Orange County NC Website
is only with the County at large. There are other signs in Chapel Hill ar Hillsboraugh that may be out of <br />compliance, but that is their zoning responsibility. <br />Chair Jacobs expressed his appreciation for the rain and said that he walked down to 7-mile Creek <br />a couple of weeks ago and it was totally dry. He went down yesterday and there were several inches of <br />water flowing. <br />Chair Jacobs shared that he went to the opening of the YMCA/Carol Woods Day Care Facility. <br />There are only six children signed up for the daycare. It adjoins an assisted living facility, which allows <br />far interaction of preschool kids and senior adults. <br />Chair Jacobs reported that he and Commissioner Halkiotis met today with the Chairs and one Vice- <br />Chair of the two school systems, the Manager, and the Superintendents. This is the High School <br />Planning Task Force. They talked about two things for the September 24t" joint meeting with the two <br />school boards: 1}the possibility of getting assistance from the Institute of Government to help work on <br />issues of collaboration between the two Schaal districts; and 2} we asked our staff to do some cast <br />analysis of some of the different high school sizes that have been discussed using our current <br />indebtedness and other alternative funding sources. <br />Chair Jacobs said that the District XV B Bar Association has commissioned a mural for the <br />courthouse by Chapel Hill artist Michael Brown. It is going to be a gift to the County in celebration of the <br />250t" anniversary. The painting will reflect the rich heritage of the entire County. <br />Commissioner Brown made reference to the meeting today with the school boards and asked <br />about the status of the adequate public facilities ordinance. <br />Planning Director Craig Benedict said that the School and Land Use Council sent the last version of <br />the APFO to all local governments. Hillsboraugh had a meeting this summer and Carrboro and Chapel <br />Hill have some comments and minor revisions. The School Facilities Task Farce has addressed some of <br />the four variables within the formula to calculate the APFO. After the projection models are tied together, <br />all of the comments from the local governments and the School Facilities Task Force will be gathered <br />and sent through one more time to everyone. It will also come to the Board of County Commissioners. <br />This last version should be ready within about a month. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she had just asked Craig Benedict in an email to get together the <br />update on what the jurisdictions have done on the MOU and on the Schools Adequate Public Facilities <br />Ordinance. She also asked far a time schedule so they could start collecting the data on November 15t" <br />and then get the ordinance in place by February 15, 2003. She asked when the Board of County <br />Commissioners would be able to discuss the MOU. She thinks the Board should get it on the schedule <br />in late October. <br />John Link suggested putting it on the work session in the second week in November. <br />Commissioner Gordon pointed out that the Schools and Land Use Council made recommendations <br />on all the things that are needed to start the SAPFO. She said that we did not have a lot of time if it is to <br />be implemented by February 2003. She wants to discuss this an October 11tH <br />Chair Jacobs said that he would discuss this with the Manager on how soon it could be put on an <br />agenda. Also, he would like an update on what issues remain for the Orange County School Board. <br />Commissioner Gordan said that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School district, the Chapel Hill Town <br />Council, and the Carrboro Board of Aldermen seem to have a sense of urgency and these schools are <br />growing fast as opposed to the Orange County Schools which are not filling up as quickly. <br />4. COUNTY MANAGER'S REPORT <br />John Link recognized Fletcher Barber of Cooperative Extension who gave an overview of what the <br />drought has done to the farmers. He said that there has been 90°lo pasture loss, which has forced <br />livestock producers to sell their animals earlier at a lighter weight because there was no pasture for them <br />to graze. The figures are that farmers in the area will lose from $10,000-50,000 because of the drought. <br />They were pleased to see the rain but it will not help much and if this drought continues, it will hurt the <br />cows. They have continued to try and educate the farmers through newsletters on the drought situation. <br />There is some relief for the farmers through the farm service agency as well as the soil and water. This <br />