Agenda - 10-06-20; 6-c - Zoning Atlas Amendment – Master Plan Development Conditional Zoning District (MPD-CZ) for the Research Triangle Logistics Park (RTLP)

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Approved 9/2/2020 Board should be looking out for Orange County residents, number one and that’s why I’d like to echo the concerns of 1174 others and urge you to consider a plan that would limit the size and scope of this to what fits on the current acreage 1175 available for economic development access via the service road. Thank you. 1176 1177 Justin Mitchell: My name is Justin Mitchell, I own several acres of land on Davis Road adjacent to my brother’s 1178 property and I’ve dreamed of one day living there near my family. The appeal of that dream would certainly be gone 1179 if there were huge warehouses peeking through the woods just a few hundred feet from my property. That said, one 1180 thing that we’re concerned about is the runoff that will be generated due to the massive amounts of impervious 1181 surface that would be created by the project. The excess runoff would flow down Davis Road where we had a 1182 sinkhole last year where you can see the floodplain crossing Davis Road. That’s due to the currently excessive 1183 amounts of water that flows down there. I think it’s important that an analysis be done to assess the impact of the 1184 impervious surface. One other quick thing that I would like to add is about noise because I think it’s serious, let me 1185 just point out Orange County specifically prohibits the use of lawn equipment after 9 p.m., if that’s the case how can 1186 we possibly allow diesel trucks operating overnight creating noise that is up to 26 times louder than gas powered 1187 lawn equipment. I think it’s imperative that a noise impact analysis the development is approved we need to protect 1188 the hearing of our residents and prevent the potentially massive disruption to the children at the preschool and of 1189 sleep, peace and the calm of the residents in the area. That’s all thank you. 1190 1191 Nan Fulcher: My name is Nan Fulcher and I’m a resident of Cornwallis Hills that’s on the north side of I-40 but 1192 according to the traffic predictions, there is an impact going up the corridor here of NC 86 about 20% of the traffic 1193 looked like on the traffic reports. Thank you for hearing everyone out tonight, as you, members of the Planning 1194 Board consider the project and make your recommendations to the Commissioners, please consider that the 1195 rezoning proposal at hand, or any proposal for that matter, please consider it from the standpoint of whether it can 1196 withstand legal challenge. The few things in this arena to think about are that rezoning is supposed to be based on 1197 the needs of the neighborhood and community not just secure special benefits for a single property owner. How can 1198 the County assure citizens this is not the case since the rezoning was requested by the applicant rather than being 1199 initiated by the County. Second consideration is whether there are other legitimate ways in which the property owner 1200 could develop the area for economic benefit without requiring rezoning. Third is that the rezoning must still maintain 1201 a harmonious land use pattern that is the juxtapositions still need to make sense. Does shoehorning a 300,000 sq. ft. 1202 warehouse and truck driveway next to private homes make sense? Also, ask whether the zoning change is in 1203 harmony with the legitimate expectations of the neighbors who live in a residential area next to Rural Buffer and part 1204 of the NC Scenic Byway. Lastly, in rezoning, the substantial benefit for one party cannot offset the substantial harm 1205 to neighbors. Even if you believe that a warehouse complex benefits the community, via job creation, or shoring up 1206 the tax base, the rights of the adjacent landowners cannot be ignored. As one Davis Road resident said, the County 1207 only gets one chance to zone this area appropriately so please consider carefully your guidance on this issue. Thank 1208 you. 1209 1210 Sascha Godfrey: My name is Sascha, I’m 16 years old, a student at Orange High and I grew up in New Hope 1211 Springs, a neighborhood off Davis Road. I first want to thank the Planning Board for allowing us to speak and 1212 secondly, I want to plead the Planning Board to really pay attention especially given that we have listened to 2 hours 1213 for our 3 minutes of time to bottle together all of our concerns. With my 3 minutes, I could speak about the for my 1214 safely as a probable collegiate runner training on Davis Road or I could speak about my concern as a new driver and 1215 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 1216 that young drivers have a much higher rate of accidents. However, I have one main probably more practical point to 1217 make in the development presentation earlier, it was mentioned that the development will be 2.25 million sq. ft. of 1218 building area. In parentheses, it was listed initially and that the current traffic analysis that is being used for the 1219 approval of this project is based only on the 2.25 million sq. ft. In the News of Orange article posted today, Michael 1220 Harvey mentioned that this space could occupy up to 4 million sq. ft. The applicant refused to comment. So what is 1221 actually being approved here? Along with the proposed uses how can you be sure that we have control over the 1222 tenants and the size of this development once it’s built? I am very concerned by the precedent this sets for rezoning 1223 a residential neighborhood into an industrial area. The developer seemed to try to slide through the idea that the 1224 closest home will be 1000 feet away, however, that will actually be walls of the warehouse 100 feet from the person’s 1225 property. I cannot see a place for a 60-foot warehouse next to 10 to 20 foot one and two story homes. Harvey 1226 mentioned at the August 5th meeting that buildings must be kept in harmonious style with the surrounding residential 1227 areas. I’m asking that we flesh out the development ordinances so it’s in cooperation with the surrounding residential 1228 area. Thank you. 1229 40