handled by elected <br /> officials which may take longer. <br /> Eric Peterson said that he would rework this part of the agreement and bring it back to the <br /> Town Board and then get back with the County staff. Chair Jacobs asked that he and Mayor <br /> Phelps be involved. <br /> b. Coordinating County Comprehensive Plan with Hillsborough Strategic Growth Plan <br /> Craig Benedict said that Orange County is updating its Comprehensive Plan which <br /> includes many aspects of planning and goal setting for other public services and facilities. Since <br /> many aspects of planning for the future do not easily follow jurisdictional boundaries, the need for <br /> coordination and consistency between local governments is important to promote an orderly, tax <br /> efficient growth plan that prudently allocates resources. Since Orange County and Hillsborough are <br />