Orange County NC Website
Chair Jacobs suggested that the County Commissioners concede that there are different <br /> recollections. <br /> Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that his recollection <br /> is that, as the 60 acres was officially designated in 2002, the County looked at creating the 60 <br /> acres based on both the mature hardwoods that were present on site and access to the rail line <br /> for some purpose in the future. Also, he remembers that the only statement that Orange County <br /> has officially made about the ultimate use of the 60 acres is a letter that went to Mayor Rosemary <br /> Waldorf in 2000 that indicated that it was the County's current intent to retain it as open space. <br /> To his knowledge, there has been no further elaboration on what that means. <br /> Environmental/natural features/preservation parameters: <br /> Dave Stancil said that this area is the headwaters of three different drainage basins. <br /> There are areas with mature hardwoods. The most ecologically sensitive portions of the property <br /> are the northernmost portions. More recently, the County has been talking with Triangle Land <br /> Conservancy for a couple of years about conservation easements on the property, specifically the <br /> 86 acres of joint open space. He made reference to Attachment 1, which indicates that TLC has <br /> agreed in principle to hold the conservation easement. TLC is also willing to hold an easement <br /> on the County's 60 acres, which would be a separate easement. He read the three issues on <br /> Attachment 1: <br /> 1. Do the three jurisdictions wish to proceed with placing a conservation easement on <br /> Tract 3 and adopt a revised concept plan? <br /> 2. Does Orange County wish to amend the Interlocal Agreement to provide for and <br /> place a separate conservation easement on its 60 acres (Tract 1), with lessened <br /> monitoring provisions? <br /> 3. Does the County agree with the proposed Guiding Principles and Parameters <br /> (Attachment 4) for the conservation easement(s)? <br /> 4. There will likely be some stewardship endowment funding requested by TLC for the <br /> easement on Tract 3, which has not yet been calculated. <br /> Chair Jacobs made reference to issue number two and "lessened monitoring provisions." <br /> Dave Stancil said that for a couple of years, there has been discussion about placing the 60 acres <br /> in the Lands Legacy program and using the County staff to monitor it, which would avoid the <br /> stewardship costs. <br /> Utility Existing and Proposed: <br /> Craig Benedict said that there was public water in the area adjacent to Tract 2. There <br /> are no existing gravity systems there, but there is a gravity sewer system in the Rush Hollow <br /> subdivision, which is a Habitat for Humanity project. There is another Habitat project of about 40 <br /> units in Chapel Hill, which is in process, and this would bring sewer directly to the western portion <br /> of the affordable housing tract. The best way to service gravity utilities to this area would be <br /> OWASA. Regarding the possibility of a school site in the general area, if there was an area to the <br /> south of the site that could be used for ball fields in conjunction with the school and possibly a <br /> community park, an area could be added adjacent to the affordable housing tract, and this would <br /> not have to be serviced by a sewer system. <br /> The Rogers Road neighborhood and task force passed a resolution that said that it was <br /> in agreement with the school board pursuing further analysis of part of this affordable housing <br /> tract for an urban-sized school. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that he was in touch with Ed Holland from OWASA today, who sent <br /> him an email indicating that it would cost $3-3.5 million to extend sewer to this area. <br /> Commissioner Carey asked if the potential for placing a school on the site would reduce <br /> the number of affordable housing units that the site would accommodate. Craig Benedict said <br />