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it <br />AGENCY CONTENTS <br />No agency comments have been received. Comments were <br />solicited from the Town of Hillsborough; the N.C. Department <br />of Transportation; the Orange County Sheriff's Department, <br />Economic Development Commission, Engineer, Emergency <br />'Services, Soil and Water Conservation, and Attorney. <br />STAFF ANALYSIS <br />The issue of non - residential uses at the Interstate 40 /Old 86 <br />interchange is not a new one. Perhaps the most <br />significant of the previous work on the subject came in 1984, <br />with the I -40 /Old 86 Area Study. <br />The I -40 /Old 86 Area Study was developed with area residents <br />in early -mid 1984. The area study presented at public hearing <br />in August 1984 (and again in November 1984) called for the <br />establishment of a "blended" Commercial Transition and Rural <br />Industrial Activity Node. Comments at those public hearings <br />reflected both favor and disfavor. The Board of Commissioners <br />acted in January 1985, deciding to leave the interchange area <br />rural and residential in nature. <br />The current proposal again raises the issue of non- <br />residential development at an interstate interchange north of <br />the Rural Buffer. <br />From a geographic or locational standpoint, the site meets <br />the majority of locational criteria against which a <br />Commercial Transition Activity Node is judged. Topographic <br />and soils features are adequate for development, and there <br />are no natural areas ; farmlands, or culturally - significant <br />sites that would be adversely affected by this proposal. The <br />transportation system at this site is almost textbook in its <br />qualifications, located adjacent to a freeway leading into <br />the Research Triangle. <br />The primary locational concerns with the site relate to the <br />fact that is not currently recognized in the Land Use Element <br />as a transition area, the lack of a supporting population <br />density in the vicinity, and the question of public services. <br />All of these issues are related to the question of <br />appropriate development at the interchange. Of these <br />concerns, the first has the most policy - related implications. <br />It should be noted that the I -40 interchange is one of three <br />in Orange County leading into the urban areas comprising the <br />Research Triangle area. Each of the interchanges have been <br />studied and evaluated as to their role in the "big picture" <br />of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan. <br />The interchanges at New Hope Church Road and NC 86 were <br />7 <br />