Minutes 06-19-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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whatever is done would include the employees' participation. c. Modification of Mebane Water and Sewer Service Aqreement for the Buckhorn-Mebane-Efland Area The Board considered approving a modified Water and Sewer Service Agreement with the City of Mebane for provision of water and sewer service in the Buckhorn-Mebane-Efland area and authorizing the Chair to sign. Craig Benedict said that this is a modification of the existing water and sewer service agreement. He showed the area on a map. The original agreement includes about 1,200 acres. He went through some of the aspects of the agreement as an update to the County Commissioners that were not here when it began in 2004. The purpose of the original agreement was to leverage some money through federal grants to provide sewer to the Buckhorn community and also to provide water and sewer facilities to Gravelly Hill Middle School. In order to extend services through Mebane, this agreement was put together. This would allow 19 residents in the Buckhorn area to not pay the connection charges. The concepts in the agreement are that it would be possible in the future to send the sewer flow from the existing area that presently goes to Hillsborough to Mebane instead. Frank Clifton said that the biggest step in this is Mebane's willingness to accept the flows out of the Efland area and also the willingness to dedicate capacity in that area. Commissioner Gordon went to podium to speak because she could not see the map from her seat. She asked about Exhibit B-2 (Future Land Use Map of Orange County Comprehensive Plan) and asked if that was controlling land use. Craig Benedict said that Exhibit B-2 would be controlling land use standards. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the monitors and said that she cannot see the map on the monitor but only on the large screen. She asked staff to work on this to correct the problem. Frank Clifton said that the only areas on the maps that the City of Mebane would have land use authority over are the areas where Orange County has extended ETJ authority. The rest of the areas fall within the County's zoning jurisdiction. He hopes to come back in the fall and have the Board approve bids for construction of these lines. Commissioner Jacobs said that the issue of annexation needs to be addressed for the benefit of people in Efland. John Roberts said that the prior drafts of the agreement had some language that could have been interpreted to require some annexation in some areas. However, due to recent activity in the General Assembly, annexation has been severely curbed for municipalities. From Mebane's perspective, all annexation going forward will be voluntary only. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to #10 and Reservation of Capacity and asked if there was anything in this agreement to recover a percentage of the availability fees. Frank Clifton said that it is really a capacity charge for the County to guarantee capacity and helps to avoid the capital costs of expansion of plants, lines, etc. As users are added, the capacity charge will be reduced. Commissioner Jacobs asked if planning jointly with Mebane would be coming back in the fall. Craig Benedict said that there would be conversations in the fall about joint planning. Commissioner Jacobs asked if this was to be a public process rather than a staff process. Craig Benedict said yes. Commissioner Gordon asked about the annexation area and made reference to the bottom of page 5 and the top of page 6. She said that it is a big deal what the urban growth and annexation area might be. She said that it seems that this is de facto saying which part is