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The Board held a second reading of an amendment to the Ordinance and Resolution to create a <br /> Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that the change has to do with allowing the County Commissioners to <br /> appoint members from the towns for the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. She noted some <br /> typographical errors as listed on the orange sheet previously distributed. <br /> County Attorney Geoffrey Gledhill recommended that in the motion that the Board approve the <br /> changes as well as the second reading of the ordinance because the changes are very minor. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the <br /> amendment to the Ordinance and Resolution to Create a Recreation and Parks Advisory Council with the <br /> changes as submitted by Commissioner Gordon. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 9. ITEMS FOR DECISION - REGULAR AGENDA <br /> a1. Winmore Project <br /> Planning Director Craig Benedict made reference to maps of the proposed development in the <br /> Northern Transition area. He explained the issues with this development. If the Winmore proposal stays <br /> within the Northern Transition area, there will be a joint public hearing in October in accordance with the Joint <br /> Planning Agreement. If the area is annexed, Carrboro would make all decisions on this development. There <br /> are two parts —the Winmore village mixed used project and text amendments to the village mixed use <br /> criteria. The text amendments can apply to any other village mixed use project that may come forward. <br /> There is a Carrboro Northern Transition Committee that is involved with issues in this area. He said that if <br /> after receiving the proposal, the Planning staff determines that they need additional time to review or if they <br /> have objections, they will ask Carrboro to delay approval until the County Commissioners have an <br /> opportunity to make comments. He said that if annexation occurs before Orange County is involved in the <br /> process, Orange County would only be entitled to courtesy comments on the annexation. If this project stays <br /> within the transition area, Carrboro and the Board of County Commissioners would have to have the <br /> affirmative vote in order for the project to proceed. <br /> Public Comments <br /> Mark Gill, resident of the Carrboro joint development area and a member of the HOTZ (Home <br /> Owners of the Transition Zone) steering committee, said that he is here to share his concerns about <br /> Winmore. One of the concerns is that Winmore has not been well thought out, but rather has been rushed <br /> into existence. He said that after attending many Carrboro Board of Aldermen meetings and talking with the <br /> developers, he has the following concerns: Considering the size and complexity of the Winmore project, very <br /> limited public discussion occurred on amendments recently adopted by Carrboro's into their development <br /> ordinances. The amendments were introduced by the Winmore developers with the effect of merely making <br /> the development more profitable for the developers. He said that the public discussions consisted of portions <br /> of two Carrboro town meetings. Comments from Carrboro Aldermen Alex Zaffron have indicated that village <br /> mixed use high density development is an experiment and that the VMU ordinances are nothing more than <br /> an educated best guess. He said that this conveys disregard for a well thought out design process. When <br /> asked if Bolin Creek was the best site for Winmore, the developers would not directly respond, but rather <br /> indicated that the current site was the only available property. This is not a well thought out criterion for site <br /> selection, especially considering the sensitive nature of Bolin Creek. The developers would also not <br /> comment on the impact of such a development on the local schools. He said that rather than addressing the <br /> relationship between new housing and adding public services, the Town Attorney stopped all discussion with <br /> the phrase, "no moratoriums." He said that moratoriums are another way of timing and scaling growth with <br /> public services. The Winmore developers have also sited a supporting study, which was co-authored by <br /> Professor Phillip Burke of the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning, for the development. Upon <br /> receiving a copy of the study, he noted that it was incomplete, missing all graphical and tabulated data. He <br /> contacted Professor Burke and welcomed an educational session with members of the HOTZ steering <br /> committee. Dr. Burke clearly pointed out the following items relative to high density housing: 1) <br /> environmentally sensitive areas should not be primary sites of development; 2) where land is upzoned to <br /> increase density, adjacent land must be downzoned to at least maintain density balance; 3) watershed <br /> protection is not merely the practice of randomly implementing best management practices, but rather <br /> requires reviewing an appropriate site, selecting a careful combination of those practices, and then <br />