Agenda - 03-21-1990 - Laserfiche WebLink

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W rr ORANGE C O U N T Y BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 1 ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date March 21, 1990 Action A ends Item # L-13 SUBJECT: RURAL CHARACTER STUDY UPDATE DEPARTMENT: PLANNING PUBLIC HEARING Yes x No ATTACHMENT(S) : INFORMATION CONTACT: * - "Conceptual Guidelines for David Stencil, Ext 566 the Rural Buffer. . . " * - Communications Subcommittee TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Report Hillsborough - 732-8181 Durham - 688-7331 Mebane - 227-2031 Chapel Hill - 967-9251 PURPOSE: To provide the County Commissioners with an update on the progress of the Rural Character Study Committee. BACKGROUND: In 1988, a committee of 23 Orange County citizens was appointed to study methods of protecting the County's rural character. Specifically, the committee's goals were to address the preservation of natural and visual resources, the protection of agriculture, and function of such a program as a growth management tool. Since that time, and particularly over the past six months, the Committee has utilized their consultant, two subcommittees and a number of meetings with rural groups in the county's townships to draft a document entitled the "Conceptual Guidelines for the Rural Buffer" . This document is designed to guide the drafting of ordinance amendments for the Rural Buffer area (excluding University Lake watershed) . The Guidelines would provide development and design flexibility in return for the protection of natural and visual resources and agriculture. It attempts to achieve these goals by providing up to five development options using a sliding scale of density and open space. The "Guidelines" also make several policy statements about simplifying the subdivision process for large-