110420 Virtual Planning Board Minutes

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Approved 1/6/21 615 area, I've seen absolutely no evidence of any environmental research done. You're talking about building a 24-hour 616 convenience center on a protected watershed for the Eno River. A river which spans over 40 miles through two separate 617 counties. If there is water pollution which there most certainly will be, it will not only affect the local ecosystem but will have 618 long lasting and damaging effects on the ecosystems in and around the Eno River. I have seen no evidence of research on 619 how light pollution will affect the bird population here or any other local species for that matter. The only research that has 620 been provided is traffic research done by the developers themselves which states that 32 new trips will be added to the 621 traffic pattern per minute. We do not have the infrastructure for this. I have a neighbor on Ben Johnson Road that in the 622 past 15 years has had 10 cars fly off the road into his front yard. Building Buc-ee's will only make my road a more 623 dangerous road than it already is. Now Beth Trahos says that Efland is quote barely rural, I don't need a lawyer from 624 Raleigh to tell me about the area I live in. We most certainly do live in a rural area. She also says that in Phase 1 there will 625 be 175 quote good jobs. Well Beth if you look online you can see that the average Buc-ee's employee rating is lower that 626 Walmart,Amazon, and all the managerial positions will be outside hires. Efland and Hillsborough are gorgeous,fairly 627 untouched gems in this region and they should stay that way. Stan considers his project to be growth, I agree with him it is 628 a growth just like cancer is. My hometown isn't a pit stop Stan Beard. It's where I and tons of other good hard working 629 folks live. People's first impression of Efland or Hillsborough should not be a Texas owned gas station built on protected 630 land with a dumbass beaver for a mascot. 631 632 Jacob Foster: I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley in a rural community like Efland near a small town like Hillsborough. 633 Over the years, I watched as the character of my hometown from fields and forest to friendly neighbors was disfigured and 634 destroyed by ill-considered development. I have seen giant gas stations like this one carelessly planted in a formerly quiet 635 spot which quickly grows into a noisy ruin. I came to North Carolina to attend Duke University where I met my future wife. 636 For the past 20 years, I have been visiting her family farm in Efland. We shared one of our first kisses on a lonely stretch of 637 country road less than a mile from the proposed Buc-ee's site. That farm and this area have taken me back to the 638 landscape of my childhood we have built many wonderful memories there wandering the fields with our human,canine and 639 equine family. Our careers have taken us far away from North Carolina to the concrete desert of Los Angeles yet our 640 families remain and our regular visits to Efland have been a balm to the city sick soul.We have always cherished the hope 641 of settling in Orange County and giving our children the same experience we had growing up of nature, the quiet 642 countryside and small town living where you can spend summer days wandering with friends over fields and down gravel 643 roads. Buc-ee's threatens that future. It threatens your community. Peace, quiet and a clean environment are your most 644 precious assets whether from the perspective of lifelong residents or of those seeking a better life away from urban sprawl 645 like Carrie Fletcher and like me. Those assets will be destroyed. Planning and mitigation cannot restore peace when 646 thousands of cars and strangers pass through your community every day. They cannot block the diesel, the fumes, the 647 light pollution and the noise that Buc-ee's will bring to your quiet home. As an independent environmental assessment 648 would no doubt reveal,they cannot stop runoff and leakage from contaminating the local water, harming wildlife from the 649 humble spring peepers to the endangered residents of the Eno River. I am not an opponent of progress, change happens, 650 it must, but where is the Orange County renowned for its sensible progressive approach to local development? Where is 651 the spirit of care for the environment,the concern for sustainability? Look into your hearts my friends,what is most 652 precious about your community?What is your greatest asset? What will make Orange County a place that you and your 653 children and my future children are proud to call home? Is it the world's largest gas station? Or is it taking a stand for the 654 environment,the planet and for rural America. If you allow this plan to move forward, remember, sooner or later, the day 655 comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore. I fear that when your car is parked amid a hundred 656 others at Buc-ee's,you'll look back on this day and wish you had chosen to a stand for your community. I hope you will 657 take that stand today. 658 659 Caroline Foster: I am a current resident of nearby Durham. My ties to the Efland area are familial. I have spent time with 660 relatives on their farmland and have taken various trips with community friends as well to explore the wildlife in the area and 661 it is substantially meaningful to me and also to my children. One of the things that we love most about the region that we 662 live currently, is that we are not far off from places like Efland and where you can just explore nature. You can come and 663 take a walk,just view wildlife,and you're not constantly bombarded by massive developments such as what is being 664 proposed with this Buc-ee's development. It's been extremely critical to me as a parent to raise my children in an area 665 where they have some access to wild land where they have access to experience nature and respect it and have the 666 opportunity to live in communities that not only recognize and respect the undeveloped land that they have amongst them 667 but actually think about how to, if that land needs to be developed as others have mentioned here before me, I am also not 668 an opponent to progress. However, I think that progress should, if developments need to be built, that the considerations of 669 what the individuals living nearby actually need are taken into account and that we are also looking on down the road and 670 thinking about what our children need and what our needs in the moment are as well. What is being proposed here is not