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299 <br />be a change from existing processes. An example of an internal change is that, in <br />order to meet statutory requirements, the first legal advertisement for the public <br />hearing would run on the same day internal departmental agenda review occurs <br />(generally Wednesday afternoon). The current internal agenda setting process <br />allows items to be "bumped" from agendas if necessary; public hearing items could <br />not be "bumped" without incurring costs of running new legal advertisements and <br />running cancellation ads, if necessary. Additionally, for items that require mailed <br />notifications, Planning staff would likely have already prepared the notifications for <br />mailing by the time agenda review occurs, although the actual mail out is on Friday. <br />If public hearing dates are chosen that do not correspond to a regular BOCC <br />meeting, for example, holding public hearings on BOCC work session dates, the <br />internal agenda process is different. However, staff would have little ability to remove <br />public hearing items that were filed by published application deadline dates. <br />The existing practice of isolating UDO /Comprehensive Plan- related items on <br />separate meeting agendas (the quarterly public hearings) likely results in more <br />predictable BOCC regular meetings since some planning - related items can generate <br />a great deal of public interest and comment. However, most items in recent years <br />have not had significant public comment at the quarterly public hearings. <br />Orange County's practice of holding quarterly public hearings is fairly unique in North <br />Carolina (staff is aware of only one other local government — the Town of <br />Hillsborough —that limits public hearing dates to only four times per year). Most local <br />governments in North Carolina have at least one meeting per month where planning - <br />related items can be heard (either as part of a regular meeting or as a meeting <br />completely set aside for planning - related items); some have more than one meeting <br />per month. It should also be noted that having more potential public hearing dates <br />per year would likely spread out the same number of items per year over more <br />meetings (e.g., there would be fewer items per hearing date). The number of items <br />Orange County typically hears in a given year likely does not warrant a monthly <br />meeting set aside only for planning - related items since there have been quarterly <br />public hearing dates with only a small number of "easier" items. <br />It should be noted that, especially for non - government initiated items, it could be <br />undesirable to limit the number of items on any particular agenda if the applicant has <br />met the application deadline date. Staff's informal polling of local government <br />processes has indicated that most local governments put all applications that were <br />received by the filing deadline on the designated agenda, even if some must get <br />tabled to a future meeting due to time constraints; some will call a special meeting in <br />months that are particularly busy. A small number of local governments limit the <br />number of items that can be placed on any one agenda or informally work with <br />applicants to get permission to place items on a later agenda if the agenda for a <br />particular meeting has gotten very full. <br />Planning Board Involvement <br />The existing practice of holding a joint public hearing (governing body /Planning <br />Board) is also fairly unique (although the Town of Hillsborough also operates this <br />way). With a joint hearing, a quorum of members of both boards is necessary in <br />