Orange County NC Website
<br />13 <br />Michael Harvey answered said that in consideration of the County’s land use pattern, he thinks that “Airports” 633 <br />should be considered entirely differently. Until he is directed by the BOCC to revisit how to devise regulations on 634 <br />airports, he thinks that their deletion from residential districts is reasonable. 635 <br /> 636 <br />Kim Piracci commented that we already have an airport. 637 <br /> 638 <br />Michael Harvey explained that the current airport is located within Chapel Hill’s planning jurisdiction. 639 <br /> 640 <br />Randy Marshall asked if farmland is considered residential. 641 <br /> 642 <br />Michael Harvey responded that farmland in-and-of-itself is not regulated but it is located primarily within residential 643 <br />areas, but since the County does not regulate farming, there could potentially be a farm in an industrial or economic 644 <br />development district. 645 <br /> 646 <br />Randy Marshall said that farms provide the sufficient amount of land to accommodate an airport. 647 <br /> 648 <br />Michael Harvey agreed. 649 <br /> 650 <br />Randy Marshall confirmed that farmland is not regulated. 651 <br /> 652 <br />Michael Harvey responded that farmland for use for agricultural purposes is defined in state law as not regulated. A 653 <br />non-farm activity would be regulated, and if a farmer wants to put an airport on his or her property, then Staff would 654 <br />argue that it is not a permitted activity. 655 <br /> 656 <br />Lydia Wegman asked for clarification (in relation to the above example) if there would be a way for this activity to be 657 <br />permitted. 658 <br /> 659 <br />Michael Harvey answered that if this amendment is adopted, and the allowance of “Airports” in residential districts 660 <br />is removed, then commercial airports would not be permitted. Having said that, he said that he could conceive of an 661 <br />argument being made that a farmer may need a plane to spread herbicide or pesticide or dealing with other crop 662 <br />issues, Staff may lose the argument that it is not a farm-related activity. 663 <br /> 664 <br />Buddy Hartley said that there already are private landing strips on some farms. 665 <br /> 666 <br />Michael Harvey said that this proposal is meant to eliminate commercial activities. 667 <br /> 668 <br />Lydia Wegman asked if the categories under “Miscellaneous” in the Table that are not crossed-out are also being 669 <br />moved out of the section. 670 <br /> 671 <br />Michael Harvey answered that no, they will remain under “Miscellaneous.” The County Attorney has not expressed 672 <br />concern about them. 673 <br /> 674 <br />Randy Marshall asked if there is anything in the Table on drones. 675 <br /> 676 <br />Michael Harvey answered that there is nothing currently on drones. 677 <br /> 678 <br />David Blankfard asked if there is anything in the Table on food trucks. 679 <br /> 680 <br />Michael Harvey responded that Orange County land use regulations do not regulate food trucks. Food trucks are 681 <br />handled by an ordinance in the General Code of Ordinances where they are allowed on non-residentially-zoned 682 <br />property, not residentially-zoned property. 683 <br /> 684 <br /> 17