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Approved April I. 1991 <br />1 <br />MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />PROPOSED LOCAL LEGISLATION <br />PUBLIC HEARING <br />JANUARY 31, 1991 <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in Special <br />Session on January 31, 1991 at 7:30 p.m. in Superior Courtroom in <br />the new County Courthouse, Hillsborough, North Carolina for the <br />purpose of holding a public hearing on proposed local legislation. <br />BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice -Chair Stephen Halkiotis, <br />Commissioners Verla C. Insko and Don Willhoit. <br />BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Chairman Moses Carey, Jr., and <br />Commissioner Alice M. Gordon. <br />COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill <br />STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant <br />County Manager Albert Kittrell, Economic Development Director Ted <br />Abernathy, Deputy Clerk to the Board Kathy Baker, Recreation and <br />Parks Director Mary Anne Black, Clerk to the Board Beverly Blythe, <br />and Planning Director Marvin Collins, <br />NOTE: ALL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON ALL ITEMS IS IN THE PERMANENT <br />AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL LETTERS REFERENCED HAVE <br />BEEN ATTACHED TO THESE MINUTES. <br />1. INTERBASIN TRANSFERS <br />County Engineer Paul Thames made reference to the <br />proposed bill and the review comments from the Division of Water <br />Resources, Division of Environmental Management and a minority <br />report from the legislative review subcommittee. The basic thrust <br />of this legislation is to institute a permitting process for <br />transfers of water from one named river basin to another if that <br />transfer was to equal or exceed 1 mgd. He is unsure what impact <br />this legislation may have in Orange County on local water usage <br />and interbasin transfers. This is because of the vagueness in the <br />bill. What will be impacted will be northern Orange County's use <br />of water from Jordan Lake, if that use would exceed 1 mgd and <br />Hillsborough's purchase of water from the City of Durham if that <br />use would exceed 1 mgd. The potential is such that the Town of <br />Hillsborough would have to go through a lengthy process to buy <br />large quantities of water from Durham. <br />John Hartwell noted that this legislation proposes to <br />impose criminal penalties for jurisdictions which violate it. He <br />does not agree with this type of regulation. There are problems <br />with the West Fork of the Eno River because the bill is predicated <br />entirely on named river basins and the West Fork is named as a <br />separate river basin and, consequently, governed under these <br />statutes. The Attorney General has ruled that even the use of <br />water in an adjoining basin with its return to the originally <br />