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1 <br />2 <br />3 <br />4 <br />5 <br />6 <br />7 <br />8 <br />9 <br />10 <br />11 <br />12 <br />13 <br />14 <br />15 <br />16 <br />17 <br />18 <br />19 <br />20 <br />21 <br />22 <br />23 <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />38 <br />39 <br />40 <br />41 <br />42 <br />43 <br />44 <br />45 <br />46 <br />47 <br />48 <br />49 <br />50 <br />51 <br />36 <br />piece of Orange County economic development in addition to agriculture, tourism, and small <br />business, which we do well, focused on larger scale industrial recruiting. When we hit on that <br />regard we are going to be having a big win. When Morinaga announced here, they needed 90- <br />100 people; 900 people showed up at Durham Tech to apply for those jobs. In the first week of <br />February, I'm going to be meeting with two clients. One wants to put a hotel in one of our EDDs <br />and a large warehouse in another. The other has a 200 job, $20M project to make a medical <br />product. These are the kinds of projects that can fit here: we have the land, the sewer capacity, <br />the zoning, and the quality of life. So, that's what we should be focusing on in addition to all else <br />that we are doing. Let's not throw in the towel in terms of industrial recruiting at this level. Even <br />though we are not Alamance County, in the past three years they've announced 2,000 jobs and <br />a $1 B in investment. We can get a piece of that. RTP is east of us and Alamance to our west. <br />Chatham to the south of us has the new Chatham Park. We can't afford to be in a vacuum. We <br />have to be prepared to try to get what we want to attract. <br />Commissioner McKee said that the Board needs to have an honest conversation moving <br />forward. We will be walking into a buzz saw if we activate the Eno EDD, but we need to have <br />the conversation. I agree that there are Orange County values to uphold, he added. And I agree <br />that there are untouchable areas. I just don't think the land immediately to south of Old NC -10 is <br />untouchable. <br />Commissioner Rich said she is not ready to throw in the towel on "big game hunting." But none <br />of the current members other than Commissioners Jacobs and McKee were on the Board when <br />the Article 46 funds were designated for EDD infrastructure. I don't know why people from the <br />Towns did not speak up for those funds then, but it's a problem now when they ask for those <br />funds. I think that's wrong. There is economic development in the Towns that could be <br />encouraged with those funds. That's where businesses like Google want to be. I would like to <br />talk more about the Article 46 funds when we get back together to talk about economic <br />development. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos said he does not think it is all that risky to activate the Eno EDD. <br />While there may be a "buzz saw" on one side, somebody else will be handing us flowers. We'll <br />be thanked for expanding the tax base, for thinking about jobs, for making use of a district that <br />was set aside for economic development purposes. <br />Commissioner Price thanked Mr. Brantley for his remarks. She said she would be interested in <br />hearing from a university expert about the trends in entrepreneurship. I hear about young <br />people inventing things, starting businesses, and then moving from Orange County to expand. <br />Why aren't they remaining here when they expand? I want to hear about trends other than those <br />related to "big game hunting." I'm interested in economic development for the urban areas. Eric <br />Hallman has asked me why the County is not interested in this. I think Chapel Hill and Carrboro <br />would be interested in this as well. I also hear from people living near the Eno EDD: they are not <br />opposed to all development. They wouldn't mind a bank, for example. Or maybe drug store. <br />They just didn't want to see manufacturing. So we should continue to talk to people there. <br />Commissioner McKee said that he would be open to considering a proposal from the Towns to <br />use the Article 46 funds. If Wegman's had needed a sewer line, for example, then I would have <br />supported it, he said. Commissioner Jacobs said that it is only recently that Article 46 funds are <br />available. We told the towns that they would benefit from the tax revenues that would come from <br />the EDDs, and they supported our proposal to use Article 46 funds for the EDDs. We can <br />evaluate proposals from the towns on a case by case basis, but the philosophy is to use those <br />funds to catch up our capacity to support economic development in the EDDs by providing <br />