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<br />~' ,1 not people that we've never seen or heard of before, these are people who live and work in
<br />2 Orange County, and have done other developments in Orange County, and we see that in the
<br />3 way that they lease and use their property that that's what they're trying to achieve is a mix of
<br />4 national, loco{, and regional business owners. I hope that you will consider this as part of a
<br />S jurnpstart of an overall economic development strategy for Orange County. Thank you.
<br />6
<br />7 Ben Lloyd: I have been sworn in. I'm a longtime resident of Efland. In 1981 Ken Thompson
<br />8 came to Orange County as the County Manager. He didn't have enough money to pay the bills
<br />9 from July to December when the new tax money came in. He created what he referred to as an
<br />10 11-paint plan, which was nothing more than to rob Peter to pay Paul. He kept moving money
<br />11 around and kept us afloat. The following year, I became a member of that Board of County
<br />12 Commissioners. We were in the same predicament. I became partially responsible to provide
<br />13 for the needs of Orange County. Relative to this, I contacted the North Carolina Department of
<br />14 Commerce. Three' of them visited with me, one being their chief environmentalist. I rode them
<br />1S from Durham County to Alamance County, up and down 70, 85, came back and sat down and
<br />16 they looked at me and told me that 1 didn't.need. to show them anything. "With this US
<br />17 70/Southern Railway/Interstate 85 corridor, you have the most potential area in the state of .
<br />18 North Carolina and any surrounding state that we're aware of to attract good, clean, high-
<br />19 paying, low water using, non-polluting, economic growth." But due to the lack of interest and
<br />20 cooperation from Orange County over the prior 15 years, when economic development interests
<br />21 come to Raleigh looking at North Carolina, they had Orange County marked off the list. Twenty-
<br />22 five years later, not one brick has been laid in this so-called potential corridor. As a result of
<br />23 that, the property tax in Orange County has increased 524% in the past 20 years. In the last 19
<br />24 years, we have increased property tax every year. Orange County is known widely as a no-
<br />2S growth county. In October of last year, I was visited by a gentleman who's job is to promote
<br />?6 economic development within the state of North Carolina. He had been on his job
<br />27 approximately a year. He told me when he accepted that job, his peers told him, "Don't waste
<br />28 your time in Orange County, they don't want anything." That's such a shame, when nearly half
<br />29 of Orange County's workforce has to leave the County. They should both live and work in
<br />30 Orange County, which would lower the traffic and lower the pollution that people complain about
<br />31 so much. This Buckhorn Village proposal, I applaud. It's the first positive step in years relative
<br />32 to providing the needs for the people in giving us tax relief. !support them 200%. With the
<br />33 projected needs of Orange County and the school capital needs over the next ten years being in
<br />34 excess of $300 million and the debt service payment on current projects exceeding $60 million,
<br />3S something has to give somewhere. People are paying all they can pay. I would suggest that
<br />36 this be project #1.:We need to continue to live without these outrageous property taxes. that we
<br />37 now pay. Thank you.
<br />38
<br />39 Joan Jobsis: I have been sworn. I'm a resident of Orange County, I live in Efland on Bushy
<br />40 Cook Road, approximately a mile and a quarter south of the proposed Buckhorn Village, and I
<br />41 came to support the project that's proposed. I've been in my current home for the past 23
<br />42 years, and am committed to this section of Orange County. I have been a past member of the
<br />43 Orange County Planning Board for six years, and the Chairman of that board for one year.
<br />44 Back in the 90's, I was part of the process that established the three economic development
<br />4S districts,, one of which we're now talking about, and talking about converting it into another
<br />46 version of that. To give you same frame of reference, back in the 90's, when we were
<br />47 discussing this and basically promoting it, our thinking was that Orange Gounty needed.
<br />48 economic development, it didn't have anything going in the way of economic development, and
<br />49 the logical place was the I-85/I-40 corridor. It is still the logical place for economic development.
<br />SO I think we chose our geographical placement correctly at that time, and I think this is where we
<br />S 1 do need development in this County. I don't think there's any question that we need some kind
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