Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
3 4 31 <br /> utility service to some properties that have been constrained in their development potential. <br /> One of the reasons they have been constrained has been the non-availability of water and <br /> sewer lines. Highway 57 currently has a 6 inch Town of Hillsborough water line extending to <br /> the Mars Hill Church site. The Town has water lines to the west and to the south as well, but <br /> there are no lines in the project area at this time. The sewer lines are in the Governor Downs <br /> Subdivision, the Rencher Street area, and some isolated sewer in the Faucette Mill Road area <br /> to the west. Orange County Schools propose to extend a sanitary sewer gravity line down <br /> Strauss Creek from the school site to the north side of Governor Burke Road. A pump station <br /> would be installed which would pump southward to the Orange High School area. The water <br /> line extension to serve the school would come from the Town's northern water tank and <br /> proceed eastward by a combination of public right-of-way and acquired easement to the school <br /> site. The benefit of that water line would be to provide fire protection service as well as future <br /> potable water service for the school site and other properties. <br /> Commissioner Brown asked for clarification about the apparent discrepancy in road frontage. <br /> Mr. Whitaker indicated that in the deed description the southern road frontage on Highway 57 <br /> should be 178 wide but when it was scaled from the tax map it was much smaller than that. <br /> This discrepancy needs to be cleared up about how wide the road frontage is. <br /> Commissioner Halkiotis asked who owned the property on which the Quaker cemetery was <br /> located. <br /> Jim Parker indicated that he did not know who owned the property. He believed that it was <br /> located just off of the property involved in this proposed amendment. If it turns out to be <br /> located on this property it would be preserved. <br /> QUESTIONS AND/OR COMMENTS FROM CITIZENS: <br /> Ted Laws, a local resident, spoke in opposition to this request. He mentioned that as a <br /> business person he has mixed feelings about development and growth. He was concerned <br /> about the concept of putting more people on less land. He is the Chair of the Grounds <br /> Committee at Mars Hill Baptist Church. They have discussed this and are concerned about <br /> increasing the density of this area. He mentioned that the Quaker cemetery is on Betty Hams' <br /> property. <br /> Dr. Weng, an adjoining property owner, spoke in support of this proposal. He owns property <br /> that was zoned 10-year transitional many years ago. He does not have the money to pay for <br /> the water and sewer. He felt that this would be a good time for the County Commissioners to <br /> think about creating a planned development. He commented that growth is inevitable and he <br /> hopes that well planned growth can be encouraged. He asked the County Commissioners to <br /> approve this request. <br /> Susan Dovenbarger, Orange County School Board member, indicated that this site was <br /> selected by the Orange County School board as the location for the new elementary school. <br /> Approximately one and 1/2 years ago the school board appointed a committee to identify sites <br /> for a new elementary school. This group met and identified possible sites. They identified the <br /> number of students living in the northern and western portions of the County and determined <br /> that there are significant numbers of students coming from north of Highway 70. She <br />