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VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 1. Application for a Class A Special Use Permit—To review and receive sworn testimony on <br /> a Special Use Permit application seeking approval of a school redevelopment/master plan <br /> for Emerson Waldorf School's existing facility located at 6211 New Jericho Road within the <br /> Chapel Hill Township. <br /> THIS ITEM IS VERBATIM. <br /> Planning Board Chair Pete Hallenbeck opened the public hearing, and introduced this <br /> item. <br /> Pete Hallenbeck: We are going to open up the public hearing for an Application for a Class A <br /> Special Use Permit for the Emerson Waldorf School. I'll turn it over to Michael Harvey, and we'll <br /> be bringing up the people who will be providing testimony so they can be sworn in. <br /> Michael Harvey: Yes Sir. Michael Harvey, Orange County Current Planning Division. At this <br /> time, I'd like to ask any individual who is going to be offering sworn testimony, or evidence, with <br /> respect to the Emerson Waldorf Class A Special Use Permit to please come forward, so they <br /> can be sworn in by the Deputy Clerk. <br /> Those who were planning to speak were sworn in. <br /> Michael Harvey: Again, Michael Harvey, and I have been sworn. As the Chair has already <br /> pointed out we are here to review a Class A Special Use Permit for the Emerson Waldorf <br /> School. You will note from your packet of information the School actually is on five separate <br /> parcels of property, totaling 54 acres in area. Or 55 acres in area, excuse me. These parcels <br /> are all zoned rural buffer, and are located within the rural buffer land use category as <br /> designated in the future land use map in the Comprehensive Plan. The property is also located <br /> within the rural buffer rural residential area, as defined within the Joint Planning Land Use Plan. <br /> As the Chair has already alluded to, this is a Class A Special Use Permit and is held in a quasi- <br /> judicial format. Meaning those parties for and against the application have to provide sworn <br /> testimony, as well as competent material and substantial evidence on the merits of the proposal. <br /> The Applicant ultimately, by our Unified Development Ordinance, has the burden of <br /> demonstrating this project complies with the provisions of the UDO. Anyone opposing the <br /> application is required to demonstrate, also through sworn testimony and competent material <br /> and evidence, how it doesn't comply and how the Applicant has failed to meet their burden. As <br /> has already been alluded to, hearsay or unsubstantiated opinions are not sufficient testimony <br /> and are not admissible. If the applicant proves compliance with the Unified Development <br /> Ordinance, and there is no evidence in the record that the project does not, then we have an <br /> obligation to issue the permit. So with that brief synopsis, what I would like to do is turn this <br /> over to Mr. Patrick Mallet of my staff, and the Applicant, to present the actual components of the <br /> application package. Thank you. <br /> Patrick Mallet: Good Evening Commissioners. I'm Pat Mallet, and I've been duly sworn. I'm <br /> going to be fairly brief with my part of the presentation, because my understanding is that <br /> Emerson Waldorf has a presentation that they would like to make. So, for the sake of <br /> redundancy, I'll go quickly. The School was formed in 1984. That predates our requirements <br /> under the section 5.8 of the UDO, to require a Class A Special Use Permit. And basically, the <br />