Agenda - 04-01-1996 - IX-D - Laserfiche WebLink

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86 Flexible development does not affect the Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, Carrboro area or the Rural Buffer. It affects the rest of the rural part of the County exclusive of the Rural Buffer. The minutes of the last public hearing indicate that only one or two people in the affected area attended the public hearing. When Walters asked residents why they did not attend the hearing, the response was, "Why should we bother, they didn't pay attention to us before, they're not going to pay attention to us again. " Walters continued that the previous public hearing on 2-acre minimum lot size and 50% mandatory open space, the majority of the people were opposed to 50% open space. One comment made to Walters was, "We don't go to Chapel Hill, Carrboro, or Hillsborough and tell them how to run their area, we very much resent people from the municipalities and areas not affected telling us how to run our section of the county. She noted that, while she did not always agree with those residents, she felt that some consideration should be given to the rural residents and landowners opinions. She continued that none were in favor of 50% open space. She felt that the Planning Board should start with open space gradually. If that does not work, then there could be a gradual increase. Allison stated that he felt Issue #2 - Exclusion of unbuildable land - should be considered before Issue #1 - Open space percentage. The decision regarding the percentage of open space would be greatly affected by the decision of whether to exclude unbuildable land or whether it would be a percentage of the entire tract. Rosemond commented that her understanding of this process is to try and preserve rural character and asked that Board members remember this. She continued that if that is really the mission, there are many strategies to achieve that, but preserving rural character is fundamentally what it is about. By consensus, the Board agreed that it made more sense to discuss Issue #2 first. 2. Exclusion of unbuildable land. The specific issue is whether floodplains, wetlands, and steep slopes should be counted as open space because they are considered unbuildable. The alternative suggested is to apply the required open space percentage after subtracting such features from the total site area. Howie stated that she felt the open space percentage should be calculated on the total tract site/size.