Agenda - 09-04-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 1 Michael Harvey said staff has interpreted the joint land use plan as establishing a 2 defacto density because the language says that lots must be two acres or higher. He 3 discussed the example of the Dunhill subdivision on Mount Sinai Road, which was not allowed 4 to have a cluster model under the current plan, but would have been allowed as a cluster 5 subdivision if these amendments were adopted. 6 Commissioner Gordon referred to her email question regarding the combination of 7 agricultural and rural residential categories. She wanted to understand the reason why these 8 were combined. She said it has been established that there were planning reasons, not legal 9 reasons to do this. . She said the reason for the amendments is to keep farmers farming. She 10 referred to the Joint Planning Area (JPA) strategy map on page 73 and said it shows farms, 11 although it does not show all of the farms. She said the Board just got a map of the use value 12 farms in their packet, which shows where the use value parcels are. She said neither 13 agricultural nor residential are categories on the map for the Joint Planning Area Land Use 14 Plan. She said the category was Rural Buffer. She said the Joint Planning Area strategy map 15 on page 73 shows farms, and the most recent map in the agenda materials shows use value 16 parcels. 17 Commissioner Gordon said it is important to know which parcels have farms, which is 18 about 27 percent of the parcels. She is not sure that the intent was to make everything 19 agricultural, and her understanding of the intent was to keep the farmers farming and give them 20 more ways to make a living. 21 Commissioner Gordon said the other point she wanted to make is that Carrboro is 22 discussing this tonight, and Chapel Hill is discussing this on June 9. She questioned why 23 Orange County is approving this tonight without waiting to hear from their partners. She said it 24 would be more collegial to wait for feedback from the towns. 25 Michael Talbert said staff is running out of time to move this forward. He said the towns 26 will receive this as a unanimous recommendation from the planning board, and there is no 27 reason to think that the towns would have any objections. He said if the towns make any major 28 material changes to the document, the Board would have to start over anyway. 29 Commissioner Gordon said it would depend on the changes made to the document. 30 She said the deadline is a self imposed deadline, and there will be no money lost. She said 31 agricultural support enterprises are not being discussed until the fall. She would like to hear 32 what the towns say, and she is concerned about approving this tonight and then having to start 33 all over again. 34 Michael Harvey said if one of the towns makes a word or language change, this would 35 have to be re-reviewed by the planning board and the Board, as well as the town. He said it is 36 the position of staff that there will be no language change with either of these two items. 37 Commissioner Dorosin said the Board should go ahead and vote. 38 39 A motion was made by Commissioner Dorosin, seconded by Commissioner Pelissier for 40 the Board to: 41 42 1. Deliberate as necessary on the proposed amendments to the Joint Planning Land Use 43 Plan and Agreement; and 44 2. Decide accordingly and/or adopt the Resolution contained in Attachment 2 which 45 approves the amendments to the Plan and JPA. 46 47 VOTE: 6-1 (Commissioner Gordon) 48 49 d. Joint Planning Land Use Plan and Agreement Amendments —Agricultural 50 Support Enterprises Within the Rural Buffer Land Use Classification