ORD-2001-031 Regulated Recyclable Materials Ordinance (2)

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ordinance includes too long of a waiting period for the review of building permits that involve demolition or deconstruction. The time uncertainty will add to the cost of the projects in Orange County. Commissioner Jacobs asked about a threshold for remodeling and other homeowner repairs and renovations that would be exempt. Gayle Wilson said that the threshold was eliminated, but in practice, there would be a limited number of demolition projects that would be subject to the delay. Richard Leber spoke as a member of the C&D task force. He said that the task force felt that recycling today was a good idea to extend the life of the landfill here in Orange County. Another feeling of the task force was that Orange County residents should be responsible to take care of those items that we can within the County itself and recycle if possible. The third item is that there is a feeling that some items have more economic value than other values. Howard McAdams said that the farmers of Orange County strongly object to the solid waste proposal, which contains the provision to prohibit burning of stumps, brush, and trees from clearing land for agricultural uses. The main objections are that there would be great additional cost to alternative methods of taking care of the trees and brush left from clearing of land for agricultural use. Also, the farmers have no way of passing this additional cost to the people because they are usually not able to set the prices they receive for their products. Developers can pass increased costs along to buyers of their land. There are relatively small amounts of land cleared each year for agricultural use in Orange County. Occasionally situations arise where farmers want to even out a field, reclaim a grownup field, or clean up pastures where trees have fallen from hurricanes or wind storm damages such as we have seen in the past several years. Farmers need to have the ability to continue to burn this debris to make their operations feasible. Increased costs of doing business from new regulations add to the difficulty of maintaining farming profitability. Anything that affects profitability discourages agriculture and makes it harder for those currently in farming to keep farming. He said that tax records would show if land was in land use and it would be easy to distinguish developed land from agricultural land. He also asked that there be exemptions from storm damage burning. Chair Halkiotis asked Karen McAdams, Mr. McAdams' wife, if there is a record of how much land is cleared for agricultural uses and she said that her estimate is about 75 acres. The other uses are very limited. The land clearing would be the largest use. James Horner, a sod farmer in northern Orange County, said that he opposes the burning ban for agricultural use. If he expands his operation, the cost would be too much if he could not burn. Chair Halkiotis said that he would personally not want to do anything that would hurt Mr. Horner's business. He congratulated him on his sod operation. Chair Halkiotis asked about how often a tub grinder is brought in and Gayle Wilson said that he brings it in about two or three times a year. They wait until they have 2,000 tons of yard waste material. It costs $10.00 a ton to grind the debris. He said that, as a part of the ordinance, the implementation plan recommends that Orange County acquire such a tub grinder. It is possible that an arrangement could be made with legitimate agricultural purposes to operate the grinder at some kind of reduced rate to assist the farmers. He is not sure if it would be legal to do this for farmers and not for developers. Ed Houser, owner of a general contracting business, asked that the County Commissioners consider how they can sort the waste out in a reasonable space so that people could get their work done. He said that there should be room to sort the waste. Sue Sweezy, from Recycling for Youth, talked about the illegal dumping that is done at the site they maintain for wooden skids. She said that her understanding is that there would be lower tipping fees for those who separate materials and there are also three new positions. She asked for the financial information on the tipping fees and also the new positions. Commissioner Brown asked staff for a list of ways of sorting construction debris onsite. The Board would like to see some creative ideas about allowing burning for agricultural uses. Commissioner Jacobs would also like staff to come back with ideas about establishing a threshold below which renovations would be exempt. Commissioner Brown would also like the staff to come back with some type of response to the storm damage issue. Commissioner Brown would also like the staff to come back with some of the economic issues of this ordinance.