Orange County NC Website
5 <br /> the Environment be involved; a hydrology report be commissioned; a forensic audit on the <br /> watershed be performed, etc. She said the County must balance its watershed checkbook. <br /> Janine Zanin, showed maps to the Commissioners, and read the following comments: <br /> My name is Janine Zanin and I live in Efland. If you are considering adopting any part of the <br /> Buckhorn Area Plan, I'm asking you to please follow your own agreements and governing <br /> documents before taking any action on expanding the existing utility service agreement with <br /> Mebane. The Mebane City Council has said that the ball is in your court and they are waiting <br /> for direction from you. I'd like to re-acquaint you with the plan from an Orange County <br /> perspective because at your information session, you were presented with Mebane's maps, not <br /> Orange County's. <br /> This map here is a zoomed in version of the Orange County Future Land Use Map. I've drawn <br /> in the "Future Growth Areas" proposed by the BAP so that you can see them in the context of <br /> our land use map. As you can see, area B is currently zoned Rural Residential; areas C & D <br /> are zoned Agricultural residential and are also predominantly located within critically protected <br /> watershed, as is a portion of E. Area A is zoned Economic Development Transition. <br /> By its own terms, the BAP recommends the expansion of manufacturing, wholesale, <br /> distribution, and service uses in the "future growth areas." It recommends that Mebane expand <br /> the Buckhorn Economic Development District and incorporate a new zoning district that <br /> encourages documented research, office and manufacturing facilities in these "Future Growth <br /> Areas." <br /> THIS IS A CHANGE TO OUR FUTURE LAND USE MAP AS WELL. To amend the Orange <br /> County Future Land Use Map our own rules provide that the following must happen: <br /> Signs are posted and notice is mailed to area residents. <br /> The development advisory board considers the plan. <br /> The planning board reviews the plan (and receives public comment). <br /> A public hearing is held before the BOCC. <br /> The BOCC makes a decision. <br /> NONE OF THAT HAS HAPPENED. <br /> The BAP also recommends extending sewer and water to the future growth areas. The county <br /> is a signatory to the Water and Sewer Management, Planning and Boundary agreement in <br /> which it has made collective promises with Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and OWASA. <br /> Here's a close up of the map that goes along with that agreement. <br /> Areas B, C, D & E all contain land where the county has previously agreed NOT to extend water <br /> and sewer. That's the light yellow area. To change this agreement, requires the consent of <br /> ALL PARTIES TO THE AGREEMENT. To withdraw from the agreement requires a public <br /> hearing and written notice to all parties to the agreement within 30 days of the hearing. <br /> NONE OF THAT HAS HAPPENED. <br /> I heard the planning department staff characterize the BAP as a "study" at your information <br /> session. It also represented that no action had been taken yet. That isn't true. This plan was <br /> presented to the Mebane City Planning Board on November 9th with a request to "Adopt the <br /> Buckhorn Area Plan and Amend the Mebane Comprehensive Land Development Plan." Craig <br /> Benedict, our planning director, was present at that meeting and participated in that meeting. <br />