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APPROVED 5/10/2010 OC Board of Adjustment – 3/8/2010 Page 69 of 86 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 developments that incorporated vets and kennels so I know the science and what is expected. I can give you other counties we have put them in, Chatham County, Wake County. But anyway I am very familiar with citing them. Rob Maitland: You had a chance to review the application and the testimony tonight, what are your findings? Travis Blake: Not speaking as an appraiser or anything, just an environmental engineer or consultant. The first thing I notice is that is an intensely developed site for the small amount of land that is available. It is a commercial site but not residential but it should be residential neighborhood. It would normally not be placed. The applicant is correct that kennels are normally in rural areas for a very good reason. Lately I would say as far back as I can remember, eight to ten years, none of the ones I have cited have been in rural areas, they are all accessible, in towns, in shopping centers and the sound acoustic engineer has spoke, he is very correct, you put these things buildings up and you can’t hear them. I would point out that also when you get a number of dogs barking inside these faculties, dogs for a long way, other dogs can hear them outside. They hear what we don’t and then sometimes in the neighborhood if they are sensitive dogs. Also, noise is subjective may not be noisy in decibels but if a neighbor is hearing it off in a distance, it is a disturbance. On the impervious, if you subtract the buffer and the waste water, normally, these things are something that is this commercially intensive would be in a shopping center where there is sewer available and where there is storm water available so if you take off the buffer and you take off the waster water area, your impervious is approaching 50% and you’re not going to get that even in commercial development. That is very intensive for the small piece of property. The other things I don’t see. There shouldn’t be much traffic but you have to understand that it is not those 20 animals, it is people coming to check the facility out and everything deliveries, everything that goes with that. That will change the characteristic of that road or the traffic pattern. There is a lot that goes on; it is not just the people. It is all the support. He wants to build 1,800 square feet of supplies. That means there will be big trucks or small trucks or whatever you can get in there delivering dog food or whatever it is. I twill change the character of the neighborhood, I believe. I haven’t seen anything to address lighting. A security lighting, is there going to be a lot of lighting, how well is it lit while the light is on. That is pretty important; the lighting can be as bad of a nuisance as noise. I am not certain about this and I dint’ have a chance to check. There is a six foot high fence; I believe the topography on the other side of that is uphill if I am not mistaken so the fence doesn’t have much of an affect. The landscaping, lady and cypress which are existing there are very large but they are temporary plants and they won’t be there much longer if they are over 15 or 20 years old. They are subject to attacked by a number of insects and they are very shallow rooted and they tend to blow over. That is it. Rob Maitland: Thank you Mr. Blake. Joan Austin. Joan Austin: My name is Joan Austin. I am here actually wearing two hats, I am a property owner…. Jeffrey Schmitt: Were you sworn in? Joan Austin: Yes. I may be the largest property owner. I don’t have a house there but I own 14 acres right here so I got the letter saying that this was happening but I have never had a conversation with Mr. Lonsway about anything. Never gotten any information but I do have 14 acres right there. It is the land that many of you may know as the Pines of Carolina Girl Scout Council. It is Camp Pipsisiloff which is a beautiful 14 acres which I bought 22 years ago. I am also a realtor in Durham. My company is Marie Austin Reality and I have been selling real estate for 36 years and I am here for both reasons, as a realtor and a property owner. Rob Maitland: Joan, you contacted, as a realtor, you contacted the legal council for the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and that was the email I previously submitted as Defendant’s Exhibit 5? Joan Austin: Yes. I am very concerned about getting my license because it is my income and so I called the North Carolina Real Estate Commission and asked them if it a material fact, do we have to discuss if we have a property for sale, it is a material fact that there is a dog kennel next door. Tom Miller, y’all saw that email, it is not even a question. It absolutely is a material fact and if you would look at that very first line, it is absolutely a material fact. I think that somebody read the definition of material fact but basically it is something that must be disclosed. The bottom line is actually that if the Southerlands had their house for sale, if they called me and said, I want you to sell my house, there is a disclosure they must fill out and, do you mind if I pass this out?