Orange County NC Website
33 <br /> Orange County has been working on a zoning program known as "Agricultural Support <br /> Enterprises" (ASE) intermittently since 2001. The concept and necessary UDO text <br /> amendments were discussed at the November 21, 2013 Assembly of Governments (AOG) <br /> meeting (agenda materials are at: http://orangecountync.gov/occlerks/131121.pdf) and, as a <br /> result of discussion at the AOG meeting, a determination was made that text changes to the <br /> Joint Planning Land Use Plan and Agreement would be necessary in order for the County to <br /> adopt Unified Development Ordinance text changes that would allow appropriate agricultural <br /> support uses in the Rural Buffer. <br /> The purpose of the ASE program is to augment allowable agricultural-related uses farmers <br /> throughout Orange County's planning jurisdiction, which includes the Rural Buffer, can pursue in <br /> order to generate additional farm-related income and to potentially allow farming support/related <br /> uses in rural areas. The program seeks to minimize any adverse impacts on adjoining property <br /> by applying special standards for specific uses and the development standards in the County's <br /> UDO required for all projects. One of the main ideas behind the program is that by better <br /> enabling farmers to stay in the business of farming, the rural, farming heritage of Orange County <br /> will continue to be preserved and pressure to sell farmland for conversion to residential uses <br /> may be lessened. <br /> Completion of the ASE project is identified in the County's adopted Agricultural Development <br /> and Farmland Protection Plan (available at: <br /> http://orangecountVnc.gov/ercd/documents/farmland%20protection/Orange%20County%20ADF <br /> PP%20Adopted%2011-17-09.pdf) as an important step in continuing the economic viability of <br /> farming in Orange County. <br /> As noted above, the actual UDO text amendments that would allow appropriate agricultural <br /> support uses in the Rural Buffer are not the topic of this public hearing. However, it is pertinent <br /> to note that the UDO text amendments propose very few additional uses as "permitted outright" <br /> in the Rural Buffer and these uses are of a small scale, low impact nature and must conform to <br /> use-specific standards in addition to the development standards Orange County requires for all <br /> development projects. Larger ASE uses or those with a greater possibility of adverse impacts <br /> would be permitted only through a Special Use Permit or Conditional Zoning process. These <br /> processes allow consideration of uses on a site-specific, case-by-case basis after a public <br /> hearing conducted by the County with the Board of County Commissioners making the final <br /> approval or denial decision. These County processes are similar to the conditional use permit <br /> processes the Towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro use when reviewing development <br /> applications. As per the Joint Planning Agreement, all projects within the Rural Buffer are sent <br /> to Town planning staffs for review and comment. The Rural Buffer is divided into either <br /> Carrboro or Chapel Hill review areas with a small geographic area being reviewed by the staffs <br /> of both Towns (see map at: <br /> http://orangecountync.gov/planning/documents/JPAReviewAreas.pd_O. <br /> The pages in the attachment contain the necessary amendments to the Joint Planning Land <br /> Use Plan and Agreement to allow for the possibility of locating appropriate ASE uses in the <br /> Rural Buffer. The ASE-related changes are shown in blue text. In instances where there is <br /> overlap between the ASE-related changes and the changes proposed in a separate item on the <br /> Joint Public Hearing agenda, the changes proposed in the separate item are shown in red text. <br /> This differentiation was done in order to be clearer in sentences of the plan/agreement where <br /> overlap occurs. <br />