ORD-1999-015 Text Amendments Development Standards in Cane Creek Watershed

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there is the opportunity to place lots on a property so there is minimal watershed impact. He does think that because of what the consultants have said and because it does achieve so many other goals and objectives that Orange County has as a government and as a community, he is comfortable with looking at clustering. He said that there have been discussions in the past about whether density should be based on the carrying capacity of the property rather than on an inflexible acreage formula. This might be a place to discuss the clustering. He suggested receiving an annual report so the County Commissioners can see what is happening in the watershed. Commissioner Carey said that he has a concern with having a carrying capacity in excess of what is proposed. He supports option two because it accomplishes a number of different goals. Craig Benedict said that the carrying capacity would work in option one or two. Commissioner Brown feels that option two did not show the dramatic increase in the number of lots that also increases the impervious surfaces. She said that she was on the Cane Creek Watershed Study Committee and her recollection was that the report came back and it recommended the acreage that should be zoned, and after that was the discussion of mitigation and clustering for the property owners. She thinks that the five-acre lot size can accomplish open space and wildlife corridor protection. Craig Benedict said that the best scenario for water quality issues is option one. He said that even though option two is an increase over option one, it is a 33% decrease over the existing zoning. Commissioner Brown would rather have the zoning be consistent with the University Lake watershed. She made reference to page 15 where it talks about density bonuses. Craig Benedict said that if option one was chosen there would not be any flexible development provisions and density bonuses. Commissioner Brown asked if any kind of alternative system for the clustering would be allowed or would there just be a conventional system. Craig Benedict said that the clustering would be designed for a minimum three bedroom conventional system. Commissioner Brown said that she supports option one. She believes that option two is a very large increase in density. Commissioner Jacobs suggested approving the five-acre lot zoning, with the understanding that the Board would direct staff to work on option two and see if it can achieve the County's water quality protection goals and come back to the County Commissioners with further modifications. Commissioner Carey said that he feels that option two has the potential for addressing water quality issues. He said that the Board should remember what the property owners said at the public hearing. He feels that option two comes closer than the existing scenario to addressing all of the concerns including water quality. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Carey to table this discussion and direct staff to pursue further analysis of option two for November 161H Commissioner Halkiotis noted that Orange County has been a leader in watershed protection. He supports the five-acre minimum lot size. VOTE: AYES, 2; NOS, 3 (Commissioner Halkiotis, Commissioner Brown, and Chair Gordon) A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve option one to implement a five-acre minimum lot size in the Cane Creek watershed. Chair Gordon made a friendly amendment to the motion to approve option one tonight, but have the staff bring back option two, without another public hearing, to be sure that it has substantially equivalent water quality standards. Geoffrey Gledhill said that the Board could adopt those ordinance amendments that relate to option one and not take any action on ordinance amendments to option two. Commissioner Jacobs explained his reasoning behind moving to table this discussion and said that he did not want to preclude something because it was not fully explored. He is comfortable with the present motion. He does not think that what was proposed as an alternative to option two was done to undermine water quality protection. Commissioner Brown made reference to open space and said that the County Commissioners have never really discussed open space. She feels that adding the issue of open space tonight would be premature.