Minutes 10-16-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Alderman Slade said he would hope the effect of the sunset clause is that it could revert the rural buffer back to what it currently is. He said this is just a measure to safeguard the future of the community. Alderman Slade said there is a question of whether opening up more uses will only result in more competition with farms. He said this is part of the equation that Carrboro wants to address. He said there is also concern about urban sprawl. Alderman Haven O'Donnell said it felt like the table of permitted uses was far more intense and commercially based than the aldermen had originally anticipated. She said the sunset clause is a way to allow for time to reflect and sensibly address a serious change in land use. She said once you change the landscape it would be hard to change it back. Commissioner Pelissier said it would be good to have a discussion at the AOG meeting. She said she is struggling with people's definition of commercial, and she thinks there needs to be a discussion of this. She questioned the public perception of a sunset clause that allows a usage and then disallows it. She questioned how you would evaluate if it is working or not and how this could be quantified. Alderman Chaney said the aldermen were not in complete agreement about all points of their adopted resolution. She said the first issue was concern that they are setting themselves up for disaster with the sunset clause if one jurisdiction doesn't participate. She said there were general concerns about the rural buffer, and the goal was to have a way to evaluate this, but there is not yet a plan for how to do that evaluation. She said this conversation still needs to be had. Chair Jacobs said you could argue that the current land use pattern in the rural buffer is sprawl; it is suburban sprawl, but it is still sprawl. He said Maple View Farms was initially opposed for many of the same concerns when it was being developed. He said before definitive statements are made, the terms of the discussion need to be decided. He said staff has tried to come up with reasonable gradations for the usages, and it might be best to begin by looking at the most intense uses. He said some people are never going to want any changes in the Rural Buffer. He said if you start opening up the rural buffer to governments reviews of different pieces of it, there are plenty of people in the community who see it as a place to develop more intensely. He questioned whether we want to open the door to this type of cherry picking. He cautioned the boards to get together as a group to lay groundwork instead of working unilaterally when making group decisions. Chair Jacobs said the least objectionable uses can be phased in first and then others added over time. He said the Joint Planning Agreement almost broke down in the past when any development had to be approved by all three governments. He does not want to re-live those types of discussions. Commissioner Gordon said she was interested to hear that Carrboro said the concern is specific to this one issue, and this is not opening up a need to figure out how to change the rural buffer. She said the foundational principle is that they have a JPA that works very well. She said the concern about this one issue, as stated by Carrboro, is that it is a serious change in land use. She said it is important that if you change things, you do not undermine the original principle. She said it is important that development here cannot be reliant on public water and sewer. Commissioner Gordon said this area is different from other rural areas, and this is specified in the way it has been taken forward. She said that in the proposed changes to the UDO, there are four specific uses that are already prohibited in the rural buffer for being too intense. She said proximity to the town is important, because if you are far from the town and its services, and you overtax the capacity of septic and water, there are major concerns. She said if you are in the rural buffer and this happens, and if you have a public health emergency,