Agenda - 10-03-2017 - 8-a - Minutes

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6 1 Department for its help on this issue. She said PRO strongly supports farmers and farms, but 2 has serious concerns about this issue. She read the following requests being made by PRO: 3 4 Preserve Rural Orange and Community Members' Request to the Orange County Board 5 of County Commissioners 6 Quarterly Public Hearing 7 September 11, 2017 8 1. Arrange a meeting for rural residents with the Planning Director and staff to discuss 9 specific concerns regarding permits, reported events and incidents, violations, 10 investigations and enforcement. Community members have requested this meeting for 11 four months. 12 2. Post public documents proactively on the Planning Department's Current Interest 13 Projects web page, including permit-related documents and Board of Adjustment 14 hearing documents, decisions, orders and findings of fact. 15 3. Clarify Rural Special Events in the UDO to exclude weddings, and: require specific 16 advance notice of exact dates and times of rural special events; post permits and 17 related documents on Planning web page; and notify neighbors within a two-mile radius 18 of property. 19 4. Appoint an independent counsel to prevent dual roles by legal staff, and appoint 20 independent staff to coordinate Board of Adjustment communications, to prevent dual 21 roles. 22 23 Rhett Macomson said he lives in southwest Orange County, and he said a true use of 24 agritourism is Maple View Farms, or pumpkin patches and corn mazes. He said the community 25 is facing a situation of people purchasing property that has a farm id number, and then claiming 26 exemptions like legitimate agritourism, like Maple View Farms, but use the land to hold 27 business events such as weddings, conferences, etc. He asked that the BOCC consider the 28 intent of the State law, and he does not believe that the intent of the law is for people to come in 29 and find loop holes to exploit the law. 30 Bryna Rapp said she is an architect and has lived in rural Orange County for 27 years, 31 about a mile from The Barn in Chapel Hill. She said, in an effort to assist farmers in 32 supplementing their income, the County and State have relaxed building regulations and 33 enforcements while creating attractive opportunities for developers to build and renovate large 34 structures for use as lucrative wedding venues, without having to meet basic life safety 35 standards. She said in the case of The Barn of Chapel Hill, the County allowed commercial 36 development on an undeveloped piece of property without a special use permit. She said 37 County officials exempted this facility from NC Building Codes for Assembly Occupancies by 38 allowing it to be classified as a utility building. She said the original floor plans clearly indicated 39 that the developer intends to use this barn primarily as a wedding venue for up to 250 guests, 40 but is exempt from typical code requirements for such assembly occupancy, such as overhead 41 sprinklers, emergency egress, etc. She said these codes being met keep people safe in the 42 event of an emergency, and by bypassing these regulations, the County is putting guests at 43 risk. She said she does not understand why the County does not require codes and 44 inspections for a venue with hundreds of people. She said this leniency would never be allowed 45 in the Town of Chapel Hill or Carrboro. 46 Greg Rapp said the role of enforcement regarding the zoning regulations is baffling to 47 him. He said The Barn has had numerous events with too many people, and concerns of the 48 neighbors being brought to Orange County staff seems to have resulted in little to no change. 49 Amanda Ekholm read the following comments to the BOCC: 50