NS ORD-2002-011 Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment: Article 9. Signs

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12 needed to be conveyed to the public. The administration recommends that the proposed amendment be referred to the Planning Board for a recommendation to be returned to the Board of County Commissioners no sooner than May 21, 2002. Public Comment Pierre Morin, the petitioner, said that he was one of four builders in Churton Grove subdivision. He said that it was a little difficult to compete without showing new homebuyers the differences in each of their products. He said that a 2'x2' sign was not sufficient because most homebuyers would see the first house and assume that it was the only builder in the subdivision. He said that 16 square feet might be larger, but it is not as large as the Parade of Homes signs, which are 36x36'. He said that he was just showing to new homebuyers their product as compared to other builders' products. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to refer the proposed amendment to the Planning Board for a recommendation to be returned to the Board of County Commissioners no sooner than May 21, 2002. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. Orange County Hazard Mitigation Plan Craig Benedict said that this item is in response to new legislation that was put into effect in June 2001, also known as Senate Bill 300. It was an act to amend the laws regarding emergency management as recognized by the legislation because of some of the recent disasters in North Carolina such as flooding. In response to the legislative act, there was a strong suggestion that any local government that would like to be in line for assistance in case of future natural disasters should put together a hazard mitigation plan. If local governments are interested in assistance funds, it is a requirement that they adopt a plan prior to August of this year. The purpose of this item is to explain what a hazard mitigation plan includes. There was a PowerPoint presentation. Orange County worked with Greensboro and the Emergency Management Division of North Carolina to develop this plan. The goal is to make residences and businesses less vulnerable to impacts and have a coordinated approach through discussion between local governments. Hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, and snowstorms are some of the disasters that have hit North Carolina in the past few years. Another part of the mitigation strategy is to identify the junkyards and automobile establishments that are in the way of flooding because oil and other liquids from the cars can get caught up in the flooding and cause further damage downstream. Part of the requirement in the Senate bill is that the plan should be very strong in the Planning aspect. Emergency Management is an up front participant, but the state wanted the focus to be on planning to prevent structures from going into the floodplain or being placed in hazardous areas. EMS typically comes in the reactive stage so the state wants planning to be proactive to guide this in the areas of building, planning and erosion control. There has been some development along floodplains in the past, and this needs to be identified. This draft plan will be transmitted to the state for comment. The comments will come back and the final plan can be submitted. Part of the requirement of the plan is to do training with the community. Commissioner Brown asked if there were any counties in the east that were not participating. Craig Benedict said that about 90% of the counties in the east were participating. There are a few counties in the coastal areas that have not put it together. Some communities do not have the ability, between their existing departments or staff, to put it together. - The proposed action for this meeting is that we continue getting input from the local governments in preparing the plan and bring back a transmittal version of the hazard mitigation plan to the County Commissioners prior to June 1St. The state will send back their comments in order for the County to send the plan back to the state by August 1 st. There is no financial impact at this time.