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14 <br /> Conservation Element <br /> Issue: The adequate protection of biologically significant <br /> areas and historic sites is increasingly important <br /> in light of recent and proposed development in the <br /> Rural Buffer. However, providing protection for <br /> such areas and sites is difficult since their exact <br /> location and present status is not always known. <br /> Recommendation : Supplement Orange County Land 1112 Plan <br /> policy 2.2 with the underlined text and <br /> adopt a new policy statement on application <br /> of Public Interest District zoning for <br /> inclusion under Goal 1 in Orange Count, Land <br /> 1L12 Plan. <br /> Protect non-renewable resource land, to include <br /> historical and biological resources. from incom- <br /> patible development and allow their use in a safe <br /> and reasonable manner according to performance <br /> standards designed to ensure a sufficient level of <br /> environmental protection . <br /> Apply the Public Interest Area plan designation to <br /> all areas and sites identified as biologically <br /> ,end/or historically significant, and to the maximum <br /> extend feat i b le; apply the Pu1z l i c •Interest District <br /> zoning classification to all areas an4 Bites <br /> identified as "Public Interest Areas" in thh <br /> adopted Land Use Plan. <br /> Issue: Escalating land prices due to residential demand in <br /> the Rural Buffer is making it more difficult to <br /> keep prime farm land in agricultural use. <br /> Recommendation: No further policies, goals, objectives, <br /> proposals, or standards are proposed; the <br /> existing ones are deemed adequate and are <br /> listed in Appendix C, Phase 1 , Conser- <br /> vation. <br /> Issue: Development activity in the Rural Buffer has two <br /> impacts on Duke Forest properties. Erosion and <br /> runoff from development activity upstream may lead <br /> to the degradation of surface water habitats. <br /> Increased development, not just in the Rural <br /> Buffer, but throughout the Chapel Hill /Durham <br /> region also places increasing recreation pressures <br /> on the forest. <br /> Recommendation : No further policies, goals, objectives, <br /> proposals, or standards are proposed ; the <br /> existing ones are deemed adequate and are <br /> listed in Appendix C, Phase 1 , Conser- <br /> vation . <br /> i <br />