Orange County NC Website
2 <br /> <br />Review, The Mom Egg New World Writing , Dogplotz, Nailpolish Stories, and most recently in <br />the anthology Red Sky. In addition to her story “Lungs once pink and fragile” being nominated <br />for a Pushcart Prize, she received an Emerging Artist’s Grant from the Durham Arts Council in <br />2005. She has served on the Orange County Arts Commission Advisory Board since 2013. <br /> <br />Chair Dorosin introduced Todd McGee, Community Relations Director, who recognized <br />the “graduates” from the first County Government Academy. <br /> <br />2. Public Comments <br /> <br />a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br />Susan Walser read the following comments: <br /> <br />Good Evening, <br />I’m Susan Walser. Thank you for your time this evening. I’d like to thank the County for <br />coordinating the Keith Arboretum Community Meeting last Wednesday, May 30th. <br /> <br />Ms. Livingston presented information from the County at this meeting, and David Harper <br />presented information from Unique Place to Save – his presentation lasted about 45 <br />minutes. The community found Ms. Harper’s presentation not relevant to our goals for <br />the meeting. Instead we were subjected to a lengthy presentation on what Unique <br />Places to Save is, what projects they have completed throughout the state, possible <br />future programs on arboretum property, and requests for the audience to join the <br />arboretum and financially support Unique Places to Save. The community, at several <br />points, asked for clarification on the corporate structure of the arboretum and why they <br />were presenting instead of the owner. The explanations were always lengthy, <br />convoluted, and confusing. <br /> <br />A reference to debt restructuring was made in relation to the corporate restructuring. We <br />looked into some of this. There are 3 note holders on the 143 acres and the Keith <br />Arboretum jointly – with Pickoretum, LLC, registered as a real estate and rental business, <br />as the borrower, with deeds of trust totaling over $845,000. The total purchase price of <br />all these parcels was $770,000. <br /> <br />During the County’s presentation, we heard that no violations of the Keith easement were <br />found. However, as you can see in the presentation the community made: <br />• The deck (with no permitting) was built to support wedding events – see page 6. <br />• As shown on page 13 of our presentation, in April the County believed that ROMR <br />was inactive or gone…yet ROMR is still active and is now an approved activity. <br />• The Easement Amendment submitted to you in April requested permission to <br />have bees on the property. However, bees had already been on the property for <br />months, and are a commercial venture, which isn’t allowed under the easement. <br />See page 15. <br />• The Keith home is used as an Airbnb, but the easement states that the property <br />can only be used for recreational, educational, and scientific purposes, under <br />non-commercial use – this commercial Airbnb use may fit under the Pickoretum <br />LLC’s business purpose of real estate and rental. See page 5 of our <br />presentation. <br />