Agenda - 12-17-1996 - 10a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

e 2 MEMORANDUM TO: Orange County Board of Commissioners John Link, County Manager FROM: ;114)d Visser,Assistant County Manager DATE: November 18, 1996 RE: Orange-Alamance Line County staff have held a number of meetings since August with Alamance County staff to discuss how we might resolve the discrepancies that exist between property tax maps of the two counties as to the location of the County line. Roscoe Reeve, John Smith, Geof Gledhill,Gene Bell, and Mary Willis have joined me in one or more of these meetings. We have been working with at least two objectives in mind: having the county line question resolved so that any changes required could be implemented with the start of fiscal year 1997-98; and trying to minimize the negative impacts that residents would experience as a result of any change in the location of the county line. In our most recent meeting with Alamance staff in October,we focused on whether the United States Geological Survey(USGS) line (depicted in blue on the attached set of 3 maps) is the best representation of the County line for the two counties to work from. After reviewing research prepared by the Alamance staff, and plotting points using our GIS system, we have come to the conclusion that the USGS line is the best line to work with. As you know,the county line described in the 1849 survey refers to many geographical reference points which no longer exist. The level of precision in references like"close east of Widow Birds old place" and "East of John Morrow over his Spring"is certainly far from what one would rely on now, but in the time of the survey, was no doubt useful enough. Despite the imprecision in the county line description, however, it is fair to say that Orange County staff can offer no compelling evidence that the county line we have traditionally shown on Orange County tax maps accurately reflects the line surveyed in 1849. Moreover,there are several landmarks referenced in the 1849 survey which are still in existence today, and the plot of the USGS line is relatively consistent with at least three of those: "east of Hebron Church"; "1/2 mile west of Bethlehem Church"; and "Crossing Cane Creek three times". There seemed to be general agreement between the two boards of commissioners at the joint meeting in late June that it is important to be able to tell citizens definitively which county their property is in. Under the circumstances, if we are interested primarily in reaching agreement with Alamance County on some line as accurately reflecting the County boundary, staff are persuaded that the USGS line is a logical basis for pursuing that agreement.