Agenda - 02-20-2018 8-a- Minutes

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 34 issues Timmons is raising. We are aware that UNC -CH said no to that site, but times change, people change, and there are too many of these university parks popping up around the country to say that Orange County should not revisit that kind of development. American Underground in downtown Durham is a phenomenal success story that contains Google and Apple and other components. The business school at Duke University has an international footprint of over 60 countries that are alumni. I've had conversations with NC Commerce Secretary Copeland about using that network as a path to attracting international companies to North Carolina. There is so much here in the Triangle. Commissioner Dorosin said that it would be relatively inexpensive for the County to address the marginal rating identified on p. 7 in the Timmons report regarding "ease of permitting and regulatory procedures." If there is other lower hanging fruit like that then I think we should identify and address them, he said. On the macro scale, he continued, I think a realigned economic development strategy means an expansion of our options. If we have to do something different to make the EDDs successful, then we have to determine what that is, such as extending water and sewer where we can, and how much that costs, and then whether that cost is worth it. But I'm not sure it is worth it. Wegman's is not in an EDD, it's in Chapel Hill. American Underground and Amazon want to be close to a community and a downtown and things like that. I think we need to identify the most valuable parcels in the County and focus on those. And where are the other opportunities? There's the NC -54 study taking place that might identify potential in that corridor for commercial development. There are issues associated with Old NC -86 we can discuss. I don't have the answer, but I think there is a more comprehensive context to set before we agree to extend water and sewer to these big parcels in order to better market them for economic development. I worry that we might have over valued the highway as the greatest lure. I'm hearing that Amazon wants an attractive social setting for its employees, where people can go to restaurants and bars and cultural venues. Commissioner McKee said that in the late 70's through to the early 2000's his perception of "Orange County values" was that it was anti - business. We got behind our neighbors because of that. Shopping centers located just beyond our borders would have provided millions of dollars for us to use for parks and social services. I'm not interested in turning our intersections with I- 40 into Myrtle Beach. I am interested in determining whether a small foot print is available at the Eno EDD that would not have a negative impact on the existing residential area, and in deciding about whether to expand Buckhorn, and in looking elsewhere in the county including the Towns for economic development. Wegman's wanted to be in town; I have no problem with supporting the effort where ever it needs to be. But this Board is going to have to push forward. Commissioner Marcoplos said that he used to imagine EDDs all built out. I now believe that's not going to happen. Another way to look at this for the 21St century is to set a target of, say, three larger businesses, to ask what kinds of businesses would have the impact we need in terms of taxes and jobs, instead of trying to fill up all the EDDs. Then we can focus on those while at the same time providing the kind of support needed by local businesses and some of these other creative ideas. Then we might say, where is the land today that would generate the most interest now among the kinds of two or three larger businesses we are interested in. Never mind the lines they drew in the 80's when these EDDs were being created. That would help us to shift our attention to the land that is going to get us where we want to go. Maybe we take the east side of the Buckhorn district out, for rural land.