Agenda 01-18-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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22 1 teams to turn Greene Tract into both development and a park, because 167 acres should be 2 enough to do both. 3 Karen Reid said this is the culmination of years and years of planning. She thanked the 4 three municipalities. She said the issues of conservation and buffers for community and 5 headwaters are important, but she urged commissioners to move forward with the proposal and 6 continue having critical dialogue going forward. 7 Bishop Larry Reid said he lived through the Greene Tract being proposed as a landfill. 8 He said he has much to be thankful for that they have moved on from that, but the Rogers Road 9 community has still suffered greatly because of the landfill. He said this mistreatment can be 10 rectified by allowing the property owners to have a say in decisions. He urged the Board of 11 County Commissioners to please move forward. 12 Commissioner McKee said he has been involved in this conversation for 12 years now 13 and it was going on long before he got there. He said he hopes it will not continue long after he 14 is gone. He said many promises were made, but not kept, and the BOCC has tried to rectify 15 this in recent years. He said he appreciates Reverend Campbell's comments, which were 16 eloquent and true. He said he has heard no conversation about selling the land to commercial 17 development, and does not believe for one minute that the local governments will sell it to 18 developers. He said assigning only 20% to affordable housing is not acceptable. He said the 19 BOCC can lead, follow, or get out of the way. He said the county cannot get out of the way as it 20 is a landowner, so it needs to continue to lead. He said this is a concept plan, and it is not 21 meant to decide where every road and stop sign should go. He said the community can be 22 involved in making those decisions later. He said this plan needs to proceed. 23 Commissioner Richards thanked staff for the presentation, and said she is concerned by 24 lack of trust from the community. She said the county has proven itself to be committed to 25 affordable housing and conservation. She said accusations and misinformation from the public 26 are troubling. She said staff doubled the preservation area, and the reconfiguration is meant to 27 connect the two preserved areas so they are contiguous, and the Rogers Road community has 28 been able to speak for itself. She said as a citizen, she went to many meetings at Rogers Road 29 and they are speaking clearly for themselves. She said she will support moving forward. 30 Commissioner Hamilton thanked staff and community and elected officials for all the 31 years working on the Greene Tract. She said it has been 20 years of work towards this point. 32 She said it is an important process to hear the voice of the Rogers Road community but also the 33 voice of all of Orange County. She said she struggles with how and why the decision is timed. 34 She said there was public engagement/community outreach on November 7th and 8th, where 35 questions and accusations were raised, and also confusion that staff has not had the time to 36 respond to. She said there is information on the website, but staff has not been able to respond 37 to the questions people have asked and staff has not had time to address due to the vote on 38 November 16th. She said the lack of trust and transparency hurts the County's ability to do 39 things in the long run. She suggested delaying the vote to December 14th meeting. She said 40 she does not want to delay process, and is committed to seeing this property used to the benefit 41 of residents, and can still move this forward but do it in a way to allow people to have questions 42 answered. She said the municipalities and the county are committed to getting this done and 43 can do it in a way that is more transparent. 44 Commissioner Fowler said she believes in good faith that all are trying to move towards 45 what the community needs. She said she want to reserve green space, but there is a dire lack 46 of affordable housing. She said her main complaint is also about the process. She said she 47 first learned that this item would be on the agenda last Monday, and feels the BOCC should be 48 aware of upcoming items prior to the public being informed. She said she still has many 49 questions: the number of affordable units, roads, traffic, etc. She said it seems that the Rogers 50 Road community is in favor, based on comments tonight, and she wants to honor those desires. 51 She said she does not want to turn the neighborhood into a highway access. She said all