Agenda - 06-03-2008-5b5e - Laserfiche WebLink

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`mot ~ ~"~a ~ r ~. t.,. ~. t9.ssessing Bucirborn Village in the Content of Global ~armin~ ,Summary 1) Carbon Emissions Implications. Vehicle "trip generation" rates do not begin to convey the Climate Change impacts that a project of this magnitude produces. The applicant projects nearly 46,000 daily trips in and out of Buckhorn. Because the urgency to reduce COz emissions is increasing, I advise the Board of Commissioners to ask that the applicant produce daily estimated Vehicle Miles Traveled (V'MT) numbers for the project and the COatonnage that would be associated with these numbers based on current average fuel economy {Zlmpg). Further, I would like staff to factor these numbers into the COz emissions inventory currently underway in Orange County. The County's draft COz emissions inventory shows transportation already contributing 49% of our emissions. Climate scientists are seeing accelerating rates of increasing COz and of warming impacts, and have reduced the preferred upper limit of atmospheric COz to 350ppm (which the current concentration of 385ppm exceeds). The data and the possible worst case scenarios that have been envisioned compel us, in my opinion, to take the strongest possible steps to implement land use & economic planning that will reduce, not increase emissians. There are currently no public transit operations that could serve this project either for Orange County residents or for the larger service areas Buckhorn must draw from -the RTP region to the east and the Mebane-Burlington & Piedmont Triad to the west. A regional bus service that would reach as far west~as Mebane & Greensboro is anticipated in the Special Transportation Advisory Committee draft vision for the RTP area -but this is only a visioning document that could be years from implementation. Buckhorn, if built, will be utterly car-dependent far the foreseeable future. (See Narrative section I far details about Climate Change effects & COz emissions targets) 2) Planning Policy Documents. Documents submitted in the Buckhozn Village application respond to two key County policy documents that are badly out of date -the Comprehensive Plan adopted in 1.981, -and the EDD planning, Guidelines published in 1994 and last amended in 2003. The Cornp Plan is in a formal Update process due to finish this August. ED staff could not say when they expected the EDD Guidelines to be updated. H ~~ The applicant is therefore responding to, and the Board of Commissioners making decisions based upon a set of requirements that are, in the context of the Global Climate Emergency, of limited relevance. These kinds of economic development and land use decisions must respond to local and global circumstances that have drastically changed over the past two decades. It is only a matter of time before we will be adopting COz emissions reduction targets at the local, state, and national level, and no reason to think these targets will be any less stringent than those already in place in EU nations that range from 60 to 80%. Buckhorn as currently proposed will only be served by single-occupant vehicles, will have only a very small residential component, and lies at the fringe of rather than within a population center. And even if the buildings meet the highest LEED standards, Buckhorn will likely still be a net COz emitter. (See item II in the narrative section.)