Agenda - 06-03-2008-5b5b - Laserfiche WebLink

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a ~11.~1~ 1 ~.A~~V V T~ ~ 6 Commissioner Nelson: First, I want to correct one statement that was made by Adam Klein from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of .Commerce. It's not correct to say that there was unanimity; there was a split vote on whether or not. to proceed with this. l thought there were some key questions that needed to be discussed in a public way before proceeding with this. So, it's not really accurate. A couple of things were raised at the last time we discussed this and I wanted to ask some questions about. Some are specific to the project, but some are bigger picture things, because as you know, this is a legislative decision. The first question I had, there were comments made, evidence presented that the I-85 bridge would have to be widened and some other road developments would have to be made. Who is going to pay for these? Jim Parker: At this time, it,would be on the back of the development. At this time. Commissioner Nelson: At this time, do you think it's going to change? Jirn Parker: Possibly somebody could bring some money into the situation. DOT has certain areas that we could explore, but currently, improvements that are in the TIA in the proposal are based on the development itself, so it's their responsibility. Commissioner Nelson: There are also some tax revenue figures in the document that was presented. Have we done any analysis of our awn to see what our estimates are? Laura Blackmon: No, we currently do n'ot have any estimates. Commissioner Nelson: Can we get that? Along those same lines, I'd be interested in knowing what the net economic impact would be of this project. We have a Chamber of Commerce that talked only about the benefits, but there are costs. One of the presenters last time made a significant comment about the wages of these jobs -retail jobs, hotel jobs of $8-9 an hour, which means government. subsidizing. if you make $8 an hour, somebody's going to have. to subsidize your childcare; somebody's going to have to subsidize your child's free lunch or reduced lunch. So, what are the net costs of this development for the community? And he also stated that there would be 1,500 jobs, which would be great, but we only have about 2,300 unemployed people in Orange County right now. My question is where those 1,500 people are_ going to come from. Are they going to move into Orange County to work at this shopping center, and if so, where are they going to live? If they get $8 an hour, they're going to need affordable housing. Are there. going to be other economic development incentives sought for this project besides the potential 1-85 widening? Jim. Parker:. At this time, I .can't answer that question, but I will respond to that in writing when I find out for sure. There could be several Commissioner Nelson: If there are, I think that needs to be brought u_ p and put on the table in _. . _ __ _ a public place for the public to discuss. (` ~\ The last sort of comment I have is about land use development and the comments that James Carnahan made about global warming. l think it's easy to sort of laugh that off, you know, one project doesn't have a significant impact on global warming. But the real key point that is trying to be made, when we all talk about running for office, we talk about it on every street when ~ we're brainstorming the values of the County we want to pursue, is that you have to change 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 lI 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2I 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51