Minutes 01-26-2018 Retreat - Laserfiche WebLink

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30  Look at developing supplier / logistics parks for OEM’s and other manufacturing companies. Orange County has a tremendous opportunity given the logistics network in place with I-40 & I- 85 and proximity to RTP & Research Universities  More swiftly implement Article 46 Funds for infrastructure related projects. Study Conclusions  Lacking “Ready to Go” Product  Not as much developable property as we thought once you place constraints on the properties & remove inhabited properties  Ever increasing competitive market with shorter and shorter timelines for decisions to be made (i.e. Need diverse “Ready to Go” Product)  Properties are overpriced compared to adjacent localities (Alamance)  Lacking water & sewer capacity in districts  Missing out on opportunities for Prospects due to lack of product & inadequate water & sewer capacities In reply to a question from Commissioner Dorosin, Mr. Hall explained that vacant properties were included in the site selection methodology regardless of whether the properties were for sale; properties greater than five acres with housing structures on them were not included. In reply to a question about living wages from Commissioner Marcoplos, Mr. Hines said that the County’s first step is to have a product, a suitable parcel with water and sewer available. That way the County would be in the position to say No to undesirable prospects as opposed to the prospects rejecting the County. Once the County has suitors, it can be more selective, for example by using living wages as a criterion, he said. Commissioner Jacobs said he has a mixed reaction to the report. For the most part what you are describing is positive and hopeful, he said. I think we can address most of the concerns that Timmons Group has raised. But it reads as though it does not understand Orange County’s land use plan, its environmental ethics, some of the reasons why we have done what we have done. For example, siting a school in an EDD was the only way we were able to extend water and sewer to the EDD at that time. Instead of looking at that as a negative, you should understand that the school was how we got water and sewer to the area. Second, the two Interstate interchanges you recommend for development are in the Rural Buffer, which for 25 years and as an essential component of our land use plan is not to have water and sewer extension. Third, you should not be referring to a countywide water and sewer plan; I think you mean a water and sewer plan that is inclusive of the development corridor. We have watersheds into which we decided 35 years not to extend water and sewer. Some of this just feels like boiler plate. The other ideas – trying to get property ready for sale and trying to have property pre-zoned – may be worth exploring, he said, although we just approved a development on a property that was pre-zoned and the neighbors did not understand; we would need to accompany this approach with a public education process. Steve Brantley, Director of Economic Development for the County, said the county has some theoretically developable properties, but they are disbursed across buffers, utility lines, streams, homes, and properties that are not for sale. We don’t see a lot of projects looking for one acre sites, he said, and there are not a lot of one-acre sites contiguous to each other that can be combined to support a larger footprint. The average site per acre of developable properties is quite low, he said.