Orange County NC Website
D R A F T <br />that says this is what we mean by the argument. This is a typical argument that should go with the proof to have the 281 <br />whole package; the production, the argument, and the overarching burden of proof. 282 <br />283 <br />Randy Marshall: This hasn’t been in there before. How we have suffered by not having this clause in our UDO? 284 <br />285 <br />James Bryan: There’s always the potential of litigation for ambiguity or not following local ordinance.286 <br />287 <br />Randy Marshall: But we have not had any challenge up to this point that would seem to suggest that we to have this in 288 <br />there. 289 <br />290 <br />James Bryan: To my knowledge, we have not. 291 <br />292 <br />Randy Marshall: How do you define reasonable? 293 <br />294 <br />James Bryan: Up until that last clause, I think that’s spot on. Going back to David’s example regarding the kennel. David 295 <br />and his co-members on the Board had to vote, and one of them could have said I think it’s going to decrease the value296 <br />while four of them could have has said it would increase the value. If they give the applicant the permit and it gets297 <br />appealed to Superior Court, the court will review the decision and ask if they had competent material and substantial 298 <br />evidence. If the applicant did, then the court would find in their favor. It is a discretionary decision that the Board is299 <br />allowed to make. 300 <br />301 <br />Randy Marshall:. If we allow the clause to stay, what prevents us from adding another clause that says whoever is not 302 <br />persuaded has to provide us with the reasons they are not persuaded? 303 <br />304 <br />Michael Harvey: That already does happen. 305 <br />306 <br />Randy Marshall: You have to put it in there so whoever reads it has it concretely in front of them and it’s not implied that 307 <br />they have it. If someone says they are not persuaded, after the burden of proof has been met, I think they should have an308 <br />obligation to the applicant to delineate the reasons why they are not persuaded which provides recourse to contest the 309 <br />decision preventing them from getting what they are seeking.310 <br />311 <br />Kim Piracci: Is this is one issue we have tonight? 312 <br />313 <br />Lydia Wegman: Yes.314 <br />315 <br />Kim Piracci: I’m a gemologist; and at some point, it’s not up to me to give a gemology lessons to my clients if that person 316 <br />has hired me for my expertise. There’s a hang up on the word persuasion, and he has said several times that it is not the 317 <br />legal standard. The legal standard is this other thing. These three professionals are kind of in agreement that these 318 <br />wordings should be in here and said it’s an improvement over what we had. Michael has said it’s already if you are not 319 <br />persuaded you have to say why and yet it seems to keep going back and forth. At some level, we have to trust our paid 320 <br />professionals and that’s what I would like to do at this time. I don’t see an end to this discussion. Even though I get your 321 <br />point, I trust him because he’s a legal expert.322 <br />323 <br />Adam Beeman: I don’t think we should be making it more difficult for normal people to understand and go through the 324 <br />process. You are making it to the point where I have to hire a lawyer to do this so they can interpret the law for me. 325 <br />326 <br />Kim Piracci: Is it not already that way? 327 <br />328 <br />Hunter Spitzer: From precedent it seems like this is already the expectation. It was an implied expectation that the 329 <br />applicant would have the burden of persuasion and now we are putting it into concrete text. If you are going for a Special 330 <br />Use Permit or a Variance you will probably need a lawyer anyway, so I believe the process is the same, and I don’t think 331 <br />this makes it any more difficult if you already have a lawyer.332 <br />333 <br />Adam Beeman: No, but it can discourage someone from doing it in the first place. We can vote, but we will obviously we 334 <br />will not get anywhere with me.335 <br />336 <br />20