Approved 1/11/2016
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<br />OC Board of Adjustment – 11/9/15 Page 29 of 48
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<br />Amanda Ekholm: So our little girl, Clara, is in one of these pictures, playing in her yard where she usually is, we have outdoors 1
<br />kids, we planned the sign that way, we want them outside, she’s always playing in the yard right there, right across the road, right 2
<br />across Millikan. Her sandbox is out there, their trampoline is out there, she brings the dog out there with the ball, throwing the ball 3
<br />to the dog. People walk up and down Millikan all the time with their dogs, walking their dogs, she runs out to the road, all three of 4
<br />our kids do and stop to talk to neighbors, without a care in the world. She doesn’t know a stranger. So, this is why we live there, 5
<br />this is what we wanted for her and this is what we’ve provided for them and this is what this barn stands to take away from us. So, 6
<br />with the presence of hundreds of strangers across the road, this would all have to change. She, we would have to keep a watchful 7
<br />eye out for her, we’d have to keep her closely guarded because of the possibility of misconduct with public, you’re inviting 8 importing the public right next door that doesn’t exist there right now. It would change our lives and the way we live and the way 9
<br />our children play. And there’s no condition that can be placed on an SUP that would take care of the problem with hundreds of 10
<br />people, we’re within 500 feet and there’s no condition that can replace, there’s no bush, there’s no tree. It takes --- the problem of 11
<br />hundreds of people being imported into our neighborhood that are not there right now. Our little boy, is also always in the yard, our 12
<br />middle son, he has had an extensive medical history. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor, has had three subsequent cranial 13
<br />surgeries afterwards. He’s monitored regularly at UNC by his pediatric oncologist, but much of his physical therapy has to do with 14
<br />that yard. That yard is his physical therapy. He needs to be on the trampoline, he needs to have freedom to be running and playing 15
<br />freely. We had physical therapists that came to our home and home nurses for a long time and they told us to stop going to UNC 16
<br />in a class room size physical therapy room because our yard was as good as it could be provided for physical therapy. Because of 17
<br />the way his tumor was he needed stimulation, he needed impact, he needed to move his body, to regenerate basically connection 18
<br />in his brain. And that’s what physical therapy does and that’s what our yard provides. The noise, the traffic, the public threat being 19
<br />there would intrude and it intrudes in Logan’s continued recovery, as well as environmental issues, that are conducive to good 20
<br />health. Possibly and likely, smoking, car exhaust, pollutants, we’re next to the septic field, of hundreds of people. Noise pollutants, 21
<br />lost sleep, with a boy, for anybody, but with a boy with health issues is absurd. Lost sleep leads to a run-down immune system and 22
<br />this can’t happen to a boy that has basically come back from the brink of death. There is no condition that can be placed on this 23
<br />SUP that would include and provide safety for our yard and our kids to live the life that they’re living right now and have for the last 24
<br />ten years. Or that would help with the continually environmental pollutants. The threats, those threats and intrusions don’t exist 25
<br />there right now, and the noise levels- we’ve talked a lot about those, our kids go to bed at 8 o’clock at night. We’re up at 5 am to 26
<br />go to school and work. Obviously, we would hear talking, shouting, party noises of all kinds, you can see that we’re right across 27
<br />the street. DJ music, live bands, fireworks. We also heard the fireworks at Valhalla, we called 911, we did not know what they 28
<br />were, we call 911 thinking the gas station miles away was exploding, we heard boom, boom, boom, boom, and saw orange in the 29
<br />sky in the distance and the 911 operator told me that they’ve had 30 calls that night, as far as Alamance County. And I can only 30
<br />imagine across the street what that would sound like. And the fire marshal called me back and said that they had a permit. That 31
<br />they can apply for a legal permit and they would have to show the special pyrotechnic what they wanted, they needed to have a 32
<br />fire marshal there and a special permit and it was all within their rights, and they had the legal rights to do that. And it didn’t have 33
<br />anything to do with Valhalla, they just had the legal permit through the fire marshal. 34
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<br />Karen Barrows: Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I think we get the jest of what you’re objecting to here, in the interest 36
<br />of time. Thanks for coming up. 37
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<br />Amanda Ekholm: Sure. 39
<br /> 40 David Rooks: Stephanie Bohling and Brian Allen? 41
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<br />Stephanie Bohling: We have both been sworn in. 43
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<br />Karen Barrows: Thank you. 45
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<br />Brian Allen: My name is Brian Allen, this is my wife, Stephanie. We live at 2900 Morrow Farm Lane. Which is right over there. So 47
<br />we received the certified letters, notifying us of the informational meeting. I meant to have preface of what I was going to say, I just 48
<br />kind of convened that I’ve known and worked with Chris, Kara’s husband, since 1998. I was invited to their wedding, I went, Chris 49
<br />came to ours. Chris is, he’s technically a manager of mine at work, so this might be the most awkward moment of my life but that’s 50
<br />ok. We sit about five feet away from each other every day, but the first time I heard anything about this proposed event site is 51
<br />when we received the certified letter in late September. When Chris finally did speak to me about it, he apologized for not having 52
<br />said anything in the, I guess, six months purchasing the land, he also knew that I wouldn’t be a big fan of it. I can only say that that 53
<br />was a pretty huge understatement. My wife and I moved to the Morrow Mill community about a year and a half ago, to realize a 54
<br />dream of living once again in a pristine countryside setting. I was born and raised in Vermont, my dad and grandfather were dairy 55
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