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120 <br />filmed. It is also Planning staff's understanding from the Clerk's office that the <br />BOCC is considering filming more of its meetings in the future (e.g., work <br />sessions) if funding is available. <br />Stop holding the public hearings as joint hearings with the Planning Board. The <br />Planning Board is an advisory board comprised of volunteers and there are <br />sometimes issues of having a quorum of members present for hearings /meetings. A <br />joint hearing cannot occur without a quorum of members from both Boards. If the <br />proposed process is adopted, the Planning Board will provide a recommendation to <br />the BOCC after the public hearing. This would allow Planning Board members to <br />either attend the public hearing or view the hearing on the internet (if available) after <br />the hearing occurs but before the Planning Board meeting in order to hear public <br />comments prior to making a recommendation. The proposed process flow charts of <br />the current process and the proposed process are included at the end of this Form. <br />o The September 9, 2013 work session materials included flow charts depicting <br />other possible processes. Staff received fairly strong input at the work <br />session that the Planning Board should make its recommendation after the <br />public hearing, so the proposed amendments have been written to implement <br />this process. <br />It should be noted that staff is suggesting that the policy of having the BOCC approve <br />the required legal advertisement would be removed as part of the streamlining effort. <br />If the BOCC decides to continue the policy of approving the legal advertisement as a <br />Consent Agenda item, it should be noted that doing so adds approximately 3 weeks <br />to the front -end of the application deadline date. This is due to agenda deadline <br />dates to have a Consent Agenda item. <br />o If the BOCC desires to continue to review the legal advertisement prior to <br />publication, the BOCC may wish to discuss whether it needs to be an item on <br />a Consent Agenda or whether the draft legal advertisement can be circulated <br />to BOCC members via e-mail for comment a few days before publication <br />deadlines. <br />Background <br />As staff indicated at the work session, Orange County's typical review timeframe in <br />recent years (4 -5 months from application deadline to BOCC decision) compares <br />favorably to other North Carolina local governments. One of the more significant <br />differences is that most local governments in North Carolina have a monthly public <br />hearing cycle rather than the quarterly cycle Orange County adheres to. <br />It is also notable that the current process was put into place at least 20 years ago <br />and one of the purposes was so residents who took interest in the types of matters <br />heard at the quarterly hearings would know in which months the hearings occur. <br />Dissemination of information was quite different 20+ years ago when compared to <br />today. The availability of agendas and hearing information on the internet makes it <br />easier for interested persons to keep apprised of matters in which they are interested <br />whereas 20+ years ago, interested people likely had to obtain hard copies of <br />