Agenda - 09-12-2006-9d - Laserfiche WebLink

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~~ : ; 111 ~,.~"`_.~.-~.~ ,?, a,-, ~_-u~..~.~~. The Design Response, Inc. September 1, 2006 Mr, Craig N. Benedict, AICP Planning Director Orange County Planning Department 306F Revere Road Hillsborough, NC 27278 Subject: Westhampton Recreation Space & Dedication of Land to County Dear Craig: At the Orange County Board of Commissioners meeting on August 24, 2006, we noted our opposition to the proposed stipulation E(3) which stated that the developer shall "provide a 20-foot public access easement from Westhampton way to the dedicated open space along Phils Creek." We appreciate County Attorney Geoff Gledhill, you, and members of your staff taking the time with us earlier today on Friday, September 1 s`, to further discuss this issue and reach a mutually beneficial compromise. Irr particular, we are pleased to leazn that Orange County already has an existing county-owned access corridor from the west that currently provides public access to the land that we aze proposing to dedicate to the County for conservation and/or recreational purposes. As noted at our meeting, in exchange for deleting stipulation E(3), we will provide an additional 50-foot wide access corridor connecting the two pieces of land previously requested for dedication by County staff'. This additional 1,87 acres of land (which increases our proposed dedication of land from 4.50 acres to 6..37 acres) will provide a continuous publicly-accessible corridor from Neville Road (to the west) to the eastern edge of the proposed Westhampton site, and will also alleviate the need for the County to pursue future land dedication from the property owner to the south in order to provide continuity along the Phils Creek open space corridor, Consequently, in exchange for the deletion of condition E(3), we are hereby proposing to deed an approximate total of 6.37 acres of land to Orange County, as illustrated on the attached exhibit. As you have previously noted in your August 24's materials to the County Conmrissioners, we continue to provide a much larger dedication of public recreation space than required by the .Orange County Subdivision Regulations, Finally, we note that the additional 1.87 acres of land that we are proposing to deed to Orange County (in addition to the 4.50 acres that were previously proposed for dedication) is being provided as an alternative to the potential additional payment-in-lieu ($8,645) that was mentioned by the developer at the last meeting.. We believe that tlils offer is a mutually beneficial solution that provides Orange County with an additional one-half mile of publicly accessible land along the Phils Creek corridor, creating a desirable conservation and/or recreational area that should provide a significant public benefit both now and in the future, Sincerely, THE DESIGN RESPONSE, INC.. !- V .Jac L. Smyr'e, PE, AICP Principal Enclosure cc: Tom Heffirer, Geoff Gledhill 1014 High House Road, Suite ] 00, Caty, NC 27513 o/~ice; (919) 469-2080 /Fax: (919) 469-663.3