Agenda - 05-08-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

15 1 Margaret Hauth said the only other task that might need to go forward would be bringing 2 the town's future land use plan into the County's comprehensive plan. She said this could 3 happen without changing the homeowners' lives, and it would further memorialize the effort. 4 Commissioner McKee said he is sensing a change of direction since the informational 5 meeting held in January, and he is glad for this. He said he spent a lot of time addressing 6 citizen concerns about this, and the feels the idea being proposed, of moving the land back to 7 the County, and setting a hold on the area in the south, is the best idea. 8 Commissioner Price agreed with Commissioner McKee. She noted that there were 9 some people in Wildwood who may have wanted to be annexed since they wanted urban 10 services. She said it might be good to check in with these people before this is taken entirely 11 off the board. 12 Chair Jacobs said it may be good to have a forum for these particular residents in order 13 to close the loop. 14 Margaret Hauth said there has never been a formal request from Wildwood to be 15 annexed. She said there have been individual inquiries on a regular basis. She said she has 16 created a spreadsheet that can be filled out to tell people whether it is in their interest to be 17 annexed. She said it appears that there might be a provision in the Wildwood covenants that 18 requires an extraordinary majority of residents to even petition the town for annexation. 19 Commissioner Rich asked what happens to the 400 acres being released back to the 20 County. 21 Craig Benedict said this area would have an agricultural/residential land use and zoning. 22 He said it is in a critical watershed area for Hillsborough's water source, and some of it is Duke 23 Forest. He said there is not much development potential there at all, and nothing would really 24 change for that land. 25 Brian Lowen said he has thought that Wildwood would be a perfect candidate for 26 annexation, as it already has city water and sewer, and so many residents are paying high city 27 rates. He said he initiated a meeting with the officers of the home owner's association and this 28 was cancelled at the very last minute, because so many residents did not want to be in the city 29 limits. 30 Commissioner Pelissier said she did not understand Margaret Hauth's suggestion of 31 incorporating the town's land use plan into our comprehensive plan. She asked what the 32 advantage would be. 33 Tom Altieri said Orange County has a jointly adopted land use plan that covers all of the 34 land area within the town's urban services area. He said this plan has been adopted, but it has 35 not been fully implemented with comprehensive plan amendments referencing the document. 36 He said that would need to be done. 37 Mayor Stevens said the general attitude of the town board is that they are open to 38 voluntary annexation, but the amount of energy it takes to do that is enormous, and it is not 39 conceivable at this point. 40 Craig Benedict said there is an additional step that would be helpful to both jurisdictions. 41 He said the town has moved from a blurry line to a more specific urban service boundary line. 42 He suggested the creation of a water and sewer agreement between Orange County and 43 Hillsborough. He said this would mean if a development proposal comes forward in this area, 44 there will be a discussion by both entities. He said this could be a staff project, and this would 45 give some clarity on the clarity to help anticipate water and sewer potential for economic 46 development projects. He said this will be similar to the Mebane/Orange County agreement. 47 Chair Jacobs asked if this was an amenable concept. 48 Mayor Stevens said this is interesting on the surface, and the town is interested in 49 economic development. He said the town has to pay close attention to capacity. He said there