081920 Spec Planning Board Minutes

Browse Search

Approved 9/2/2020 1225 come down Davis, Ode Turner they're going to head to that 4-way stop at New Hope. They're going look for other 1226 ways. On top of that there's a reason that they're looking at the 40 exchange here, a lot of people are skeptical of the 1227 jobs being created, I think we have a right to be skeptical, I think there's a lot of jobs would go to Mebane, Burlington, 1228 Durham. I think we've be compromising our community here for commuters and I think Orange County Planning 1229 Board should be looking out for Orange County residents, number one and that's why I'd like to echo the concerns of 1230 others and urge you to consider a plan that would limit the size and scope of this to what fits on the current acreage 1231 available for economic development access via the service road. Thank you. 1232 1233 Justin Mitchell: My name is Justin Mitchell, I own several acres of land on Davis Road adjacent to my brother's 1234 property and I've dreamed of one day living there near my family. The appeal of that dream would certainly be gone 1235 if there were huge warehouses peeking through the woods just a few hundred feet from my property. That said, one 1236 thing that we're concerned about is the runoff that will be generated due to the massive amounts of impervious 1237 surface that would be created by the project. The excess runoff would flow down Davis Road where we had a 1238 sinkhole last year where you can see the floodplain crossing Davis Road. That's due to the currently excessive 1239 amounts of water that flows down there. I think it's important that an analysis be done to assess the impact of the 1240 impervious surface. One other quick thing that I would like to add is about noise because I think it's serious, let me 1241 just point out Orange County specifically prohibits the use of lawn equipment after 9 p.m., if that's the case how can 1242 we possibly allow diesel trucks operating overnight creating noise that is up to 26 times louder than gas powered 1243 lawn equipment. I think it's imperative that a noise impact analysis the development is approved we need to protect 1244 the hearing of our residents and prevent the potentially massive disruption to the children at the preschool and of 1245 sleep, peace and the calm of the residents in the area. That's all thank you. 1246 1247 Nan Fulcher: My name is Nan Fulcher and I'm a resident of Cornwallis Hills that's on the north side of 1-40 but 1248 according to the traffic predictions,there is an impact going up the corridor here of NC 86 about 20%of the traffic 1249 looked like on the traffic reports. Thank you for hearing everyone out tonight, as you, members of the Planning 1250 Board consider the project and make your recommendations to the Commissioners, please consider that the 1251 rezoning proposal at hand, or any proposal for that matter, please consider it from the standpoint of whether it can 1252 withstand legal challenge. The few things in this arena to think about are that rezoning is supposed to be based on 1253 the needs of the neighborhood and community not just secure special benefits for a single property owner. How can 1254 the County assure citizens this is not the case since the rezoning was requested by the applicant rather than being 1255 initiated by the County. Second consideration is whether there are other legitimate ways in which the property owner 1256 could develop the area for economic benefit without requiring rezoning. Third is that the rezoning must still maintain 1257 a harmonious land use pattern that is the juxtapositions still need to make sense. Does shoehorning a 300,000 sq.ft. 1258 warehouse and truck driveway next to private homes make sense? Also, ask whether the zoning change is in 1259 harmony with the legitimate expectations of the neighbors who live in a residential area next to Rural Buffer and part 1260 of the NC Scenic Byway. Lastly, in rezoning,the substantial benefit for one party cannot offset the substantial harm 1261 to neighbors. Even if you believe that a warehouse complex benefits the community,via job creation, or shoring up 1262 the tax base,the rights of the adjacent landowners cannot be ignored. As one Davis Road resident said,the County 1263 only gets one chance to zone this area appropriately so please consider carefully your guidance on this issue. Thank 1264 you. 1265 1266 Sascha Godfrey: My name is Sascha, I'm 16 years old, a student at Orange High and I grew up in New Hope 1267 Springs,a neighborhood off Davis Road. I first want to thank the Planning Board for allowing us to speak and 1268 secondly, I want to plead the Planning Board to really pay attention especially given that we have listened to 2 hours 1269 for our 3 minutes of time to bottle together all of our concerns. With my 3 minutes, I could speak about the for my 1270 safely as a probable collegiate runner training on Davis Road or I could speak about my concern as a new driver and 1271 for the safety of my younger sister who will be driving soon on a road with an influx of trucks at the upper end given 1272 that young drivers have a much higher rate of accidents. However, I have one main probably more practical point to 1273 make in the development presentation earlier, it was mentioned that the development will be 2.25 million sq.ft. of 1274 building area. In parentheses, it was listed initially and that the current traffic analysis that is being used for the 1275 approval of this project is based only on the 2.25 million sq.ft. In the News of Orange article posted today, Michael 1276 Harvey mentioned that this space could occupy up to 4 million sq.ft. The applicant refused to comment. So what is 1277 actually being approved here? Along with the proposed uses how can you be sure that we have control over the 1278 tenants and the size of this development once it's built? I am very concerned by the precedent this sets for rezoning 1279 a residential neighborhood into an industrial area. The developer seemed to try to slide through the idea that the 1280 closest home will be 1000 feet away, however, that will actually be walls of the warehouse 100 feet from the person's