Agenda - Item 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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33 soils for sanitary septic compatibility, in addition to the wells and wetlands pose significant 1 challenges to the development of a manufactured home park on this site. Based on a 2 preliminary site evaluation by a licensed soil scientist, there is insufficient area of usable soils 3 for a subsurface wastewater treatment and disposal system of adequate capacity to support the 4 contemplated development. An on-site septic system, if possible, would include a containment 5 lagoon for either a surface drip or surface irrigation system. 6 7 Delineation of jurisdictional and isolated wetlands onsite introduces considerable site planning 8 challenges and preliminary site grading analysis requires some soil import for site balancing. 9 10 Although constructing (multiple) public water supply wells is theoretically possible on the site, 11 County environmental health representatives opine that obtaining the flow volume required for 12 the contemplated development (minimum of 7,000 gallons per day for a 28 lot manufactured 13 home park alone) is questionable. The only definitive method for measuring water flow volume 14 is to dig test wells at a cost of approximately $45,000. Moreover, the North Carolina Public 15 Water Supply Section, as well as the Orange County Environmental Health Services Division, 16 must permit public water supply wells. The close availability of Orange Water & Sewer Authority 17 (OWASA) public water (within an estimated 500 feet) may be a negative factor in obtaining the 18 required state permit(s). 19 20 Alternative Wastewater Treatment Options. Because of the lack of adequate subsurface soil 21 to support a sanitary septic system, pre-treatment surface drip or spray irrigation system with a 22 containment lagoon or a state-approved innovative package sewer system could be considered 23 for this site. Stream discharge, which is required for the innovative package sewer type system, 24 is physically possible, but requires an exhaustive permitting process by the North Carolina 25 Division of Water Resources (“NCDWR”). The proximity of existing sanitary sewer mains (within 26 an estimated 1,200 feet) at the Town of Chapel Hill Town Operations Center would likely be a 27 strong contributing factor against NCDWR issuing a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination 28 System (NPDES) discharge permit for a free-standing innovative package treatment facility on 29 this site. Significant ongoing operation, maintenance, and reporting are required for this type of 30 treatment facility, should such a permit be obtained. 31 32 Conceptual Land Planning. Attachment 3, ”Conceptual Land Plans”, illustrates two “bubble 33 plan” options for the layout of the site. These illustrations depict areas that would support 34 approximately 28 mobile home park lots, a soccer park area generally contemplated by the 35 Orange County-Town of Chapel Hill partnership, and required development features supporting 36 these uses. Note that the delineated wetlands in plan option 3b would reduce the acreage 37 available for soccer use by approximately 30%. 38 39 Availability of OWASA Water and Sewer Service. Adequate water and sewer capacity is 40 located on the adjacent parcel east of the County parcel assembly; however, current land use 41 and utility extension policies prohibit the extension of these facilities. 42 43 Land Use Considerations; Orange County Unified Development Ordinance (“UDO”); 44 Joint Planning Area Assessment. The parcels are located within the Rural Buffer as 45 designated in the Joint Planning Land Use Plan and on the County’s Future Land Use Map and 46 Zoning Atlas. 47 Site-built residential uses in the Rural Buffer must adhere to a minimum lot size of 2 acres per 48 unit. Housing units may be clustered while still adhering to a 2-acre per unit density requirement 49 which would yield up to 34 housing units on the site. Development of a home park will require a 50