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ALLEN SPALT <br />300 James Street <br />Carrboro, North Carolina <br />Home: 919/967 -3054 <br />Ms. Alice Gordon <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />282 Edgewood Road <br />Chapel Hill, NC 27514 <br />Dear Alice: <br />27510 <br />Work: 919/967 -1886 <br />March 8, 1992 <br />Thank you for sharing the information about the Public Hearing on <br />March 9, 1991 on the Comm i ss i oners goa I s and budget pr i or i t i es. I hadn't <br />known of the hearing and welcome the opportunity to comment. I cannot <br />attend the hearing but would I ike to comment on a few of the issues. I <br />would appreciate it if you could share this letter with your colleagues on <br />the Board. <br />A. �-n Setting Goals and Priorities: The Board Is to be commended for <br />setting goals and for developing a process which allows the public to <br />comment. Perhaps I am only one to have missed the announcement, but the <br />hearing was news to me. Perhaps next year there could be further ways of <br />getting the word out, and circulating the draft goals sooner, if widespread <br />public participation is the object. <br />B. Water Resources Protection and Development: The Board is to be <br />commended for considering three goals related to water resources. Water is <br />and will remain among the most important issues facing the county. While <br />water quality protection and development may often. seem in conflict, they <br />are in fact complementary. Without protection of valuable water resources, <br />the county wi I I not be able to support its people or any growth. <br />1. Wgtershed Protectiw. The'goal of 'implementing State - Mandated <br />Watershed Protection Standards" is, unfortunately, inadequate. The <br />Environmental Management Commission recently retreated from adequate <br />minimum standards and adopted instead much weaker rules pushed by <br />developers. Therefore, just implementing the "minimum standards" will not <br />provide adequate protection. Fortunately, the state watershed protection <br />law allows local jurisdictions to go beyond the minimums. In fact, a <br />principal argument in favor of the current rules was that they were <br />statewide minimums that should be adapted to local needs. I urge the Board <br />to restate its goal to read: "Implement Adegggte Watershed Protection <br />Standards Throughout the County'. In many cases, adequate measures to <br />protect the long -run public health and safety will require going beyond the <br />state minimums. <br />-5_. y- �v <br />