Agenda - 10-16-2018 8-a - Minutes

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11 1 Craig Benedict said staff had community meetings about the Efland/Buckhorn/Mebane 2 access management program, and 100 people attended. He said the land uses are roughly 3 appropriate in the area, there are utilities, and so staff is working on bolstering the roadway 4 infrastructure system. He said there will be some community concern. 5 Commissioner McKee said to move forward as quickly as reasonably possible. He 6 asked if there is a downside of not doing pre-zoning. He said for him, it would be to have 2-3 7 residential developments pop up in the Buckhorn EDD, which would kill commercial 8 development. 9 Steve Brantley said his staff and advisory board are not high on the Eno EDD. He said 10 there are concerns about the EDDs being slow to perform, and only one sewer line has been 11 completed in the 7 years he has been with Orange County. He said what happens first will set 12 the tone for what happens next. He said in the 30 years that the EDDs have existed, they have 13 filled up with homes, and residential will continue to move in if the County does not do 14 something. He said the Flea Market site would be suitable for a Tanger mall, and there is 15 another confidential possibility in the works currently. He said if the County took 2000 acres of 16 land and designated all of it industrial, with infrastructure put in various parts of it, decisions 17 would be made on where the County wants to focus investment first. He said Mebane is a 18 water-sewer partner, and helped incentivize the Morinaga project. He said it is unfortunate that 19 Carrboro does not have an EDD. 20 Steve Brantley said to consider the history, and reason that Article 46 was passed in the 21 first place, was to diversify the non-residential tax base, and alleviate the burden off of the 22 residential tax base. 23 Chair Dorosin said the Board is on the same page about the residential, and wants the 24 EDDs to work better. He said it may be wise to identify marketable sites, and maybe not pre- 25 zone all areas, but rather ones that may be more marketable. He said these options are not 26 mutually exclusive. He hears consensus about moving forward with pre-zoning, and wants to 27 also consider site readiness, site control, and is it easier for the County to put smaller parcels 28 into a larger, potentially more marketable, parcel. 29 Commissioner Price said the area is already zoned, and asked if the intent is now to 30 zone it with pre-zoning. 31 Craig Benedict said the EDD in the dark purple area has appropriate zoning, and it is 32 the yellow and light green areas that need to be considered. He said this should be changed 33 away from residential and agricultural/residential. He said there are 2400 acres. 34 Commissioner Price said she still is unclear about what is best to put in the EDD, and if 35 there are trends to consider. She said it is also important to consider the desires of residents. 36 Chair Dorosin said right now the focus is on not wanting housing. 37 Commissioner Price said but with pre-zoning, what kind of ED does the Board want? 38 She said the desire for big fish projects that will bring blue-collar jobs is understandable, but 39 there are many artists seeking studio and retail space. She said when anything is built the 40 surrounding areas are affected. 41 Chair Dorosin said he agrees, but he does not think pre-zoning against residential will 42 have an impact. 43 Commissioner Jacobs said all of the rezoning was done for Buckhorn Village in less 44 than a year. He said another reason why they focus on Mebane is that Mebane has abided by 45 the idea of developing under Orange County standards, and then annexing the property. He 46 said Hillsborough has not done the same. He said some criteria is needed about how long the 47 County will hold onto a parcel waiting for the potential "big fish" project before moving ahead 48 with a guaranteed "smaller fish" project. 49 Commissioner Burroughs said she would like to start identifying marketable sites and 50 site readiness, with criteria being developed at some point down the line.