Orange County NC Website
M. SUMMARY OF ISSUES AND IDENTIFICATION OF POLICY ALTERNATIVES <br />Within each of the 11 water supply watersheds capsulized in this report are issues that will <br />require policy choices on the part of local governments - including Orange County. In addition, <br />there are several "universal" issues that apply to all watersheds and their proposed protection <br />measures. <br />This section of the report attempts to focus on both types of issues: "watershed - specific" and <br />Iluniversal" questions that have implications for Orange County. Following the identification of <br />the issue, several policy alternatives are listed for future consideration by elected officials. Some <br />of these alternatives will require immediate attention - for example, those which would need to <br />be addressed at the August 15 Environmental Management Commission (EMC) public hearing - <br />while others are longer term. <br />The issues presented herein are by no means a complete and total list. They are however, the <br />most important and relevant questions that elected and advisory officials in Orange County will <br />grapple with over the coming months. <br />The issues to be discussed in this section are listed below and at the beginning of subsection B. <br />JKI \I �. U ; 1 1 1 Il l I 77_17L, Liu <br />1. EFFECT OF CHANGE IN CRITICAL AREA DEFINITION <br />2. LEMTATION AND DEFINITION OF "IMPERVIOUS SURFACES" <br />3. STREAM BUFFERS ON PERENNL4L STREAMS /ANUAAL OPERATIONS <br />4. OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF STORMWATER CONTROLS <br />5. NON- RESIDENITAL DEVELOPMENT LIIVIITATIONS <br />b. CHANGES IN DENSITY OF DEVELOPMENT <br />7. TREATMENT OF EXISTING LOTS/DEVELOPMENT <br />S. EQUITY CONSIDERATIONS <br />9. INTER- REGIONAL COORDINATION/DISPUTES <br />10. ATION OF STANDARDS INTO ORDINANCE LANGUAGE <br />I. EFFECT OF CHANGE IN CRITICAL AREA DEFINITION <br />Issue <br />The new state rules will enlarge the minimum critical area around a reservoir (or river intake) <br />to one mile or the watershed boundary, whichever is less. Orange County currently defines <br />"Water Quality Critical Area" around existing or proposed reservoirs as the "portions of the <br />water supply watersheds which drain directly to water supply impoundments and which drain <br />57 <br />