Orange County NC Website
2 <br />In May of this year, the BOCC and Hillsborough Town Board approved a resolution amending a <br />2009 agreement to reflect the intent to continue coordination with Hillsborough to relinquish <br />some areas of its ETJ but to end the ETJ expansion process that had been initiated. <br />Properties are to be classified to County Future Land Use Classifications, which in this case <br />includes: Agricultural Residential (portions to include Watershed and Resource Protection and <br />Public Interest Area overlays). A map showing the proposed FLUM Classifications is provided <br />in Attachment 1. <br />Public Hearing <br />The proposed 2030 Comprehensive Plan FLUM amendment was heard at the September 8, <br />2014 joint public hearing. No members of the public spoke on the proposed amendment. <br />However, the BOCC had primarily one question: <br />Why is staff recommending application of the `Agricultural Residential" FLUM <br />classification versus the "Rural Residential" classification to the properties effected by the <br />Town's ETJ relinquishment? <br />Staff response — Beyond the materials that were included in the joint public hearing <br />packet, staff has included a larger view of the FLUM that includes the entire Hillsborough <br />periphery (Attachment 2). Staff posits that the Agricultural Residential FLUM category is <br />consistent with FLUM categories applied in the general amendment area and the only <br />"base" (i.e. not an overlay) that currently exists north of Interstate 85 along the <br />Hillsborough fringe and Eno River. <br />Although the Rural Residential FLUM category is not substantially different from <br />Agricultural Residential, there are some subtle differences (Attachment 3), which also <br />contributed to staff's recommendation. For example the Population Density Locational <br />Criteria for Rural Residential is "Generally 1 dwelling unit per acre" compared to <br />Agricultural Residential, which is "Dispersed low- density typical of agricultural areas." <br />Within Orange County's future land use construct, lands are distinctly urban or in <br />transition to urban both with public water /sewer potential and urban densities or rural <br />without public water /sewer and to be developed at rural densities. Although the notion of <br />an "intermediate" density future land use category was mentioned by the BOCC at the <br />public hearing, the Rural Residential FLUM category does not provide that function to <br />any significant degree. <br />Furthermore, the Agricultural Residential FLUM category is consistent with the existing <br />land uses present in the amendment areas. Attachment 4 provides orthophotos of the <br />amendment areas and a table that summarizes existing land uses. Fifty -six percent <br />(56 %) of the amendment area consists of Public /Quasi - Public /Institutional (i.e. Duke <br />Forest, Assoc. for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, State of NC, North Carolina <br />Department of Transportation, Krishna Temple, etc.) existing land uses and 19% of the <br />amendment area is under the Present Use Value program. <br />A video of the joint public hearing can be viewed from the following link- <br />http://oranqe-nc.qranicus.com/MediaPlaver.php?view id =2 &clip id ®750 <br />