Agenda - 08-24-1987 - Laserfiche WebLink

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1987. 19 VOTE: UNANIMOUS. D. ITEMS FOR DECISION - REGULAR AGENDA - AMBERLY DEVELOPMENT co of the Attorney's letter is in the permanent agenda file in the Clerk's Office) County Attorney Geoffrey Gledhill responded to a request from the Board to determine what Orange County can legally do in response to the voluntary annexation of land, the zoning of that land pursuant to Carrboro's Zoning Ordinance and the issuance of a conditional use permit by Carrboro, which actions together authorize the development of the Amberly Subdivision project. With reference to the annexation, the zoning action taken by Carrboro and the Conditional Use Permit action taken by Carrboro, he concluded that it would be unlikely that Orange County could withstand a challenge to pursue this matter. There is no law in North Carolina which address whether one local government can sue another over these points. There is no limitation on the ability of towns to annex and very little room for challenge of those decisions. With reference to zoning and the Conditional Use Permits, the standard seems to be that only the "aggrieved p who have special damages as a result of the action tand which1damagesrtxes" are different from that suffered by the general public may matter. If action is to be taken to challenge the action p ntaken the Carrboro, it must be brought by the right people with focus on the merits of the issue and not distracted by any side issues. Gledhill made the point that his comments are not to discourage any private citizen who may have standing to available for challenges to zoning and planningrdecisions. avenues that are The area where the County may become involved is in the approval process nmeof the astewaterCommissal system.steth Y The County could the the will be reviewing the the staff people of the EMC who petition from concerned�citizensain�the and if coupled public a meeting would almost guarantee that one would be held. g for a Public The statutes suggest that the only people who can a staff decision on the permit are the ones who would be the recipient of the permit. However, there may be an opportunity appeal the intervene in this process. Once the permit pisrissued, the County may have some appeal rights if the County is unhappy Y then In conclusion, Gledhill mentioned that the Environmental Policy Act authorizes local governments to re ul a major development project to d priv of the environmental impact of such projects. It was suggested Milton Heath of the Institute of Government that atthe° County llmi g ht implement it by ordinance applicable to all major development projects as defined in the statute and in the ordinance. probably the best way to implement an ordinance would the stated decide what projects would be subject to environmental impact statements. The statute permits counties to place development projects greater than two acres intsize. requa.rement on major done in Marshall re the annexationnttakeslplaceythe development is not in the County's jurisdiction. Gledhill noted that th County does have jurisdiction countywide in such areas as health