110420 Virtual Planning Board Minutes

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Approved 1/6/21 391 development would bring to the immediate area. The at grade rail crossing at Mt.Willing Road is already a debacle for 392 future growth in the area and is quite concerning as not included in the developer's TIA or road improvement plans. It's also 393 quite concerning to me that NCDOT has seemingly changed their stance on exit 160 after telling me in September that they 394 were not concerned that background traffic growth trends or quote/unquote any development would necessitate the closure 395 of Exit 160 Westbound, quite interesting. We already have several locally owned gas stations in Efland,we do not need 396 more. While Buc-ee's may help Orange County's coffers in the short term, it would create long-term infrastructure 397 challenges that will not be paid for by Buc-ee's. The developers have stated that phase 2 may not even be considered for 398 development for 6 to 8 years. The travel center anchor would not serve Efland or Orange County residents or even 399 guarantee infrastructure for the establishment of needed services with its concept plan. We've been told that either Buc- 400 ee's or something similar to RTLP which honestly just feels like a threat. I think it's a threat I'm willing to gamble with. 1 401 believe a warehouse would create less issues for the surrounding community and commuters related to traffic congestion, 402 light and noise pollution and criminal activity than the largest 24/7 gas station in the country has the potential to create. 403 Please read the much more detailed concerns and information that our group of western Orange neighbors have pulled 404 together and our website voices4efland.com and please read the reasons that 975 voices for Efland and Orange petition 405 signers share our same concerns on change.org. I ask you to please vote against this rezoning petition that is not aligned 406 with the years of work done by this county to prepare this site for development with our community's input. 407 408 Jeff Bruett: I have a lot of concerns here, I've just recently found out about this project in early October and I've been doing 409 a little bit of reading and listening to the plans. There is nothing that has to be done to exit 160. Buc-ee's does not have to 410 attach to that road at all. That's not necessary, Buc-ee's can connect to Mt.Willing Road and the 85/70 connector. You're 411 going to start Phase 1 and Phase 1 involves deleting exit 160 completely. Nobody is going to be able to get off at exit 160 412 and get home,thousands of people go up through this way and it connects all the way up to Highway 86 up in Northern 413 Orange County and you are going to completely cut everybody off from that. There is no reason Buc-ee's has to be 414 connected to this road and because it's being connected, now it's being altered and now it has to meet all the latest 415 NCDOT plans when in actuality, south of the interstate you've got the same exact traffic plan as you've got on the north 416 side of the interstate. All Buc-ee's has to do is connect to Mt.Willing Road and the 85/70 connector and then the roads 417 need to be modified on Highway 70 because you cannot go west when you come off 161 onto Highway 70. This whole 418 thing does not take into consideration any accidents that happen on the interstate which happen very often. Now people 419 have no way of getting off of the interstate and getting onto 70. And I don't know how long this thing is going to take to 420 build but this exit is going to be closed the whole entire time. These things need to be done, the interstate/Highway 70 421 needs to be redesigned so people can go west on it and people that are driving east on Highway 70 to avoid Buc-ee's that 422 want to go to work and get on the interstate on exit 161,they need a way to turn south off of 70 onto the connector road. 423 That would be a simple solution to make this problem so people that live in this community and don't need to go to Buc-ee's 424 don't have to drive by Buc-ee's every time we have to go home. You're channeling us all through Buc-ee's and we don't 425 like it,we don't care for it and rezoning this place and then snub our noses in all this has got the whole community upset 426 and we're not happy about it and it needs to be reconsidered. 427 428 Heather Smith: During college, I was forced to move from campus housing because the school decided to bulldoze it for a 429 parking lot,after college my husband and I moved into a Hillsborough rental for$600 a month, an investor flipped it and 430 listed it as a rental for$1900 a month this year. We moved to another rental in 2013 until the landlord gave up 30 days to 431 move out so he could sell it for$375,000 which was above what we could afford as young first time home buyers but we 432 decided it was time to find a home. We were outbid on properties in Orange County until we eventually found our home in 433 Efland. One of the few affordable places remaining in the County. We felt satisfaction and relief knowing we had 434 ownership. For the past 5 years we have diligently tended our acre, planted fruit trees, pollinator plants and bees that 435 forage in nearby fields. I have driven daily down that braided ramp dreading the day that heritage trees and golden rod 436 would be replaced by development. However, I would have never imagined that this would be the development slated for 437 this space or that once again I would feel so utterly powerless against development after having invested in ownership. 438 You see that's the peril of private land. What happens on the land around me and impacts my quality of life that's why we 439 have regulations and government to protect air,water, light, noise, property values and a community that residents have 440 invested in over many years. From negative impacts and predatory developments that are a peril to us all. Preferably, the 441 threats of you could get a warehouse instead, a warehouse that could be built on the current O/RM zoning would not have 442 impacts as lasting or severe as those from a corporation built on the pillars of rampant consumption and fossil fuels. A 443 model that requires drawing people who visit so they can marvel at the sheer spectacle of it. There's a dangling carrot of 444 Phase 2 that would bring additional businesses like banks and dining establishments that people in our community might 445 use but let's not forget that Phase 2 is not promised or that the developer stated it would be at least 6 to 8 years before they 446 consider adding those pieces to the puzzle. There are many unknown, uncalculated costs that we're not considering as the