5-a - Zoning Atlas Amendment - Conditional Zoning – Master Plan Development Conditional Zoning District (MPD-CZ) Settlers Point

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it’s gone. Planting a bush doesn’t make it better. 221 222 Hunter Spitzer said considering the board didn’t want the 60 percent break, the commissioners probably don’t want 223 the variable buffer. Michael Harvey said the board wanted to hear feedback from this board and didn’t take a 224 negative or positive reaction to the request. 225 226 Craig Benedict said District 1 has no breaks even though that would be allowed by code. The Master Plan zoning 227 brings forth the variability. Regarding the resident comments, there were some from Davis Road to the southwest 228 and some comments from the northwest. The northwest is on the north side of the interstate, so anything we remove 229 to the south of the interstate isn’t going to impact residents on the north side of the interstate, he said. 230 231 Patricia Roberts said it’s interstate. It’s going to take a lot more than 100 feet to reduce that noise. If you live near the 232 interstate, you get used to that noise. She would like to see as much development close to the interstate as possible 233 to keep the rural areas rural. Coming from Durham, there is no development at the interchanges in Orange County 234 and then there is when you reach Alamance County. Our taxes are too high because we don’t have a commercial tax 235 base. 236 237 Tony Blake said when I look at the map, it looks like there is additional buffer along parcels 3, 5, 6 and part of Parcel 238 9. He’s inclined to say you could get away with 50-foot buffer on Parcels 3, 5, 6 and maybe the first part of Parcel 9 239 and then have the 100-foot buffer up to the second wet area. It just seems to me like there is compromise here. I 240 agree with Patricia Roberts that this is the place you’re going to want development if you’re going to have any. And 241 Orange County really needs it. 242 243 Adam Beeman said there is nothing worse than driving up and down the interstate and not being able to see what’s 244 at the exit. He wants to be able to see where the hotel is. 245 246 Michael Harvey said the applicant has one clarification. There will be a 100-foot buffer along the property line that is 247 not along the interstate. The applicant offered additional buffer for the people who live on the other side of that 248 property line, following the District 3 boundary. He said the stream buffer is obviously required to remain in tact. 249 Obviously, there would not be a 100-foot buffer at the road access point. Kim Piracci checked that it would be written 250 down. Michael Harvey said he believes it already is. 251 252 Kim Piracci asked whether the trees are old growth. Craig Benedict answered the trees are mostly pines and are 60 253 to 80 years old. 254 255 Paul Guthrie asked if most utility corridors will be underground and will they follow transportation routes. Michael 256 Harvey answered obviously Orange County tries to work with utility partners for some semblance of rationality. In 257 some instances, the county is successful. Sometimes you have to take a path of least resistance (for sewer and gas). 258 Electric is dictated where it ties into substations. Utilities are more adept at dictating where they need to go than at 259 taking direction from government entities. 260 261 Paul Guthrie said some uses on these parcels could be heavy users of utilities and he wonders how far in advance 262 utilities are planned. Michael Harvey answered utility companies are involved in the reviews early on. Predominately, 263 underground utilities are used for these larger sites. Gas could be a potential issue here because the developer could 264 have to secure easements. Water is secured. The Town of Hillsborough has to sign off on every site plan that there is 265 adequate capacity for both water and sewer. 266 267 Paul Guthrie said from my experience, what you say regarding utilities dictating where they go is largely accurate. 268 But if you stand up to the utility, something will happen. Michael Harvey said he has been in Orange County 13 years 269 and he has stood up to a lot of people, but utility companies tend to not back down on where they need to locate 270 utilities. Tony Blake asked if Duke Energy owns the easement. Michael Harvey confirmed. 271 272 Kim Piracci said her taxes went up 27 percent this year so she is on board with development. In terms of the buffer, 273 she’d rather see 100 feet because she likes trees. 274 275 78