Minutes 09-10-2019 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 John Roberts said he talked with Durham, and it previously regulated firearms in a manner similar to the ideas being presented tonight. He said Durham’s original ordinance focused on housing density in approved subdivisions, but it was repealed due to the difficulty of enforcement. He said Durham changed to no shooting within 900 feet from government buildings, private residences, churches, and schools. He said this may work in Durham County, but he would suggest that it would not work for Orange County. He said Orange County still has significant areas that are rural in nature, and 900 feet would eat into a lot of private property. He said Durham is much more urbanized than Orange County, and it did not experience much opposition to the ordinance change in its public hearings. John Roberts said Durham required a permit in order to shoot within 900 feet of one of these areas, and the permit process was convoluted, requiring a public hearing before the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) prior to issuing a permit. He said he expects the 900-foot rule to be equally difficult to enforce. John Roberts referred to a map on the screen, and in the Commissioners’ packet, which the County GIS staff prepared. He said the map divides Orange County’s rural area into red grid squares that are 10-acre parcels with at least ten houses in them. He said these parcels are linked by the green lines within one mile of each other. He said ten acres with ten houses on it is just an example, and is probably not equivalent to a suburban-type density. He said he recommends that GIS or the Planning Department determine what constitutes suburban type density, and figure out where those areas are in the County. He said this may be a higher number, 20 houses per 10-acre grid square, and thus the regulated areas would be substantially smaller. Commissioner Dorosin asked if the red squares on this map would also include areas that are denser than 10 houses on a 10-acre parcel. John Roberts said each red grid square represents an area where there are at least ten houses, and yes, it could be as many as 20 houses. He said this ordinance would also apply in the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) areas. Commissioner Price asked if the green lines could be explained. John Roberts said these are just boundary lines of where the areas are, and it is not a recommended line. He said if the Board wants to pursue this option, GIS or Planning will need to determine the actual boundaries. He said this could be based on roads, property lines, GIS coordinates, etc. He said these boundaries would need to be able to be located in order to enforce the ordinance. Commissioner Greene asked if the areas within the green lines would have the ordinance enforced. John Roberts said that would need to be determined. He said all of the clusters are within a mile of each other, and the question remains whether the Board would want to include all of the empty spaces. He said he would not think this would be necessary, and he would not recommend the 900-foot limit set by Durham, as Orange County has existing restrictions based on a 450-foot limit on hunting around schools or government buildings, etc. Commissioner McKee said he would be interested in the red boxes having a name, so the affected areas are more easily identifiable. He said there are definitely areas where firearm use makes no sense, but there are other areas that are wide open and restriction seems unnecessary. Commissioner Marcoplos said he would also like to have the road names on the map. Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the work on the ETJ areas remains to be done. John Roberts said absolutely. He said the ETJs have density in some areas, and the green lines may go away completely, and the ordinance could be based on subdivisions. He said this is all up to the Board. Commissioner Marcoplos said the Board should discuss if the ETJs should be a no-shot zone by themselves, since these are areas where development is expected.