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BASIC CONCEPTS <br /> The basic concepts used to design the Orange County Land Use Plan <br /> emerged from the information base contained in the Community Profile <br /> and from the Goals and Policies. Basically, the approach was to <br /> balance the concerns of citizens as expressed through the Goals and <br /> Policies with the constraints and potentials of the natural environ- <br /> ment. <br /> Orange County's landscape contains many diverse features that <br /> have evolved into certain patterns over a period of several decades. <br /> Sometimes, these development patterns result in an inefficient use <br /> of energy and other resources. It is preferable to have develop- <br /> went that is responsive to public concerns about community-wide or <br /> county-wide impacts. The purpose of the County Land Use Plan is <br /> to modify the historically evolved use patterns in ways that will <br /> achieve the stated Goals and Policies. <br /> Land Uses in Orange County range from urban-type residential- <br /> commercial development in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area to the low- <br /> intensive rural and agricultural uses in the north. Between these <br /> ends of this geographic spectrum Orange County contains a diverSity <br /> of land uses at varying levels of intensities. <br /> The County's transportation system consisting primarily of <br /> highways and roads and limited rail service, is a very important element <br /> in the land pattern. The road system perhaps more than any single <br /> factor has had an enormous influence on the form of development in <br /> the County. Commercial enterprizes, especially those specializing <br /> in retail sales tend to locate at wide intervals along rural high- <br /> ways in a strip-type fashion. The resulting pattern is often energy <br />