Orange County NC Website
Approved 6/2/21 <br /> 337 and natural resources that we enjoy out here. I really appreciate being able to do country living out here for the last 35 <br /> 338 years. We've seen a lot of change during that time but this is a lot of change that is happening very fast. In addition to the <br /> 339 Pyewacket,there is also Morgan's Ridge which is adding another close to 50 houses so we basically have a small city <br /> 340 mushrooming out here near our quiet rural area. It's kind of a concern in the fact that they have to supply water to all of <br /> 341 these homes both in Pyewacket and Morgan's Ridge which is a big draw on the existing ground water. I am not a <br /> 342 hydrologist and I don't propose that I understood the reports that I was reading, but for what I read, it seems like there is <br /> 343 not actually an aquifer in this part of Orange County. In terms of well yields,this is one of the parts of the County where <br /> 344 the well yields are the lowest and that is because of the rock formations underground, you're not actually tapping into an <br /> 345 aquifer,you are getting cracks in the rock. The further down you go,you don't necessarily hit more water because the <br /> 346 weight of the ground compresses the crack so there are fewer cracks. The small yield wells that we have which most of <br /> 347 my neighbors also deal with on a daily basis, drilling deeper doesn't necessarily help you. The most recent neighbor who <br /> 348 drilled a well had to go 700 feet and it was a very expensive endeavor. I don't know how much more water they are <br /> 349 getting out of it but I think it's the geology of this part of the County. One of the things that I requested in my brief <br /> 350 comments,was hopefully someone from the North Carolina ground water state agencies could come in and answer <br /> 351 questions for us or provide us with data from some of the monitoring wells there in Orange County. The maps that 1 <br /> 352 looked at did not seem to have any wells that were very close to here but in the statistics it did have there is a lot of <br /> 353 variability in wells in Orange County. In the summer and winter you really start to panic about if there is going to be <br /> 354 enough water. <br /> 355 <br /> 356 Helen Booher: I live on Jones Ferry Road not too far down from the intersection with Ferguson and I'll second everything <br /> 357 that Lucy said with the wells. We've had our wells run dry lots of times during the summer and we've been told that this <br /> 358 area of Orange County and over into Chatham is just kind of how it is. I'm concerned that with the number of houses that's <br /> 359 proposed for this development that houses really would need to conserve water and how do you get that number of <br /> 360 households to work together and do that? I think that we'll be drilling all over the place trying to find enough water for that <br /> 361 number of households. Also,traffic is a big concern with everyone commuting in the morning over the University Lake, 1 <br /> 362 think traffic is going to get very backed up. Also, as mentioned before,the section of Jones Ferry Road this is at is a very <br /> 363 straight section so it's the first straight stretch of road and people really speed up right at this part of the road. That's going <br /> 364 to be a dangerous situation for having more cars entering on and off the road here. People use Jones Ferry to bike a lot <br /> 365 there on a curvy road with more traffic, I think that is going to be a dangerous situation as well. <br /> 366 <br /> 367 Warren Mitchell I think that most of the issues have to do with water and traffic and I am going to work on both of those <br /> 368 and talk to NCDOT regarding Jones Ferry and what can be done. It is an existing problem and people are speeding up <br /> 369 there. I don't have any thoughts about it at this time. <br /> 370 <br /> 371 David Blankfard: Do they have to have a traffic study? <br /> 372 <br /> 373 Molly Boyle: That's going to be up to NCDOT to determine.Attachment 6 is the ITE Trip Generation data. They haven't <br /> 374 fully submitted to NCDOT yet. Mr. Mitchell was waiting to see if the Concept Plan was feasible before moving forward with <br /> 375 the cost associated with applying with NCDOT. It is possible based on the Trip Generation data that they will required to <br /> 376 have a Traffic Impact Analysis(TIA) but I'm not sure yet. I did talk to Jennifer Britt who is the Assistant District Engineer <br /> 377 for Highway Division 8, District 1 which is the one that oversees Chatham County and she is aware of the project. She <br /> 378 saw the ITE Trip Generation Report and she's seen the Concept Plan but they are still reviewing. They haven't gotten the <br /> 379 formal submittal yet in order to determine if a TIA is required but it is possible. If that is required,then NCDOT review and <br /> 380 approval would be required as part of the Preliminary Plat, not the acceptance of it but their review would be part of the <br /> 381 Preliminary Plat that would come before you next time. <br /> 382 <br /> 383 Charity Kirk: What realistically, can we do? I appreciated Lucy's acquifer/not really aquifer status so I would find it helpful <br /> 384 to me to know more about the water status for the area. Can this be postponed until Morgan Ridge is further along? Right <br /> 385 now there are 50 houses going in and now we are going to be bumping it up to 150 houses in a pretty non dense area so <br /> 386 what realistically can we do at as a Board right now? Is that to approve it we would like this in the future or what can we <br /> 387 do? <br /> 388 <br /> 389 Michael Harvey: So I think that the straightforward answer is you can ask the applicant if they are willing to delay. In my <br /> 390 opinion, you are being asked to approve what would normally have been an exempt subdivision in Orange County and the <br /> 391 only reason you are reviewing it at all is because, as Molly has already pointed out and as detailed in your abstract, is <br />