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M NOVEMBER 21, 2005 County, public get to plan for growth. Hearing tonight slated to focus on housing density BY EMILY COAKLEY ecoakley@heraldsun.com; 732 -6397 HILLSBOROUGH — Orange County will hold a public hearing at 7:30 tonight to hear comment on a plan to reduce the amount of houses which could be built in rural, unincorporated areas. The joint hearing is with the Board of Commissioners and the Planning Board. The county is updating its land use plan, or a map which tells officials and the public how dif- ferent pieces of land are to be used. The plan was originally. adopted in 1981, and while there have been some changes, the plan as a whole hasn't been updated until now. At tonight's hearing, the coun- ty will seek comments on density. Under current zoning, up to 145,000 new homes could be built in the county's unincorporated areas, bringing more than 345,000 new people. The county's current population is about 120,000, and approximately 180,000 acres within the county's jurisdiction remain undeveloped, said Tbri- Altieri, comprehensive planning supervisor for the county. ' Such a scenario, known as "build- out," could take a century to play out, Altieri said. But the county Planning Department doesn't think it is sustainable. Planning staff members won- der what impact an additional 345,000 people; even a century from now, could have on schools, traffic, air quality, groundwater and surface water. The Planning Department has offered four proposals. Those proposals have a range of densi- ties, which could bring an esti- mated 90,000 to 1751000 more peo- ple to the rural areas once the county is built out. Additional people could move into what the county calls "urbanizing transi- IF YOU GO What: Public hearing on Orange County's Com- prehensive Land Use Ele- ment Update When: 7:30 tonight Where: F. Gordon: Battle Courtroom, 106 Margaret Lane, Hillsborough HEARING FROM PAGE tiori areas" outside Mebane and Hillsborough, and the Planning Department staff has a recom- mendation about where devel- opment should be focused. "We are shifting develop- ment potential from the coun- ty's rural areas to the county's urbanizing areas," Altieri said. Those urbanizing areas are places in unincorporated 'Orange County just outside Mebane and Hillsborough. Under this current effort, the county is focusing on central and northern Orange County. And refocusing development doesn't mean that nothing can be built in the rural areas, Altieri said. It means increas- ing the amount of land required to build one house, from two acres .under current rules to a proposed three acres, for example. "We're kind of erasing future units from the landscape and shifting them to urbanizing areas," Altieri said. But the Planning Depart- ment would like to hear what the public thinks about that idea, too, Alfieri said. The county is holding a total of three public hearings over the coming months addressing its land -use plan. No decisions will be made until after the final public hearing, Altieri said. The hearing will be in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom. Any county resident can attend, whether they live in an unin- corporated area or not. Comments can also be sent to taltieri @co.orange.nc.us. On the Web: Maps of the options the Planning Depart- ment proposed are on the county's Web site, . www.co.orange.nc.us. Click on "meeting agendas'" then the link for the 7:30 p.m. hearing. The abstract is the second item under "Public Hearing Items." 10