201
<br /> DRAFT
<br /> 166 Lamar Proctor: I've thought a lot about this, I spoke with the chair of the school board,they are not in favor of another
<br /> 167 school.They have many repairs that need to be done on the schools. The SAPFO shows that there is capacity for
<br /> 168 schools in Orange County over 10 years. I agree with Chris, if this was just the ballfields, it would be a no-brainer and it
<br /> 169 would be done. It's the school. Orange County does not need another school,we need to focus on the schools we have
<br /> 170 and making those as good as we can make them. Looking at our Comprehensive Land Use Plan, it encourages us also
<br /> 171 to do work with the municipalities in a fair and equitable way.They oppose this, Hillsborough opposes it, they indicated
<br /> 172 that it would put an undue burden on their wastewater system.They considered this and opposed and voted against it.
<br /> 173 Orange County has to be a good neighbor to its municipalities,the one that is directly affected by this project opposes it,
<br /> 174 we do not need another school in Orange County, and that's pretty much it for me. In our land use plan,we are trying to
<br /> 175 encourage expanded use and non-auto modes of travel. I want those ball fields somewhere, as I asked HYAA, there
<br /> 176 were over 40 acres cleared in my district in Cheeks that was supposed to be these ball fields and somehow that fell
<br /> 177 through.That 40 plus acres was within 2 miles of two 1-40 exits and was across the street from the soccer fields next to
<br /> 178 Gravelly Hill.That would be an ideal place for these ball fields as opposed to jammed into a tight residential area with
<br /> 179 creating traffic concerns. I am not talking about traffic concerns from the school because we are not considering those
<br /> 180 but traffic concerns for HYAA tournaments, traffic concerns for tennis tournaments,traffic concerns for skate park
<br /> 181 tournaments and ongoing leagues.That is another issue in this tight area.As one of the members of the public said,
<br /> 182 "They are trying to pack an elephant into a closet here."Those are the reasons why I am opposing this.
<br /> 183
<br /> 184 Elizabeth Kalies: I am also new to the board and not even sure if I am supposed to say something here about how I feel
<br /> 185 about this, but I am happy to. I have been very torn the whole time as well and agree that there are some good things
<br /> 186 about this plan. It could be the wrong spot. Every time someone speaks, they nearly change my mind again but what 1
<br /> 187 keep going back to is that the town of Hillsborough,the mayor, and the planning board were all of the same opinion that
<br /> 188 they do not approve the plan,so I am going to trust local judgment on this.
<br /> 189
<br /> 190 Delores Bailey: Good evening,great notes from last time,thank you for sending those to me. I listened and read all of
<br /> 191 what we went through last time. I thought it was a very thorough discussion of this project. I am going to not agree. I do
<br /> 192 not like the project. My main cause is the Hillsborough board coming to us and explaining to us that it did not fit into what
<br /> 193 they were planning.That troubles me.The piece about the water still bothers me. Where are you going to get the water
<br /> 194 from?You don't need the water; it can be wells...that concerns me. One of the comments from the notes that I read that
<br /> 195 there were plans on here for a lower school but that's not what we are voting on. We are voting on the high school and
<br /> 196 the lower school is going to get rolled into whatever happens. I believe there was a question about whether we get to talk
<br /> 197 about the lower school and the answer was"no,we don't get to talk about the lower school." For those reasons,that's
<br /> 198 unclear to me, and I don't think that's a correct way to present this. I'd like to know that we could discuss the lower
<br /> 199 school and what's going to happen after the high school gets put there. My vote at this time would be no.
<br /> 200
<br /> 201 Whitney Watson: I sort of started this off last time we met, asking us to consider the community and rural character of
<br /> 202 that area.That is one of the land use goals, it's number 3. We are supposed to consider whether this preserves that
<br /> 203 character or not,whether it minimizes land use conflicts and is supported by an efficient and balanced transportation
<br /> 204 system. I think what we've heard is that, yes, it would become a destination, but it becomes a destination for
<br /> 205 automobiles.There's not a transportation system that the average member of the county could avail themselves of to get
<br /> 206 to this site. There's no bus route or bus stops there. I think the important part is the community and rural character of that
<br /> 207 area. I did take the time to drive around through that. It is fields, rural. Yes, it's dense, there are a lot of homes in that
<br /> 208 area. If this property were to be developed into more residential areas as I think Cy sort of proposed last week,that it
<br /> 209 might be somewhere around 50-60 residences that could be placed on this property,once you took out for roads,
<br /> 210 utilities, and easements and so on,that still would not change the character of that community. I think that's an important
<br /> 211 consideration as we go forward. The other way I looked at that is, had the community developed up against an existing
<br /> 212 site with the kinds of recreational activities and school opportunities,we would probably not be concerned at all about it
<br /> 213 closing in on this site. The fact that we are now talking about the other way of inserting an area of activity of a kind of
<br /> 214 development, into an area that already has its existing character I think is the wrong way to go about it.
<br /> 215
<br /> 216 Steve Kaufmann: It's been a very difficult choice for me also because I have been a public school teacher for many
<br /> 217 years, and I actually worked at a charter school too. I work in the PE department at Duke now, so I am very athletic. 1
<br /> 218 love the idea of ballfields; I love the idea of tennis but that's not what is in question here. It's the neighborhood,and 1
<br /> 219 drove around it several times last week and it's like what most people on this board have said already, "why here?" It's a
<br /> 220 great plan, it looks great on paper. If I were living in a major city and they proposed this plan, it would look wonderful, but
<br />
|