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5 <br /> Orange County needs to create a binding Joint Land Use Plan with Mebane, and also invite the <br /> inclusion of that town into the Orange County WASMPBA, in order to realize that plan's stated <br /> goals for all of Orange County, namely: <br /> 1. To provide a comprehensive, County-wide system of service areas for future utility <br /> development; <br /> 2. To complement growth management objectives, land use plans and annexation plans in <br /> existing agreements; <br /> 3. To resolve in advance and preclude future conflicts about future service and annexation <br /> areas; <br /> 4. To provide for predictable long-range water and sewer capital improvement planning and <br /> financing; and <br /> 5. To provide for limitations on water and sewer service in certain (buffer) areas. <br /> In order to counter the rapidly advancing environmental threats and increasing commercial <br /> pressures from the neighboring town of Mebane, Orange County needs to act NOW — in <br /> conjunction with Mebane - to protect the land and water resources it has — both for its citizens' <br /> present well-being, and for future generations. Thank you. <br /> John Dempsey read the following statement: <br /> The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program recently compiled 2 lists of plants, insects and <br /> animals living in the Sevenmile Creek watershed that they identify as Significantly Rare, of <br /> Special Concern, Threatened or Endangered. One of the lists covers the Buckhorn Area Plan's <br /> Growth Areas `C' and `D' and identifies 10 species that meet this criteria. In addition to the <br /> species cited there are also four Natural Communities identified as Rare. An example of a Rare <br /> Natural Community is the Sevenmile Creek Sugar Maple Bottom. It consists of a large stand of <br /> southern sugar maple, hackberry and swamp chestnut oak; and includes a variety of herbs <br /> growing in its understory. <br /> Their second list covers Growth Area `E'. It names 16 species as Significantly Rare, of Special <br /> Concern, Threatened or Endangered and identifies 8 Rare Natural Communities. The North <br /> Carolina Natural Heritage Program's list is not definitive and they advise people to check with <br /> other agencies, such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, for species not included in their <br /> survey that may also be considered threatened or endangered. In this case the Neuse River <br /> Waterdog is not included on the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program's lists. However the <br /> US Fish &Wildlife Service includes areas C, D and E within its range and has proposed to <br /> Congress that it be classified as an Endangered Species. <br /> It is also of note that the North Carolina Resources Commission published a conservation plan <br /> for five rare aquatic species in the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico Rivers just this past December. It <br /> calls for"Establishing and maintaining working relationships between governing bodies (federal, <br /> state, and local), universities, private landowners, private companies, and conservation <br /> organizations" in order to protect these species from extinction. <br /> This is not the first time that a critical watershed has been crossed by an Interstate Highway. <br /> When a highway does cross a watershed then you get a corridor that suddenly has increased <br /> economic market value and market interest. Those market forces that determine value for <br /> economic purposes do not factor for the environmental costs of development. That is the task <br /> of local government with zoning jurisdiction. What is the value of Sevenmile Creek? What dollar <br /> amount can be placed on a system as rich and as beneficial to Orange County as Sevenmile <br /> Creek? It is the upper reach of our watershed, recently studied as a viable potential municipal <br /> water reservoir. Considering the projected future growth in our part of Orange County and the <br />