|
46
<br /> Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering, with management
<br /> concentration. I'm employed at Summit Design and Engineering, here in Hillsborough. We
<br /> have been representing the Emerson Waldorf School in this application, to provide planning
<br /> assistance and help bring their master plan and goal and vision to the County.
<br /> So, we have been working several months now, probably near a year, trying to get this master
<br /> plan such that it was complete, and could appear before you guys. The biggest challenge was
<br /> addressing one of the findings of fact, which was the public health safety and welfare, which
<br /> was on the DOT (NC Department of Transportation) side of things. Addressing the congestion
<br /> and traffic items and concerns that DOT had, as well as MSTA, when we submitted our master
<br /> plan submittal. We have satisfied those comments and, per your packets, in the staff reports,
<br /> and I know that they do a thorough staff report, and I'd like to thank the staff for their work over
<br /> the past year in helping us meet all these standards of evaluations, and explain those to the
<br /> details, so we could adequately address those.
<br /> We presented all the environmental findings, the tree inventories. You will see all — and I know
<br /> that you have a lot on your agenda tonight, so I don't know that I need to go through each one
<br /> of those in detail. If you do need me to, then I can answer questions later. But, in short, I would
<br /> like to, first and foremost, really just address the findings of fact. They may be listed in your
<br /> packets on a certain page. I know your packets are pretty full. But on our narrative, they were
<br /> on the second page of our narrative. In number one, there was the Public Health Safety and
<br /> Welfare. We are proposing a school, there's nothing dangerous about the use as a school.
<br /> You know some may say, "well you're going to bring a school into a community." Sometimes if
<br /> it's a new use, you may worry about crime and children's safety, etc. The fact that the School
<br /> has been there since '87 1 think speaks to the fact that the use as a school on this property is
<br /> not a concern, or it's not an adverse impact, so the Public Health Safety and Welfare of the
<br /> general public surrounding. Like I said, the DOT comments and concerns were the biggest item
<br /> to address, which we have done. And you should see their approval. I think in the email they
<br /> have said they are okay with us to proceed on to a more detailed site plan level.
<br /> The next finding of fact was that the "use would maintain, or enhance, the value of contiguous
<br /> properties." I will let Mr. Vick Knight speak to that effect. I would say our thought all along, as
<br /> we developed this master plan, was we definitely didn't want to get to this point and say, well
<br /> somebody say, "it's going to affect my property in an adverse way." But our thinking the whole
<br /> time, and our justification would be that I'm sure several houses in that area have sold since the
<br /> use of the property in '87, and there's nothing new. It's just an expansion of an existing use. So
<br /> it's not a new use on a new site, but an existing use.
<br /> Lastly, "that the location and character of the use if developed as approved, or submitted, would
<br /> be in harmony with the area in which it's to be located." I would say that and you know, again —
<br /> the fact that it's an existing school, and it's been used as that since—going on thirty years now
<br /> —would speak to the fact that it's in harmony with the area. And per Mr. Viles presentation,
<br /> you'll see that they try to blend in with their existing environment, with the master planning and
<br /> with the previous development. With the way the School is formatted and just go in and blanket
<br /> grade the whole site or masquerade the whole site. It's a right steep topography in that area,
<br /> and they went in and just blended with the environment, just like their surrounding residential
<br /> homes and subdivisions that are in there. Like I said, we have also spoken to the specific
<br /> standards of evaluation, and I'd be happy, at the conclusion, to address any questions you may
<br /> have regarding that. Usually schools are somewhat challenging sometimes, when you go into
<br /> an area but the fact that this is an existing use helps cover a lot of that ground, in my opinion.
<br />
|