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