Agenda - 02-28-1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ABIr 0 17/0/ Cr AstaRs Home Builders Association of Durham and Chapel Hill '"m&c'Pe' 20 W. Colony Place • Suite 180 • Durham, North Carolina 27705 • Phone 919/493-8899 ORANGE COUNTY ZONING ORDINANCE TO IMPLEMENT THE UNIVERSITY LAKE WATERSHED PROTECTION STRATEGIES WATERSHED PROTECTION POLICY STATEMENT The Home Builders Association of Durham and Chapel Hill supports all reasonable efforts to protect the quality of water for all citizens. In protecting the quality of water, due consideration should be given to the property rights and the reasonable use to which landowners should be able to put on his or her land. In general, the HBA supports Option #2 which allows 2-acre zoning with on-site detention ponds. We support the 12% impervious surface ratio for 2-acre lots as well as the sliding scale of impervious surface ratios as proposed. We feel the watershed area will develop at densities lower than 2-acres because of the percability of the land thus reducing pollutant loading even further. If option #1 is chosen with 5-acre lot minimums, the HBA supports the clustering alternative as well as the impervious surface ratios proposed by the Orange County Planning staff. The 4% impervious surface ratio proposed by the Orange- Chatham Work Group is impractical, we feel, for people wanting to live and build in the watershed. If option #1 is approved, the HBA supports allowing existing . lots of record as of October 2, 1989 to create up to five lots of not less than 2-acres while the remaining land shall be developed with a minimum lot size of 1 unit per five acres. The HBA supports the articles as they relate to impervious surface regulations; stream buffers; existing vegetation; placements of streets, driveways, and buildings, and water supply/sewage disposal facilities. The conditions that exist in this watershed and others will be continually changing as well as the technologies and methods used to treat our water. We feel that an on-going Watershed Task Force should be established to evaluate these ever changing conditions and options. In conclusion, the HBA of Durham and Chapel Hill whole heartedly supports reasonable efforts to protect our water supply. A polluted water supply that is untreatable would do more harm to our business than almost anything else we could imagine. We applaud the effort to protect our water even though we may disagree on how to protect it. 6q06 ..an ffdme= of t!u Utiatianal C711octstiwn of c•ionm 13uildel3"