081920 Spec Planning Board Minutes

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Approved 9/2/2020 1337 commercial development in Orange County away from Chapel Hill and Carrboro who seem to take and send any 1338 proposal for economic development to Durham or Chatham County. Walmart went to Chatham County, Lowes went 1339 to Durham and there are numerous others that were not able to get a foot in the door in Orange County. These 1340 Economic Development Districts were created to provide commercial tax base, provide jobs and they were set up 1341 close to the interstates in areas that at the time they were established didn't have many residents. We understand 1342 that many of the people who have spoken, 2 weeks ago and tonight, have been recent residents moving into those 1343 areas and so we understand their concerns. On the other hand, there's been very little interest in developing these 1344 Economic Development Districts in the last 30 or 40 years and now we have a proposal which offers the opportunity 1345 to increase our tax base, take some other pressure off property taxes, increase the possibility of additional sales 1346 taxes even if it doesn't create 4500 jobs,the jobs that is does create will be beneficial. So, I would like to cast my 1347 views on what's going on and those terms that we serve all of the residents of the County and we'd like to be able to 1348 just serve a couple of neighborhoods at a time but the residents of all of Orange County those concerns of more 1349 money for the schools, more taxes and more job opportunities hopefully will serve the entire community. At some 1350 point I'm willing to introduce a proposal for us to vote upon when other people have spoken. 1351 1352 Kim Piracci: Nobody's going to be surprised when I disagree a little bit with Randy. Unlike Randy, I've only lived in 1353 Orange County 24 years and my husband moved us around a lot of places in the Country before we settled here. 1 1354 never heard of a place that had enough tax base or small enough taxes. People's taxes can never be small enough, 1355 trust me it's a financial truth. So, although I know that is a persuasive argument,for many if not most people. For me 1356 it falls on deaf ears,what concerns me, actually a little more is there's a lot of things about this development that 1357 concerns me but I think the biggest one came very early in the comments when one of the residents said that they 1358 assured us that he lived on a property that the developer thought there was no house on. In fact, it seems that a lot 1359 of people live on properties that the developer thought there were no home on and so what it says to me is that either 1360 the developer is misinformed or disingenuous. In either case, I feel like we need to give them an opportunity to go 1361 back and maybe come to us with more correct facts. Also, the transportation continues to disturb me. I apologize to 1362 you all, I did not get the updated information, I don't know if it's the post office but I feel like I need to examine that 1363 better than on an inch of screen and like one of the homeowners said, that was very extremely cherry picked 1364 information that was provided. So, again, I just feel that to make a good decision,we all want what's best for Orange 1365 County, I feel like to make the best decision I can make, I need a little bit more time and I need them to provide a little 1366 bit more accurate information before I can comfortably vote to promote the project. 1367 1368 Adam Beeman: I want to state that for 13 years of my life, I lived less than 200 ft.from an industrial park. It wasn't 1369 the end of the world, the traffic wasn't the end of the world,the noise wasn't the end of the world and as a matter of 1370 fact,that was where I go my first job in high school. I would leave high school on work study and I would go work in 1371 one of those businesses in that industrial park that was right behind my house so for me I've lived there, I've dealt 1372 with it and dealt with the traffic,we dealt with diesel exhaust before they even came up with the DEF for the trucks. 1373 It's not as bad as people are making it out to believe. I believe we need the tax revenue in this county and I am for it 1374 all the way. That's the end of my pitch. Thank you. 1375 1376 Carrie Fletcher: My 2 cents is very simply that I have a hard time buying into it when I don't know what they're doing. 1377 1 know Orange County needs the revenue, I know all counties in North Carolina, I know all counties everywhere 1378 needs the revenue but to say, here you go and we're going to offer this package to them and say go for it. I don't 1379 know what you're doing there and here's carte blanc to go for it. I don't know what they're going to manufacture 1380 there. I don't know what they're going to put in those trucks. I don't know what they're going to do a year from now 1381 once they open their doors. I don't know, I mean other that what the County say they can and can't do in that 1382 building,whether they tan hides or they... I think they know what tenants they have coming in there and I think they 1383 have a good idea. But, I just don't feel comfortable saying go for it guys and make it work. So be it, it's a huge 1384 project to put out there and I've seen,where I came from, in South Florida what happens when projects don't work 1385 and you end up with a very big, ugly, empty building that is good for nothing and nobody. I would hate to see that 1386 happen out there,five years from now and so I really need more information to really help to make me be persuaded 1387 to just say thumbs up and tally ho but I want to support it, I want to make sure that it's a good thing for Orange 1388 County. It's a hard thing environmentally for me to say that I'm behind it because it's a big decision to say that I'm 1389 going to tear down 50 acres of beautiful land out in Hillsborough to build a giant warehouse. It's a big decision. 1 1390 want to make sure that it's right. 1391