Agenda - 05-25-1989 - Laserfiche WebLink

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i• Local airports, in other communities, have been regarded by those communities as significant assets in recruiting new business and maintaining existing ones. The Economic Development Commission believes that this type of airport in the County could be an important asset to assist in the County's economic development efforts. However, they accept the decision made by the Board of Commissioners not to pursue an airport and are moving ahead to implement the Strategic Plan. Citizen support and involvement is going to be needed to achieve the goals of that plan. He stated that• there are five major committees of the Economic Development Commission and asked for volunteers to participate on those committees. He indicated that his interest in participating on the Commission stemmed from knowledge of historical tax rates in the County. Since 1977 the combined tax bill for his property, including county, city and school taxes, has increased by over 100%. County taxes alone have gone up over 160% during that 11 year period. There is a need to look strongly at diversifying the tax base in the county and that means pursuing a different economic development strategy. MS. HELEN NOWAK, a retired farmer, stated that it sounds like the County is attempting to make Orange County industrial. She asked where are we saving agricultural land? At one time, the largest export items were agricultural items, such as grain, lumber, meat. Too much agricultural land is being put into industry, and shopping malls. The little landowners are paying such a large amount of taxes to support schools. MR. ROBERT KELLER stated that he is a pilot and does not feel that airports are safe, nor does he believe that the County needs, another airport. He stated that he believes that there are sufficient airports in the area. Roxboro airport has only 25 airplanes stationed there. Burlington has an airport as well, and there is going to be a new airport just south of Chapel Hill at Holly Springs. He also mentioned the poor quality of the telephone system. He stated that this is a real hindrance to business and needs to be corrected as soon as possible. Another drawback is that there is not the right kind of technical training for workers in the county. He agreed with an earlier speaker who brought up the fact that there is a need to offer protection to the farmers even to the extent of zoning land so that it will only be available for farm land. COMMISSIONER MARSHALL stated that two years ago Orange County initiated some investigations into the telephone system. They got the Triangle J Council of Governments involved, and then got the Utilities Commission to hold a public hearing. One of the things that came out of that hearing from the Utilities Commission was that all the telephone companies were requested to bring in figures about how much it would cost to have free Triangle services. Those figures arrived in January of this year. Public staff is now looking at the figures. They are somewhat enthusiastic because the figures did not look as discouraging as they thought they would. There is a good possibility that they will be able to recommend toll free calling. When the public staff makes their recommendation there will be a need for letters from citizens supporting that proposal. A lot of pressure needs to be exerted during the hearings at the Utilities Commission. The County will have to count on the citizens. MS. SALLY KELLER stated that she has been attending the Rural Character Study meetings and finds them very interesting. Her only question at this time is where will there be Industrial Parks? She stated that in her opinion Lane Kendig did not have a satisfactory answer to this question. Also, the knowledge received from the Rural Character Study and the Economic Development Commission needs to be coordinated. She also agreed with the previous speaker about the need for zoning.