Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
2 <br /> 1 2. Land Use Element Update Initiatives/Sustainability <br /> 2 a. Urban-rural boundaries and Rural Activity Nodes <br /> 3 <br /> 4 This information is on the blue handout. <br /> 5 <br /> 6 Craig Benedict said that in 2003 a growth management strategy was put <br /> 7 together. The rural areas are to promote lower intensity development, to protect <br /> 8 farmland, and preserve water and environmental resources. The urban areas <br /> 9 are to have an intensity threshold to promote mass transit and a healthy <br /> 10 economic environment (jobs and services). <br /> 1l b. Watershed protection — surface water and groundwater <br /> 12 <br /> 13 Craig Benedict said that being able to lower density in certain areas to protect the <br /> 14 quality of surface water is very important. The groundwater level also needs to <br /> 15 be protected. Lowering density can protect this as well as low-impact design. <br /> 16 This is a way to keep the water on-site as long as possible through retention <br /> 17 areas and peak flow management. Orange County is fortunate to have <br /> 18 headwater resources, in that there are no rivers that flow from one side of the <br /> 19 County through to the other side; they all start in Orange County. <br /> 20 <br /> 21 c. Air quality <br /> 22 d. Open space/minimum lot size <br /> 23 e. Economics and equity <br /> 24 <br /> 25 Craig Benedict said that the majority of the air pollution in the County comes as a <br /> 26 result of vehicle miles traveled. It is not an industrial area. Putting development <br /> 27 where there are opportunities for mass transit and reducing development farther <br /> 28 away from transit corridors will help reduce the amount of traffic from <br /> 29 development. Craig Benedict showed a chart comparing growth scenarios. He <br /> 30 also pointed out the densities in different areas of the County on a map, <br /> 31 <br /> 32 Craig Benedict said that if the County moves toward a one unit per three-acre <br /> 33 density in these areas, it is not lowering the density as much as the Upper Neuse <br /> 34 River Basin technical report said. The staff suggests lowering the density to one <br /> 35 unit per three acres and having low-impact design standards to manage the peak <br /> 36 flow, which would reduce phosphorous and nitrogen release from development <br /> 37 sites, This could probably achieve the same water quality goals as lowering <br /> 38 density to one unit per five acres. <br /> 39 <br /> 40 Commissioner Brown asked why they would not just lower the density to one unit <br /> 41 per five acres and why they would diminish the recommendations from the <br /> 42 Neuse River. She said that, as time goes on, people do things to their property, <br /> 43 which would mean that the low-impact efforts would be lost to some degree. <br /> 44 Craig Benedict said that the sedimentation and erosion control division in his <br /> 45 department has been focused on construction and monitoring sediment. More <br />