Minutes 11-16-2021 Virtual Business Meeting

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21 Robert Campbell said the Commissioners should move forward with this resolution. He said he is not here to talk about where roads will go or how many houses will be built. He said he is talking about moving this resolution forward so the governments and community can come together to have discussions about those things. He said he is looking forward to the future, and people would rather have somewhere to live than somewhere to play. He said one cannot live on a bike or on a walking trail, but one can live in affordable, mixed-use, work force housing. He said now is the time to do the right thing and stop dividing the community when the naysayers say they have met with certain people. He said this is about coming together and doing the right thing, and loving one another. He said this resolution should move forward. Margo Lakin said she is a resident of Orange County. She said the three jurisdictions voting for the Greene Tract proposal are holding meetings concurrently tonight, so the public had to choose which meeting to attend. She said there is a real chance the Commissioners will vote without hearing from constituents, and the Commissioners cannot attend the two other meetings where they could learn further information that could influence their vote. She said she does not see how this process equitable and inclusive. She said throughout the community hearings, there has been no voice opposed to affordable housing. She said the Rogers Road plan is transparent and inclusive, and specifically lists the creation of quality affordable homes as its priorities. She said this progressive plan has been replaced with what the Board will vote on tonight with ambiguity and double speak, but more land open for development and has affordable housing as a goal rather than a mandate. She said the public needs to ask itself why the plan includes mixed use and commercial development, and perhaps it is paving the way for commercial and market rate housing development by using the pretext of much needed affordable housing as a means to garner community support and votes no matter how much the public has been gas slighted. She said no public questions have been answered. She said she is concerned for the environment, and asked the BOCC to vote no on this plan. Delores Bailey said she is a long time resident of Orange County and the Executive Director of EmPOWERment Inc. She said she is flustered because she has been working on the Green Tract since 2003, so she is assuming that people are just finding out about it and that is why they feel it is being rushed through, but it is not. She said 2003-2021 is a long time, and she urged the BOCC to approve the resolution, as it is in line with the work of the Rogers Road community. She said that the area everyone is so proud of now used to be a landfill and somewhere no one wanted to live. She said the people living on Rogers Road stood through all of that and fought that environmental fight, and what they want should happen. She said this resolution is in complete alignment with what the Rogers Road community has asked for in mapping the future. She said is has not been rushed at all. She said she understands that not everyone understands the terminology, but this plan is very much environmentally sensitive. She said tonight's resolution is just so the next step can happen and planning can continue. She said this did not start last year, and tonight is the night to approve this resolution and move to the next step. Abel Hastings said 167 acres should be enough to do two things, but somehow the debate has been turned into a `this or that' decision. He said affordable housing and preserved green spaces are both important to the community. He said he had first hand experience with communities working together, and though he was not part of the 2016 Rogers Road team, he was a member of Neighbors United Around the Green Tract. He said, like the 2016 team, this citizen group took part in an inclusive planning discussion that talked about tough issues. He said this plan does not reflect the community's common themes in 2016 or now. He said the resolution has a few alarming features, such as the reserved land being much smaller than ever before and does not reflect guidance from county's environmental experts. He said roadways and sewer does not sound like environmental preservation. He said development area can include affordable housing which is great, but there is no restriction on the amount of market