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that location about a mile and a half or so. There's a series of residential subdivisions in there <br /> and these all cluster together around each other. Buckhorn Village is one of them, Chancellor's <br /> Ridge, and Eagle's Point. Looking at all three of those, they are newer in terms of age of <br /> creation. They are roughly about eight years of age or less, but there are a number of sales and <br /> re-sales in the development so you can begin to gauge the effect of that location and what <br /> potential appreciation levels might exist, if any. In the Buckhorn Village, over that period of time, <br /> there was about 4.6%; at Eagle's Point there's about 4%; and Chancellor's Ridge is 5.3%. <br /> Coupling that with the proposed improvements as if 100% complete, I can't find any evidence <br /> that would indicate that this particular location and the surrounding properties would be <br /> negatively influenced by the Buckhorn Village development at all. I'd be glad to take any <br /> questions. <br /> Bill Hutchins: At this time I'd like to call Jim Parker of Southern Engineering, who is going to <br /> provide some testimony as to how the developer has addressed some of the concerns raised in <br /> our last hearing. <br /> Jim Parker: I have been sworn. Just briefly, we received from the Planning staff after the <br /> public hearing in February a list of questions from the public that was brought up here and some <br /> questions that were generated from some committee meetings —the EDC and a few other <br /> committee meetings within the County and within this area —and we have responded to those, <br /> and I'd like to submit these as evidence. The staff already has copies of this, but this is just an <br /> official submittal. <br /> Chair Jacobs: To the staff, could we get a copy of the same list of questions and concerns? <br /> PUBLIC COMMENT: <br /> Charles Bowman: I have been sworn. I have lived in the Buckhorn community all of my life. I <br /> own 33 acres right beside Petro, I've lived there for 38 years, and I've wondered when this was <br /> going to happen. I'm looking forward to it happening, and I hope the Commissioners take it into <br /> consideration to pass it because we have nothing on that end of the County; everything is in <br /> Hillsborough towards the other end of the County, and we need something down on our end. It <br /> may not be the best thing in the world to happen, but at least it's a start. <br /> Adam Klein: I have been sworn. I am the Director of Government Relations and Economic <br /> Development for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, and I wanted to talk a little bit <br /> about Buckhorn Village and sort of the process that the Chamber is going through to review this <br /> project. In February and March, the Chamber's Board of Directors and Government Relations <br /> Committee reviewed the plan for the proposed Buckhorn Village and both voted unanimously to <br /> support the project. There are three key, I would say, aspects of this project that both the board <br /> and the committee particularly would like to bring up tonight. First, is that this project is locating <br /> in a long-identified economic development district. This is land that has been set aside <br /> specifically for this purpose. There is now a project that's been brought forward that's exactly <br /> what this zoning is designed for. Second, is the amount of tax revenue that would be generated <br /> by Buckhorn Village. In the winter, the Chamber contracted with a UNC graduate student to <br /> basically analyze the economic impact of Buckhorn Village and found pretty strong results. If <br /> you look at the sales tax revenue from the construction phase to the first year of operation, we <br /> estimate that this project will generate somewhere around $6.5 million of taxes for Orange <br /> County. That number factors out the amount of tax that would go to the State and to other <br /> counties. In addition to that, we estimate that 1,700 jobs would be created for Orange County <br /> residents, 2,500 jobs in all. When you consider those numbers in light of the budget situation <br /> right now, that is much needed revenue with the long-term liability of this County. The third <br />