Orange County NC Website
Approved 11/01/2017 <br /> <br />17 <br />Kim Piracci said that she did not do her homework to study the materials for this development. She cannot make an 845 <br />informed decision on any of the items tonight. She said that she suspected that other members may be in a similar 846 <br />position. If she recommended that this item be tabled, the world would not come to an end. What is the worst that 847 <br />would happen? 848 <br /> 849 <br />Michael Harvey responded that if the decision is to table the entire project, it will be tabled and brought back up at the 850 <br />Board’s November regular meeting. With the delay, the project would not be going forward to public hearing in 851 <br />November because there will likely not be enough time to get it to the BOCC. He recommended that she ask Mr. 852 <br />Parker any questions. He also said that he would need direction on what Staff should provide in terms of more 853 <br />information or direction. 854 <br /> 855 <br />Kim Piracci said that she needs more time to study this project. She feels like this is too much to go forward with, for 856 <br />her personally. 857 <br /> 858 <br />Lydia Wegman said that she appreciated Ms. Piracci’s comments and gave Mr. Parker a chance to respond. She 859 <br />said that she would also like to know how other members feel, and wanted to give the public a chance to comment. 860 <br />The public has been extremely patient. 861 <br /> 862 <br />Jim Parker said that he understands Ms. Piracci’s position. He said that on his end, they are on a timeline and have a 863 <br />contractual obligation. Mr. Parker said that he does feel like the world would come to an end for he and his group. He 864 <br />wishes the project had been ready to move forward this past spring but here they are so much later. He said that he 865 <br />really hopes the Board approves the project. If anyone has questions, he will take as long as it takes to answer all of 866 <br />them. He thanked the Board. 867 <br /> 868 <br />Lydia Wegman turned to the public for their comments. She thanked them for being patient and asked people who 869 <br />wanted to speak to come forward to the microphone. 870 <br /> 871 <br />Beth Rosenberg said that she lives off Davis Road and she is in the same boat as Ms. Piracci. She did not know 872 <br />about this important meeting until she saw a sign. She did not find information about the project online. She wished 873 <br />that the developers had also met with property owners in the area at large since the interstate entrance/exit she uses 874 <br />to get home is the same entrance/exit as the proposed development. Her neighborhood will be impacted. She noted 875 <br />that already Old 86 can get busy with back-ups from the highway and more traffic on Interstate 40 is concerning. She 876 <br />is also concerned about environmental impacts of the project on her neighborhood. 877 <br /> 878 <br />Lydia Wegman thanked Ms. Rosenberg for her comments. She noted that the notification requirement is only to 879 <br />property owners within 1,000 feet of the subject property/properties of the intended development. 880 <br /> 881 <br />Janet Marks said that she lives off of Davis Road in a small neighborhood. They chose their neighborhood because 882 <br />they could easily get to Interstates 40 and 85 but also live in the country. As a neighborhood, they have not been 883 <br />involved in the discussion. The signs on the side of the road notifying the public about these meetings were too hard 884 <br />to read and were put in places where it was too dangerous to pull-off the road and read them. She said that there is 885 <br />so much traffic already (for example, 4 dead squirrels on the road in one day). Both the heavy as well as the light 886 <br />environmental impacts all matter. Living in the country to her means that lights are dim. She conveyed her frustration 887 <br />in not being included in the neighborhood meeting process; her neighborhood is very much impacted by this 888 <br />proposed development. 889 <br /> 890 <br />Gerald Scarlett said that his driveway is Scarlett Mountain Road, the southern boundary of the subject property. His 891 <br />property goes about a half a mile back into the woods. While he came with a lot of questions tonight, he is not going 892 <br />to ask them because they involved District 3. One of his main concerns is with water. If the County is so concerned 893 <br />about “going green” and renewable energies, the point should be made that there are no renewables for water. He 894 <br />said that he lives at a high elevation and has a line of sight to the Sharon Harris Nuclear Power Plant when the skies 895 <br />are clear. The proposed development is at a lower level than his property. His well was made 250 feet down through 896 <br />solid granite. Even though the discussion has been about public water infrastructure, the development document 897