Orange County NC Website
Discussion ensued about the definition of "essential." <br />Chair Jacobs said that the Boards have discussed twice at the Assembly of <br />Governments meetings having the Planning Directors of the three municipalities and the County <br />get together with the planners for the two school systems to determine where future school sites <br />will go. The school systems are still not convinced that the rural buffer is not a good place to put <br />schools. Carrboro High School was originally proposed outside the Urban Services Boundary. <br />It is not clear what is meant by "essential." <br />Mayor Chilton said that his opinion is that school sites need to be inside the Urban <br />Services Boundary and he does not see any reason why the school system should look to any <br />site outside this boundary. He wants to be clear about this so that the message gets across to <br />the people that are looking at possible future school sites. <br />Mayor Foy thinks that the default position should be that nothing goes in the rural buffer. <br />This would eliminate the need far this discussion. <br />Joal Hall Broun said that they need to identify school sites now because people move <br />here for the school system. <br />Chair Jacobs said that there is a meeting with the County Commissioners and the two <br />school boards soon and the primary discussion topic is school construction standards. One of <br />the proposals is separating the square foot cost, requirements, and number of students per <br />classroom from the acreage. The acreage would be a separate consideration depending on <br />whether it was a traditional model or non-traditional. <br />Mayor Foy said that Chapel Hill gat special legislation a couple of years ago to be able <br />to have the school's designated site, and once the site is designated, the school system has a <br />limited period of time within which to exercise its right to take the site. He said that this is a <br />useful way to take a step in the right direction because it also farces the school system to make <br />a decision. <br />Mayor Chilton said that in Carrboro, the next six schools that will be in Carrboro's <br />jurisdiction are on properties already owned by the government. Carrboro High School is the <br />first of those. <br />Dan Coleman asked Mayor Foy if he was suggesting to remove the definition. Mayor <br />Fay said that he thinks it is misleading to say that an essential public facility could go <br />somewhere or water and sewer could be extended somewhere because it makes the document <br />say, "Nobody else is allowed to do it, but the government is going to do it." He thinks that this is <br />not the intention. He thinks that the intention is that it would have to be some extreme <br />circumstance. He said that if it is an emergency, they can act quickly, but if it is not, then they <br />should all be willing to talk about it. <br />Discussion ensued about the definition of essential public facility. <br />It was agreed that Chapel Hill's Planning staff would craft some language. <br />Chair Jacobs said that the agreement would have to be amended and they would also <br />have to include OWASA. It is better to get it all cleared up so that there are no <br />misunderstandings of what the language might or might not mean. <br />The charge to Chapel Hill is to take the documents and suggest how they could be <br />amended to achieve what was discussed and then it will be circulated. <br />5. Informational Updates (VIlritten Materials - No Planned Presentations) <br />a. Solid Waste Management Plan <br />Mayor Chilton made reference to the Solid Waste Management Plan that the County is <br />working on and said that he thinks that a key issue is how they will dispose of the solid waste <br />after the closing of the landfill. To his knowledge, there are only two options under <br />consideration and neither of them is very desirable. One possibility is to work with a solid waste <br />