Agenda - 04-07-20; 8-a - Minutes

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17 1 Michael Harvey said no. 2 Chair Rich said some residents recently purchased homes, and asked if staff has been 3 discussing this issue for some time. 4 Michael Harvey said yes, since the beginning of 2019. 5 Chair Rich asked if all of the homes around the reservoir were notified. 6 Michael Harvey said no because this is an UDO text amendment. 7 Chair Rich asked if some of the homes will be less valuable if this amendment is 8 approved. 9 Michael Harvey said he is not a tax person and cannot speak to those questions, but 10 these lots are not considered non-conforming under the County UDO, as they are considered to 11 be existing lots, or to have existing development. He said the County does not treat these 12 properties as non-conforming, but rather as lots and parcels that were in existence prior to the 13 reservoir being established and wants to give them leeway in terms of compliance. 14 Chair Rich asked if the year that the reservoir was established could be identified. 15 Michael Harvey said the plats were recorded on February 12, 1997, which is when the 16 Town secured the final property purchase, which secured the final boundary of the lots. He 17 said picking this date is consistent with how the County has treated other reservoirs. 18 Commissioner Price said the minutes refer to a property that has been sub-divided 19 many times since 1997, and will not qualify as an existing lot, but the date has not yet been 20 established, as the BOCC has not yet voted. 21 Michael Harvey said he based his answer of the proposal made by staff, and that it did 22 not constitute a lot of record based on how staff was interpreting how the UDO needed to be 23 modified to reference the establishment of the West Fork in the Eno Reservoir. 24 Commissioner Price said his sub-division exists now, and the BOCC has not voted on 25 the date. She asked how it is possible that staff can already say that this resident's actions 26 would disqualify him as existing lots. 27 Michael Harvey said he is basing his answer on staff's proposal of the date of February 28 12, 1997 being the logical date to establish when the normal pool elevation for the West Fork of 29 the Eno was established. He said this is his answer. 30 Commissioner Price said the BOCC has not yet established this date. 31 Michael Harvey said the BOCC could change the date, and that may change the 32 answer. 33 Commissioner Price said she is not asking to change the date, but is pointing out that 34 the date has not yet been voted on. She said all of this will be retroactive. 35 Michael Harvey said the only date he can use, as articulated in his abstract and 36 presentation, is January 1994. 37 Commissioner Price said she is not concerned about the date, but wants to know if this 38 would be retroactive. 39 Michael Harvey said he has answered the question to the best of his ability. 40 Commissioner Price said the Town of Hillsborough had to negotiate with the property 41 owners to secure the property necessary to accommodate the reservoir, and asked if this 42 pertained to current negotiations, or years past. 43 Craig Benedict, Planning Director, said years ago. He said in the present code, an 44 existing lot is defined as January 1, 1994, and this is the date that staff has used as this is when 45 the watershed regulations went into effect. He said, in absence of this new amendment, the 46 date could be as late as February 12, 1997. He said the date previously used was January 1, 47 1994 prior to the amendments that may be made tonight. 48 Craig Benedict said when Hillsborough chose to build reservoir phases one and two, in 49 the mid 1990s, the Town bought properties to accommodate this. He said all of the land that 50 Hillsborough needed for these two phases was purchased by 1997.