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

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I~I~:..~~T 1!/IT~I~.TT~~ 7 l land use patterns if you're going to address global warming. So, my question, and 1 guess this 2 is to our Economic Development staff, is that we have three EDDs, and this is the one that's 3 furthest away from population centers. So, why put a shopping center in a place that's the 4 furthest away from the population center where people are going to have to drive? Why not use 5 one of the EDDs that are closer to the population center? I don't disagree that we need more 6 retail. liberals agree with that, conservatives agree with that, republicans agree with that, 7 democrats agree with that; Orange County needs more retail. But if you're serious, as we say 8 we are, about global warming, why put this shopping center, which is going to have thousands, 9 and thousands, and thousands of vehicle miles traveled furthest away from the population 10 center where you have other alternatives? 11 12 The final thing, I'm a little troubled that we have so little vision for our economic development 13 districts and how we're going to develop them. When this first came up, I startled asking 14 questions, "What is our plan for these EDDs?" What I remember from reading the paper, 15 because I wasn't on the Commission then, was that the plan for these EDDs was for research, 16 and development, that kind of thing.. I don't remember ever reading, major shopping center. So 17 I asked staff what is our plan for these EDDs? What I got was this stack of paper, and I.had to 18 go through and read minutes from about 10-15 years of meetings, and sure enough, my 19 memory is correct, as far as I can tell, there really wasn't a vision articulated for the EDDs that 20 they would be shopping centers. The vision that was articulated was more substantive 21 economic development with a retail component in certain circumstances. The step that never 22 happened was coming back and making a plan for each one of these EDDs. I have some real 23 concerns about this shopping center in this particular place. Without any plan for what we want 24 to have done in those EDDs, a real plan, it makes it hard to argue that this is right and it makes ;25 it hard to argue that it's wrong. ~6 27 In, our economic development plan, we have stated that we are searching for 5,000 new jobs in 28 Orange County. Has there been any articulation of what kind of jobs? Not all jobs are equal. 29 When I talk to people, they're not wanting new jobs for their kids at $8 an hour. My question for 30 staff is have we articulated what kind of jobs we're seeking when we do economic development 31 recruitment? What kind of businesses are we going to bring into Orange County that would 32 raise the quality of life and that give people opportunities to grow and give families opportunities 33 to expand? Not all jobs are equal and it's really hard to argue that $8 an hour retail jobs are 34 what we want for this County. 35 36 Chair Jacobs: I have a whole list of questions. I'm going to start with the small and move to 37 the large. On page 14, it talks about independent retail and service establishments and 38 discussed a ban on drive-throughs. We do in fact have a very detailed plan for the Hillsborough 39 EDD, despite what Commissioner Nelson may think, and in that we ban any drive-through 40 windows. I would suggest that I would oppose any drive-through windows in any development 41 in any economic development district in Orange County. If you want to talk about pollution, 42 that's a great way to needlessly pollute with one's vehicle. 43 44 On page 15, and then the charts on 16 about condominiums, there's no mention in here about 45 having affordable units, and I know if we were in Chapel Hill, they require a certain percentage. 46 I would hope that the developers would dedicate a percentage of each of these clusters 'or units 47 to be affordable units as defined within Orange County. 48 49 I had a question about District II versus District III in this comprehensive use plan map between 50 16 and 17. I just wondered how much you took into account the impact of having District II{ 51 closer to more of the lower density residential units and whether you thought that there was ~$