Orange County NC Website
Approved 4/22/2014 <br /> <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 11/11/2013 Page 19 of 123 <br />single family lots, the 216 multi-family units and the 65,460 square foot of commercial complex shall be 1 <br />constructed in accordance with the site plan dated October 19, 1985 and revised January 2, 1986 and all 2 <br />commitments shall be contained in the narrative statement of the project all of which are incorporated herein and 3 <br />made a part of this special use permit”. That means that these ratios in these plans are the ratios that apply to 4 <br />this special use permit. This special use permit is incorporating the regulations that were in place when it was 5 <br />approved. Mr. Collins, in his comment to the County Commissioners in 1986 when the IV-B-7-b regulations were 6 <br />being considered, talked about this project being exempt were his words. I commented at the time that I may 7 <br />quibble with that term but he was on the right track. Essentially, our contention is this project was vested in those 8 <br />regulations that were in effect at the time it was approved. I will tell you this is a variation of the vesting principle 9 <br />that is, in my experience, never been looked at by the courts. Normally, the way vesting comes up in court is the 10 <br />developer complies with or there is an argument as to whether the developer has complied with some statutory 11 <br />vesting principles or whether the developer has complied with what is called common law vesting. The argument 12 <br />is always between the developer and the government and that is what the vesting principle does, it protects the 13 <br />developer from losing the benefit of their permit because of changes in regulations over time That is fairness, due 14 <br />process or whatever you want to call it but in this case, both the permit holder and the government agree that the 15 <br />permit holder has the right to build this development according to these recreation standard in effect when this 16 <br />project was approved. There is no disagreement. There was no challenge to that conclusion and the recreation 17 <br />requirements were amended between the SUP approval and its recording in 1998. Nobody raised this point. 18 <br />The first time it comes up is 2008, ten years after this permit was recorded and over 20 years from the time it was 19 <br />approved and after $100 million dollars and that is just Geof making up a number. You pick the number about 20 <br />what this project is worth. One hundred million dollars later, somebody says wait a minute; you didn’t apply the 21 <br />right recreation standards. That is the underpinning the vesting concept. It’s not fair; I would contend to you that 22 <br />Mr. Buck lacks standing to raise the issue he raised. He lacks standing complained about the county’s 23 <br />application of recreation standards that existed at the time this project was approved. Multiple plats were 24 <br />recorded, multiple site plans were approved and then in 2008, wait a minute, you didn’t do it right. That flies in 25 <br />the face of due process and it is not the county’s position and the developer has not agreed to that change and 26 <br />there was no disagreement among the two of them. We looked at the appeal document that is Exhibit A, Mr. 27 <br />Buck’s appeal, every one of these itemized concerns has to do with compliance with subdivision regulations. 28 <br />This board doesn’t have jurisdiction over subdivision. You don’t have jurisdiction to resolve subdivision 29 <br />regulations issues like you do zoning regulation issues. The underpinning of Mr. Buck’s appeal is the subdivision 30 <br />regulations if you ignore for this purpose when they were adopted and he is complaining about subdivision 31 <br />regulations not being applied. That is not within the Board of Adjustment’s power to determine whether that is 32 <br />true or not. That has to go another place to get a remedy and there is lots of stuff that Mr. Buck has talking about 33 <br />efforts made to go to the County Commissioners or where ever about these concerns, none of which were fruitful 34 <br />and that is the end of that so Mr. Buck cannot raise the subdivision concerns with you in this appeal. That is 35 <br />everything he is complaining about. If you look at the zoning ordinance, every one of them, it has you, this group. 36 <br /> If you look at the subdivision regulations, it is completely absent. You are not part of the subdivision regulations. 37 <br /> A complaint that the SUP did not meet county subdivision requirements when it was approved, not appealed 38 <br />must go to superior court. Let’s look at the heart of Mr. Buck’s, now he has put a whole bunch of new stuff in 39 <br />here that I have not had time to look at. I am going to look at what he had in here when he presented into 40 <br />evidence last time. His contention in the evidence he has presented to you. Let’s look at the documents that Mr. 41 <br />Buck presented to you in his evidence. Now look at Exhibit K…something you received from Mr. Buck and it was 42 <br />admitted into evidence. What he called Exhibit K. Essentially it is a November 1, 2006 letter from Mr. Benedict to 43 <br />Mitch Barron, Newland Communities about the recreation requirements. In this letter, Mr. Collins is making a 44 <br />point that in their view, there are deficiencies in the recreation and because of those deficiencies; the 45 <br />development currently lacks much of the 7 acre active recreation area required by Condition 27. That is part of it 46 <br />but from the county’s perspective what is particularly important is Mr. Benedict’s reference to the county holding 47 <br />public hearings with changes in these regulations that came about later after the permit was approved and his 48