Agenda - 03-06-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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8 1 Dave Stancil said it is important for a County parks plan to mesh with what is going on in 2 the towns. 3 4 5. School Facility Plans 5 Craig Benedict said there is a large portion of Mebane in Orange County that is growing 6 residentially, and this is adding numbers to the school system. He said, because of this, the 7 County would like to landbank property that has public water and sewer for use as a future 8 school site to serve western Orange County and eastern Mebane. He said it would be better to 9 do this now than to be left scrambling for limited sites later. 10 He said the challenge is that schools can only be located where there is public water 11 and sewer, so everything is nestled primarily around Hillsborough. He said it was suggested 12 that three zones be looked at for potential land banking. He said the County actively looks at 13 and projects for school populations each year. He said development projects can change those 14 projections very quickly. 15 Craig Benedict reviewed the three potential zones on the map. He said these zones are 16 determined by populations. He said research of available sites showed zone 2 to have the 17 best possibilities. He said there are not a lot of sites out there, as schools require 20-25 acres 18 of useable land. He said the goal would be to find a site with flexibility for dual use in the future. 19 He said a staff report will be provided in the next month or so, with approval from the 20 new superintendent, and this will be brought to the elected officials in Mebane and Orange 21 County. 22 Orange County Schools Board Chair Donna Coffey said she appreciates being here to 23 be part of the conversation. She said the district has seen slow growth in the last few years, but 24 there was growth of over 200 students this year. She said the growth in the County indicates a 25 need to plan for sites sooner rather than later. 26 Craig Benedict said the economy has turned a little bit, and development is increasing. 27 He said the impact of this growth could dramatically change the student projections. He said it 28 takes 4-5 years to find land, create designs and get a school built. 29 30 6. Other 31 a) White Furniture Update 32 City Manager David Cheek said White Furniture is an old furniture store site established 33 in Mebane in the 1800s. He said the 300,000 square foot space has been sitting empty for 34 years, hoping for development. He said the current developer is out of Durham, and they have 35 recently been invited to apply to HUD for market rate apartments. He said developer is working 36 through the application process, and the town is hopeful this will come to fruition. He said this 37 would be good for downtown and would create a lot more activity. He referenced the plans on 38 the last page of the abstract. 39 David Cheek said the downtown is already thriving and there are currently 4-5 40 renovations happening. 41 David Cheek said the White Furniture Development would require HUD to guarantee the 42 loans. He said the renovation plans are projected at $25-30 million. He said the fact that this is 43 a historic property only allows it to be taxed at half that value, but this amount would still be a 44 significant boon. 45 46 b) Orange/Alamance Line Issues 47 48 Craig Benedict said this line has been resolved to a large degree, but the Morrow Mill 49 Road and Mill Creek areas could not be resolved with Alamance County. He said these two 50 sites would be a different process, and they would be addressed in the 2015 legislative session.