Orange County NC Website
APPROVED 6/12/17 <br />1 <br />2 Matt Hughes: Well, and I think the flaw in this in some ways, and I think it's what's getting us <br />3 caught up to a certain extent is that there's really, I don't want to talk about business plans because <br />4 1 feel like I admonished some folks for talking about business plans, but there really seems as <br />5 though there are two business plans. And they're running concurrent with one another, The farming <br />6 and the event space. Conceivably if the farming took place first and then the venue came at a later <br />7 date then maybe we wouldn't be caught up so much on it, But we are taking all the passion that we <br />8 know folks feel about this issue and that's why I point out in the, what the appellants are asking us <br />9 to do some of those questions are completely different about what is being done on the land versus <br />10 the structure and I think the structure is really what is the issue with the appellants, more so than <br />11 using the land for flower cultivation, <br />12 <br />13 Barry Katz: With the structure there's also the scale of the operation in relation to the agricultural <br />14 component, And, again, since we went through a Special Use Permit on this we realize that we <br />15 came to agree that the neighbors would be harmed in some way; their property values, or their <br />16 quality of life, by light, by sound, by traffic, etcetera, would influence and diminish; it wasn't in <br />17 keeping with the area. Ok. And that had to do with the scale. If somebody has a farm and has a <br />18 wedding on it, well, that's just how it is. But actually, this is, this is a business, this is a wedding <br />19 business, or an event business, that's what it is, And it's happening on a farm. <br />20 <br />21 Susan Halkiotis: And just to point out that scale, and Barry kind of touched on it, but scale included <br />22 not only the numbers of people involved but the frequency of the events, which I think that the goal <br />23 is to fill up every weekend and even use some earlier, that was the testimony. To schedule every <br />24 weekend and maybe even some Friday dates that were people were beginning to, brides were <br />25 beginning to look at weekday weddings to be cost efficient. So I want to point out that it wasn't just <br />26 people, scale in terms of numbers, scale in terms of frequency. <br />27 <br />28 Barry Katz: Here, when you make an investment of this size you want to return on your investment. <br />29 1 ran businesses and I look at this from a business perspective and say this is an event business. <br />30 That's what it is. And is this event business happening on a farm a non -farm use? And all that we <br />31 know about it I would say that it's a non -farm use. That it's a business in and of itself that happens <br />32 to happen, occur, on a farm. Do I have to point to the evidence that we heard or is it already in the <br />33 record from the fact that we've come to this conclusion in the past? <br />34 <br />35 James Bryan: It'd probably be best to holler a few things. But before that I want you all to make <br />36 sure, State the rules first, and then get to the facts, because so, as I understand it Barry, for yours, <br />37 you're saying that, you're agreeing that that it is farm property but this structure will be used for <br />38 non -farm purposes? <br />39 <br />40 Barry Katz: Yes, <br />41 <br />42 James Bryan: Because while agricultural is a bona fide farm purpose agro- tourism is not, <br />43 <br />44 Karen Barrows: I don't think we're saying that James. I think we're saying this use is not incidental <br />45 to the farm. <br />46 <br />47 James Bryan: But why must it be incidental? <br />47 <br />