Orange County NC Website
11 <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> • Discussion and Approval of the Items Removed from the Consent Agenda <br /> i. Technical Resolution Regarding Grandfathering of Projects for School Impact Fee <br /> Collection Purposes <br /> Perdita Holtz said at the November 15th Board of County Commissioners meeting the <br /> Board adopted updated impact fee allowances, and also asked staff to come back with more <br /> information on the grandfathering. <br /> PUBLIC COMMENT: <br /> Adam Golden reviewed the following information, which he provided to the Board via <br /> email: <br /> My name is Adam Golden, and I am a Vice President of Development with Northwood Ravin. I <br /> am also an Orange County resident living on Bayview Drive in Chapel Hill. Our firm is the <br /> owner and developer of two large mixed-use residential projects currently underway in Chapel <br /> Hill - Carraway Village (formerly The Edge) on Eubanks Road, which is preparing to start, and <br /> Carolina Square on Franklin Street currently under construction. Over the last 15 years our <br /> firm has developed several other Chapel Hill apartment communities - Chapel Watch Village, <br /> Chapel Hill North, Cosgrove Hill, Apartments at Meadowmont, and Dobbins Hill Phase I and II. <br /> I am writing you to express our serious concern over the current language in the Action <br /> Agenda Item No. 6-I, specifically the Technical Resolution Regarding Grandfathering of <br /> Projects for School Impact Fee Collection Purposes. As drafted, the grandfathering provision <br /> would exclude our project though we believe you intend to include it, and it will have a severe <br /> financial impact on our Carraway Village project. We have been working in earnest with the <br /> Town of Chapel Hill for more than 4 years and have secured both our Special Use Permit and <br /> our Zoning Compliance Permit as well as have been the recipient of the Town's first economic <br /> incentive grant. <br /> To accomplish your expressed desire to grandfather projects like ours who received their <br /> permits in 2016, please consider our addition proposed below so that your Technical <br /> Resolution adequately covers projects like Carraway Village. <br /> Our firm has been participating in the School Impact Fee increase discussion since it was first <br /> brought forward several months ago, and we were pleased to participate in the recent <br /> stakeholder meeting to discuss grandfathering with your staff, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br /> Chamber, Home Builders and the Triangle Apartment Association. <br /> We understand the need to increase the fee, and we believe your intent was to grandfather <br /> projects that have been working their way through the development process and were <br /> unaware of, and had not been budgeting for, impact fee increases. We were looking forward <br /> to the technical solution that would grandfather projects like Carraway Village, but when we <br /> received the proposed resolution late Friday, we quickly realized the current proposal does not <br /> work for large-scale projects. <br /> While the current provisions may be suitable for smaller projects, the timing provision added <br /> that requires i) receiving building permits 180 days from application, and ii) receiving <br />