NA ORD-2002-014 Amendment to Ordinance and Resolution to Create a Recreation and Parks Advisory Council of Orange County

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~ - ,F-a ~ ~ 6~~-azoaZ, c~l~ ~g ~ q, Amendment to Ordinance and Resolution to Create a Recreation and Parks Advisorv Council of Oranae Countv - Second Readinq The Board held a second reading of an amendment to the Ordinance and Resolution to create a Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. Commissioner Gordon said that the change has to do with allowing the County Commissioners to appoint members from the towns for the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. She noted some typographical errors as listed on the orange sheet previously distributed. County Attorney Geoffrey Gledhill recommended that in the motion that the Board approve the changes as well as the second reading of the ordinance because the changes are very minor. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the amendment to the Ordinance and Resolution to Create a Recreation and Parks Advisory Council with the changes as submitted by Commissioner Gordon. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 9. ITEMS FOR DECISION - REGULAR AGENDA a1. Winmore Proiect Planning Director Craig Benedict made reference to maps of the proposed development in the Northern Transition area. He explained the issues with this development. If the Winmore proposal stays within the Northern Transition area, there will be a joint public hearing in October in accordance with the Joint Planning Agreement. If the area is annexed, Carrboro would make all decisions on this development. There are two parts - the Winmore village mixed used project and text amendments to the village mixed use criteria. The text amendments can apply to any other village mixed use project that may come forward. There is a Carrboro Northern Transition Committee that is involved with issues in this area. He said that if after receiving the proposal, the Planning staff determines that they need additional time to review or if they have objections, they will ask Carrboro to delay approval until the County Commissioners have an opportunity to make comments. He said that if annexation occurs before Orange County is involved in the process, Orange County would only be entitled to courtesy comments on the annexation. If this project stays within the transition area, Carrboro and the Board of County Commissioners would have to have the affirmative vote in order for the project to proceed. Public Comments Mark Gill, resident of the Carrboro joint development area and a member of the HOTZ (Home Owners of the Transition Zone) steering committee, said that he is here to share his concerns about Winmore. One of the concerns is that Winmore has not been well thought out, but rather has been rushed into existence. He said that after attending many Carrboro Board of Aldermen meetings and talking with the developers, he has the following concerns: Considering the size and complexity of the Winmore project, very limited public discussion occurred on amendments recently adopted by Carrboro's into their development ordinances. The amendments were introduced by the Winmore developers with the effect of merely making the development more profitable for the developers. He said that the public discussions consisted of portions of two Carrboro town meetings. Comments from Carrboro Aldermen Alex Zaffron have indicated that village mixed use high density development is an experiment and that the VMU ordinances are nothing more than an educated best guess. He said that this conveys disregard for a well thought out design process. When asked if Bolin Creek was the best site for Winmore, the developers would not directly respond, but rather indicated that the current site was the only available property. This is not a well thought out criterion for site selection, especially considering the sensitive nature of Bolin Creek. The developers would also not comment on the impact of such a development on the local schools. He said that rather than addressing the relationship between new housing and adding public services, the Town Attorney stopped all discussion with the phrase, "no moratoriums." He said that moratoriums are another way of timing and scaling growth with public services. The Winmore developers have also sited a supporting study, which was co-authored by Professor Phillip Burke of the UNC Department of City and Regional Planning, for the development. Upon receiving a copy of the study, he noted that it was incomplete, missing all graphical and tabulated data. He contacted Professor Burke and welcomed an educational session with members of the HOTZ steering committee. Dr. Burke clearly pointed out the following items relative to high density housing: 1) environmentally sensitive areas should not be primary sites of development; 2) where land is upzoned to