Orange County NC Website
did not even receive the draft until four days prior to the hearing. She said that it seems obvious <br />that the original intention was to downzone the land in the rural part of the County and this has <br />been a great disservice to the people of this County and to the decision-makers who represent <br />them. She said that this plan relies on the concept of larger lots to meet all the County's <br />comprehensive land use needs and so much time and money has been spent on this very <br />narrow concept. She said that there should be an honest, accurate, and innovative plan for the <br />future and the update should be done the way it was supposed to be done, with the Planning <br />Board, the supervisory boards, the County departments, and the landowners collaborating on <br />the future. <br />Patrick McDonald is the board chair of The Village Project, an Orange County based <br />non-profit that advocates for ecologically sound land use. He usually represents Triangle <br />Transit Authority, but is not doing so in any capacity tonight. He said that the staff report on the <br />County's website reaches highly dubious conclusions about the impacts of density reduction. <br />On page 23, the report states, "the positive aspects of density reduction in the County's rural <br />areas include: reduced potential far increases in vehicle miles traveled and protection of water <br />quality and quantity." He said that reducing density puts more distance between homes and <br />businesses, between homes and schools, homes and worship, etc. When more distance is put <br />between the elements of the communities, citizens are forced to drive more. <br />He said that the Environmental Protection Agency has gone on record in a publication <br />entitled, "Protecting Water Resources with Higher Density Developments" to say that when <br />impervious surface coverage is considered at the watershed level rather than the level of the <br />individual house, higher density development requires less impervious surface than law density, <br />which means less runoff and perhaps better water quality. The problem with only looking at the <br />amount of impervious surface on an individual lot is that it does not count all the extra pavement <br />needs far the automobile. He said that it is difficult to support the staff conclusion that lower <br />density is somehow the key to water quality in Orange County. He said that this process <br />remains flawed because it isolates land use planning from other critical portions of the <br />comprehensive planning process. He urged the Board to move to a process that considers all <br />of the elements together and adopt a plan that encompasses them. <br />Joe Phelps is a native of Orange County. He said that the County does need some <br />changes, but the proposed plan is way too drastic. He said that the Board approved a <br />subdivision in Efland on Frazier Road several years ago, and he pointed out that if they do this <br />type of plan, then it will keep the people that can buy these types of houses from living in <br />Orange County. This subdivision has one-acre lots and the houses range from $150-170,000. <br />He said that five-acre lots would keep the lower and middle-income people from being able to <br />live in Orange County. <br />Ben Lloyd is a lifelong resident of Orange County. He said that in the previous public <br />hearing, four different options with proposed densities were shown. He requested at that time to <br />be provided with the number of acres in each proposal. He asked if this had been done. Craig <br />Benedict said that they are not suggesting any options tonight. He said that he would get this <br />information to Mr. Lloyd. <br />Jay Zardosa said that in 1981, he was in the University Mall and was given the new land <br />use plan. He has not read the text and does not knave if there is any mention of package <br />treatment plants, but he urged the County Commissioners to continue to oppose the <br />establishment of subdivision package treatment plants. He also asked the County <br />Commissioners to consider treating five-acre lot subdivisions as exempt. <br />Commissioner Gordan said that she understands from the presentation that the future <br />land use map is just here for review, but she wonders where it came from. She asked if the <br />Planning Board had anything to do with it and it was answered no. <br />