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1 <br /> <br />Orange County <br />Commission for the Environment <br /> <br />Meeting Summary <br /> <br />November 14, 2016 <br />Whitted Human Services Center, Hillsborough <br /> <br /> <br />PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Lynne Gronback, Loren Hintz, <br />Bill Kaiser, Jeannette O’Connor, Sheila Thomas-Ambat <br /> <br />ABSENT: Bill Newby, Rebecca Ray <br /> <br />STAFF: Tom Davis, Brennan Bouma <br /> <br />VISITORS: Alan Parry, Kathleen Smith, Alex Nickodem <br /> <br /> <br />I. Call to Order – Wegman called the meeting to order at 7:32 pm. <br /> <br />II. Additions or Changes to Agenda – None. <br /> <br />III. Minutes – Wegman asked for comments on the August 8 and October 10, 2016 meeting <br />summaries. Hintz motioned approval of both meeting summaries as written; seconded <br />by Kaiser. Approved unanimously. <br /> <br />IV. UDO Text Amendment for Minor Subdivisions <br />The CFE considered a draft memo commenting on a proposed amendment to the <br />Orange County Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that was discussed in October. <br />The proposed change will allow for minor subdivisions with a “Flexible Design” option, <br />which promotes the clustering of houses and more protected open space. <br /> <br />Wegman and Hintz gave a brief explanation of the October presentation by the Planning <br />Department for those CFE members who were not present. O’Connor offered that <br />Carrboro has recently encouraged the preservation of natural spaces, not just open <br />spaces, in the Town’s subdivision approval process. Cada offered that native grasses <br />that do not require mowing can also be used. <br />The CFE members discussed recommending the County reconsider how open space is <br />defined and maybe encouraging that open spaces be required to use native species or <br />natural plant and animal communities. O’Connor will look into the wording used by <br />Carrboro and report back to the CFE. <br />Cada asked if there was any impact to groundwater when concentrating the septic fields <br />together, particularly downstream/downgradient from the septic systems. Davis will <br />contact Alan Clapp (Environmental Health) and Pat Mallett (Planning) to ask how the <br />impacts of grouping septic drain fields is being considered for off-site septic systems. <br />Hintz motioned to approve the draft memo as written, with the understanding that one <br />sentence might be added to address the issue of including natural plant and animal <br />communities in the definition of open space. The motion was seconded by Cada and <br />passed unanimously.