Orange County NC Website
12 <br /> 1 <br /> 2 Commissioner Jacobs said he has often asked for a primer to be placed on the planning <br /> 3 website explaining this confusing process, and it has not been done. He asked if the other <br /> 4 Commissioners agreed with him, and the majority of the Board did so. <br /> 5 Commissioner Jacobs said he tried to read the Ordinance Review Committee minutes <br /> 6 but the link is broken. <br /> 7 Commissioner Jacobs said the new process makes it meaningless to have a Planning <br /> 8 Board caucus, for non-controversial items. He said the flip side is that if one or two <br /> 9 Commissioners have reservations about an issue, it can be referred back to the Planning Board. <br /> 10 Commissioner Jacobs said the question of distances in rural area has come up before in <br /> 11 the past. He said rural area impacts are different than urban and suburban impact. <br /> 12 Commissioner Jacobs asked if other commissioners agreed with him that staff should <br /> 13 look at different distances for rural and urban notifications, as long as it is legal. <br /> 14 Commissioner Burroughs said people expect to see a process run through the mill, and <br /> 15 the County's process is counterintuitive. She said this process extends the amount of notice for <br /> 16 neighborhood information meetings, allows the public to speak at Planning Board and Board of <br /> 17 County Commissioners' meetings. She asked if new information is brought forth at a quasi- <br /> 18 judicial hearing, could the public send in written comments afterwards. <br /> 19 Perdita Holtz said no written comments would be permitted. <br /> 20 James Bryan said that is a statutory requirement. <br /> 21 Commissioner Burroughs said she supports these new amendments and she also said <br /> 22 notice could be put in the paper for the public to attend to the meeting even though they cannot <br /> 23 speak. She said if notice needs to be further for rural areas, and it can be legally done, she <br /> 24 would be supportive. <br /> 25 Commissioner Rich said she does not want the Planning Board to feel unheard and she <br /> 26 does not want the Planning Board to be cut out at any point. She said if there is new <br /> 27 information the item should go back for the Planning Board's review and opinion. <br /> 28 Commissioner Dorosin said he is not comfortable with the "non-controversial and <br /> 29 controversial" labels. He is not sure these definitions could be agreed upon. <br /> 30 Peter Hallenbeck reviewed notes from the Planning Board: <br /> 31 • Attendance at QPH - Planning Board members should be expected to attend the QPH. <br /> 32 The Board of Commissioners should be aware of the attendance of the Planning Board <br /> 33 members at the QPH, and if several are missed the BOCC should be able to excuse the <br /> 34 person from the Planning Board. <br /> 35 • The public does not like to show up to Planning Board meetings as much as Board of <br /> 36 County Commissioners meetings and he said it is assumed that this is because the <br /> 37 Planning Board does not make decisions. It is hoped that the public can be educated <br /> 38 that the minutes of the Planning Board meetings are given to the BOCC, and public input <br /> 39 is valuable. <br /> 40 • Neighborhood information meetings— it is new and it is evolving and the Planning Board <br /> 41 feels that the information the public gets should be about the process. <br /> 42 • Put QR codes on signs in the neighborhoods. <br /> 43 • 1000 feet notification in the rural areas can be worked with staff and an agreement can <br /> 44 be reached. There will be different rules for the two processes. <br /> 45 • Put time ranges between the blocks on the flow charts that lay out the processes. The <br /> 46 flow makes sense but time will be very informative. <br /> 47 <br />