Agenda - 09-08-2014 - C5 - Laserfiche WebLink

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