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Approved 11/8/2010 OC Board of Adjustment – 10/11/2010 Page 8 of 35 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 as we do on the field trips and educational activities. You’ll also find in this packet a letter from Pat Rhodes, who is the Superintendent of the Orange County Schools, in support of the facility. I would also like to enter one other thing in the record, paper wise, and that is a document that was submitted when we originally applied for the Special Use Permit to describe the activities at the Mapleview Agriculture Center, the staff, the reservations, admission fees, and payment methods basically sort of a general description of that. On the last page of that document, features of a building include the event room at Mapleview Agricultural Center. It says it can be rented out for special occasions, the event room is open year round, ideal for off site meetings, family reunions, rehearsal dinners, corporate events, seminars, and holiday parties. Again, I would stress to you and I would like to enter this into the record as well, that everything that we do has an educational component to try to teach not just children but also adults about the importance of agriculture. We’ve had some complaints from some of the neighbors. One of the major complaints that I have heard about was a pump that is used to pump water from a pond that is located partially on this site, Mapleview farm and partially on common area owned by the adjoining Landowners Association. The pump in question is a five-horse power Honda motor pump that is used to pump water to the garden located on the center, which is used in activities for educational purposes. We’ve also heard complaints from some of the neighbors about the buffer. We content that not only have we maintained the buffer, we have improved it, we’ve planted at least 41 trees to try to help with the visual, to block the view from the neighbors, for the neighbor from the west. If I could I would like to pass these pictures around. Michael Harvey: Mr. Chairman, if I could interrupt real quick. The letter that Mr. Parker was talking about was the last two pages of the packet he handed you from Orange County Schools. Mike Parker: I also have a picture that I’d like to pass around of the hayride and some of the photographs that were taken during birthday parties to show that there is actually education in the classroom going on and in the barnyard out behind the facility where the animals are located. The last pictures I have, as you may be aware, Duke Power or Duke Energy has located a solar field on the site. Tying the past with the future, this solar power generated by this solar field, I think they said would light 243 homes. It’s right there beside the facility, the children and the adults can look at that and see the cows in the background. They can look across and see where the milking parlor is where the cows are milked. They can look across the field and see the ice cream center where the ice cream is made. We are asking you not to limit the philosophy of the ag center and not restrict what we consider to be nothing more than marketing efforts to reach as many people as possible with the educational opportunity that we provide there. It is a unique concept, this is a first class educational facility, it has four classrooms, it offers courses that meet the standard course of study for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and a menagerie of animals most of which are farm animals, pigs, cows and goats. This gives children and adults an opportunity to see the agricultural experience up close and personal. We’d like to get to that before the last plowed field is paved over with a parking lot or a street. I appreciate your time, I’d be glad to answer any questions. Michael Harvey: Mr. Chairman, for the record, I would like to state that the solar panels were part of a permitted site plan application for the property. Staff had reviewed the proposal and deemed that it was consistent with the operation of the farm facility and allowed the permit to move forward in accordance with Section 8.7 of the Ordinance. Tom Brown: Do any of the Board members have a question for Mr. Parker at this time? Larry Wright: Yes, Michael, you referred to the documentation of approval for the previous Special Use Permit, where is that in our packet? Michael Harvey: It’s attachment A which is the application and attachment B which is the minutes. I think Mr. Parker had entered into the record a handout that they had produced or had indicated they had produced as part of that application. I can address some concerns I have with that once I take another look at it. I’ll let the Board ask other questions.