Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
FHWA that their unified planning work program and their long-range transportation plan <br />are conforming. <br />Commissioner Jacobs asked if Hillsborough is involved at all. Dave Stancil said <br />that he has talked with the Town Planning Director. Hillsborough is not involved in <br />ICLEI, but has a great interest in the ozone issues. <br />Frances Dancy said that she is a member of the GTRC. <br />Alex Zaffron said that in order to keep the Federal dollars flowing, the MPO must <br />execute the plans as submitted. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the County Commissioners had asked the <br />legislators to help in getting a monitoring device in this County but to no avail. He <br />suggested getting the Chair to write a letter and have the Mayors sign on and again <br />request a monitor so that we have a better gauge of what is going on in the County. <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Carrboro Alderman <br />Diana McDuffee to write a letter to the Legislators and have all Chairs and Mayors to <br />sign, asking far a device to monitor air quality in Orange County. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Jacqueline Gist suggested seeing if UNC had any type of device that would <br />measure air quality. Jim Ward said that he would ask the University about using such a <br />device. <br />Chair Brawn asked to change the agenda and bring up item 6 now. <br />6. Substandard Rental Housina Task Force <br />Jacqueline Gist said that John Herrera brought up concern with substandard <br />rental housing and its implications and how people are helpless in dealing with it <br />because they are outside the system. She would like to develop a countywide task force <br />with representatives from all three municipalities to find a way of examining the issue, to <br />see how bad it really is, and to come up with same regulations and mechanisms that all <br />municipalities would use to take care of these people. <br />Jahn Herrara said that this started concerning Carrboro, but it is something that <br />he has seen countywide. He said that there are a lot of working class people in rental <br />housing in Carrboro. Right now the current housing codes and the landlord code are <br />very pro-landlord. He said that it is easier to get evicted than it is to get repairs done. <br />People are taken advantage of and some do not have contracts. He sees human rights <br />abuses. If you start complaining, the system is too overwhelming for the working class <br />folks. The housing code needs to be updated. He would like to see housing as a <br />human rights issue. He would like to crack down on the landlords -the people who are <br />charging per head and stealing from poor people. He thinks that this is a crisis issue. <br />He knows that tenants and landlords have responsibilities, but the tenants also have <br />rights. He would also like to find a way to reward the good landlords. <br />Jacqueline Gist said that a lot of these people that they are concerned about are <br />not living in the big blocked apartments, but are living in single dwellings (small houses <br />and trailers). They are asking staff to help put together a fairly high level task force to <br />examine this problem as a distinct issue from affordable housing. <br />Mayor Foy said that last year the Town of Chapel Hill instituted arental-licensing <br />program that requires all landlords to register with the Town and pay a fee so that the <br />Town can track them and sa that they can supply information to the tenants through the <br />landlord so that the tenants know what the rules are. They also address non-responsive <br />landlords. He is offering this as information that might be useful in tracking these kinds <br />of issues. <br />