8.3.22 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 9.7.22 280 Tony Johnson: I am a brand new resident in Orange County,just completed my house this past week. So, I'm excited to hear 281 and see what is going on. One of the things that I do want to mention or bring up is what this gentleman said,you can't take 282 into account what is going to be built there. To me that's the entire point of this rezoning. You can't into account, once you do 283 this rezoning, they can put anything they want to on that lot that means the minimum standards of the UDO. So you can't 284 control it at all, this is your one opportunity to stand up for this group of citizens and recommend rejecting this rezoning 285 because otherwise no one has any control over what happens. This is your opportunity to have that control. Thank you. 286 287 Dave Connor: My name is Dave Connor and my address is 1820 Arthur Minnis Road. I was listening to the description of the 288 project and the zoning reclassification, I'm stuck by the statement that this would not contribute to sprawl. If I take the 289 maximum,the worst case scenario of 43,000 sq.ft.that is mentioned by staff,just half that gives me a 20,000 sq.ft.facility 290 with 100 parking spaces, unless my math is wrong. Now the nearest facility with anywhere near that size is Carrboro Plaza 291 which only 7 minutes down the road. If one envisions a 20,000 sq.ft. retail facility and 100 parking spaces,that looks a lot like 292 Carrboro Plaza which is the nearest similar commercial right down NC 54. How can that possibly not be considered sprawl. 293 You've basically leapfrogged that sort of high intensity retail use, 7 miles further down the road conveniently located to serve 294 Alamance County and Chatham County down local roads. You're about to approve a very high intensity commercial facility 295 that will be mainly serving the residents of Alamance County which is very close by. Closer in fact than Carrboro Plaza or 296 Chatham County which is even closer. That is urban sprawl by anybody's definition and I don't think it meets the primary 297 standard of the Comprehensive Plan which is to prohibit that type of urban sprawl particularly in state highways (inaudible) 298 that's all I wanted to say. 299 300 Barbara Connor: My name is Barbara Connor and I live on Arthur Minnis Road as well and I have lived in a place where they 301 change the Comp Plan all the time and therefore your Comp Plan has no meaning. If you have a plan and you have zoning it 302 should leave it as it. If it's done for a reason and we don't need something like this in this community. That's why I oppose it. 303 304 Jessica Ostrowski: I'm Jessica Ostrowski, I live on Wabash Road which is off Carl Durham Road pretty close to the area in 305 question and I just want to say I am also opposed to the rezoning. I feel very similarly to others who have spoken. I am not 306 opposed to development,we were all super excited when Bravos opened,we love the other businesses that are out there. 1 307 will say that the size of the property and size of the proposed development is an issue for the reasons that other people have 308 stated and I am in favor of smaller developments that are more in character of the community. Thank you. 309 310 John Griffin: I am just going to read what I submitted by email in case anyone here hasn't read it. My name is John Griffin 311 and I live in White Cross on Everett Lane which is a private lane just across the way from the proposed rezoning. My wife and 312 1 chose to move to Orange County because it's the best county I've ever been in. It's close to developed metropolis and it's a 313 great place for us to be. We built a house,we're actually in the process of building a house and we want to have family and 1 314 want to offer some thoughts that I have been coming up with the last few days since I learned about this. Rural Orange 315 County NC has a long history of trade and agricultural self-reliance dating back centuries,while state and nation-wide 316 economic forces encouraged neighboring counties to invest in major commercial and industrial infrastructures, generations of 317 Orange County residents chose to keep much of the commercial growth out of their forests,watersheds and country 318 crossroads. Today, residents continue to choose rural Orange County as their home and haven away from industrial and 319 suburban sprawl. Our county is indeed precious and unique for its preservation of home and land. The Orange County 2030 320 Comprehensive Plan enshrines these ideals in its stated values. The people here have made a good way of life without the 321 blight of low-paying, low-quality corporate retail at their rural crossroads. So right now this application for zoning atlas 322 amendment at 3026 White Cross Road at the corner of NC-54 is before the Orange County Planning Board. The applicant 323 has a record of seeking commercial rezone for small box chain dollar stores. However,the rural crossroads at White Cross 324 and NC-54 is well served by established and locally owned retailers like Bravos Market and Whitecross Market whom a new 325 chain dollar store, for instance,would seek to disrupt and out compete. White Cross aka Bingham Township even has an 326 historical preservation landmark at White Cross School whose artist tenants would be forced to look out their tall windows at a 327 corporate chain retailer when instead,they could see a locally owned, locally named mom and pop cafe,a post office, an 328 occupied house or the grassy piedmont meadow sitting there now. Moreover, the approval of this application to rezone would 329 set a sad precedent, the incursion of predatory, low quality, low paying chain retail throughout rural Orange County. This is 330 the first of its kind so you guys have a really important decision to make today. I implore you, Orange County,to deny this 331 application in the spirit of historical, rural Orange preservation and values for commercial development set forth in the Orange 332 County 2030 Comprehensive Plan. 333 334 Tony Blake: I am a former member of the Planning Board here, it's been awhile but I recall this same proposal coming up 335 before. Exactly the same parcels, same proposal, same idea and it strikes me that this is a game played in Orange County