Orange County NC Website
22 <br /> STEEP SLOPES <br /> Steep slopes represent topographic constraints to development and are generally defined as areas <br /> with slopes equal to or greater than 15 percent. Stated another way, such slopes include those <br /> areas where the land falls a vertical distance of 15 feet in a horizontal distance of 100 feet. <br /> The threshold of 15 percent is the standard generally used by the Planning Department. <br /> However, Randall Arendt, in Defining Open Space Developments in Sussex County, Delaware, <br /> defines steep slopes so as to include land which is "unbuildable" due to slopes of 25 percent or <br /> greater. <br /> Within the project boundaries, there are 56.2 acres of land which meet the Arendt standard, <br /> while another 78.7 acres has slopes between 15 and 25 percent. Most of this land is located <br /> north of the Southern Railroad and south of I-85. <br />