Minutes 06-02-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County, Durham County, Town of Chapel Hill Status: • D-CH-O Work Group (March 11) • Town of Chapel Hill approval (May 27) • Orange County consideration (June 2) • Durham County consideration (June 8) • Anticipated park opening: Early 2016 Commissioner Price referred to page 7 in the interlocal agreement regarding fire and emergency services and she asked if these departments should sign off on this agreement. David Stancil said fortunately Orange County and Durham County have been through this process before with Little River Park with reciprocal agreements. He said the appropriate parties have been contacted and are a part of the current conversation. Commissioner Price referred to Item III, Site Management, on page 3. She asked if the word "race" could be removed and replaced with "ethnicity and/or national origin." Chair McKee asked if Chapel Hill had already approved the agreement. Rich Shaw said yes but with the provision that if the agreement sustained any substantive edits, it would return to the Town for re-approval. John Roberts said that as Durham County has yet to approve the agreement he suggested Orange add a similar provision as the Town of Chapel Hill. Chair McKee asked if Commissioner Price would be willing to hold her changes until a motion was presented. Commissioner Price agreed. Commissioner Dorosin asked for further clarification regarding the "future site of Hollow Rock Store" which was mentioned in the phasing plan. Rich Shaw said there is a group called the Friends of Hollow Rock Store that has worked with the owner of the past store, which was located elsewhere. He said this group would like to relocate the store to this property as a site amenity and an entrance feature. He said it is unknown whether the building would be open or closed to the public but that it does have historical value. He said the current plan is to clear the footprint for the building should it be located there. Commissioner Jacobs said there are three factors that will not appear in the documents which led to this park happening. He said one is Orange County used to have a strong and active relationship with Duke, and Duke would come to Orange County first when property was available for purchase. He said the second factor is an example of a neighborhood that saw possible development coming in and rallied the local governments to propose an alternative vision for the land that would preserve the properties more naturally. He added, thirdly, that this process went smoothly because the County had been through the same situation with Durham County regarding Little River Regional Park. He said there was a track record of success. Commissioner Price restated her request regarding the word "race," for Item III: Site Management. Commissioner Dorosin said "national origin" is already included in the end of the paragraph. He said he does not support the removal of the word "race." He said adding ethnicity would be acceptable but that race should remain due to the ongoing prevalence of race discrimination. Commissioner Price said to add "ethnicity" and leave in "race".