Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
1 <br />James Bryan said the Board of Adjustment needs to show where in the General Statutes it states that there has to be 2 <br />continuity. 3 <br /> 4 <br />Barry Katz said to James Bryan that Bryan had just said that the statute doesn’t mean that you can just have this card 5 <br />and pass around this card. If Kara Brewer was the one that actually owned this property and the LLC was formed 6 <br />sometime after, and it’s not clear that Kara Brewer is or was at that time the LLC, then how can the board give any 7 <br />advantage to a property owner? 8 <br /> 9 <br />James Bryan said he thinks what Barry Katz is implying is that the Department of Revenue made a mistake. That the 10 <br />certificate on its face when it says Wild Flora Farm doesn’t mean Wild Flora Farm or shouldn’t have stated Wild Flora 11 <br />Farm. That it was either a clerical error or a mistake on their part or maybe fraud was committed on them. Whatever it 12 <br />is, James Bryan doesn’t think the statute clearly indicates that the board can consider that. He thinks the board has to 13 <br />read the statute as: ‘A person who holds a qualifying farmer sales tax exemption certificate from the Department of 14 <br />Revenue.’ 15 <br /> 16 <br />Barry Katz checked that the board is also to consider whether Michael Harvey erred. 17 <br /> 18 <br />James Bryan answered no, but rather the determination was right or wrong. 19 <br /> 20 <br />Barry Katz asked whether the board is to make any judgment on whether the determination was right or wrong. 21 <br /> 22 <br />James Bryan answered yes, the board is to determine whether the structure located on the property is classified as a 23 <br />bona fide farm purpose under the new section of statute. 24 <br /> 25 <br />Karen Barrows asked if it was time to close the public hearing. 26 <br /> 27 <br />LeAnn Brown said that she was not sure she had requested that Exhibits 3, 4 and 5 (the petition, the writ, and the 28 <br />dismissal) be moved into evidence. 29 <br /> 30 <br />MOTION by Randy Herman to move those exhibits into evidence. Barry Katz seconded. 31 <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS 32 <br /> 33 <br />LeAnn Brown said she needed to put an objection in the record, in case this case goes elsewhere, to the last bit of 34 <br />information and argument that the board received from James Bryan. The information included in evidence indicates 35 <br />that the county attorney’s office advised Michael Harvey as to the opinion the board is now reviewing and when the 36 <br />county attorney’s office starts making argument with regard to the case, it’s a violation of her clients’ due process rights 37 <br />and potentially Andy Petesch’s. 38 <br /> 39 <br />Andy Petesch requested that the board make a motion to accept all the documents he handed up into evidence. There 40 <br />were Exhibits 6-8 and a 9 that LeAnn Brown had objected to. Andy Petesch said he did not see any reason to not enter 41 <br />it into evidence as well. 42 <br /> 43 <br />MOTION by Barry Katz to move those exhibits into evidence. Susan Halkiotis seconded. 44 <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS 45 <br /> 46 <br />Susan Halkiotis asked James Bryan, regarding facts, on the slide James Bryan had put up earlier, there were three 47 <br />requirements for facts: competent, material, substantial. In order for evidence to be competent, James Bryan had 48 <br />indicated that it needed to be trustworthy. If members of this board were to find any of this evidence not to be 49 <br />trustworthy based on our own questions about, for instance, how that certificate was obtained, or the name on the 50 <br />18