6.7.23 PB Agenda Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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impact analysis for me before, so I wanted to support it. I looked through the information carefully and I have read the 276 traffic impact analysis with great interest. I was really disappointed because I was stunned that the intersection of Old NC 277 10 and Lawrence Road was completely ignored in that analysis. It’s a very dangerous intersection currently and they are 278 looking at adding 15,000 cars in this general vicinity and are saying that hardly any of them will be coming from the south 279 and that is ridiculous. That says that all the people here who are supporting tennis and the baseball fields, and the STEM 280 schools are not going to be coming from Beckett’s Ridge and Waterstone or Joppa Oaks. None of them are going to be 281 coming up Old NC 10 and going up Lawrence Road to the site, that’s ludicrous. It’s a direct route to get there from the 282 south of the site. I don’t understand how that could be so neglected in the traffic impact analysis and I am really 283 concerned about that intersection. My husband, who spoke earlier, who only has one arm, he lost his arm on Old NC 10. 284 This is not a conceptual danger for us. This is reality. It’s a dangerous road now and you are going to add a lot of traffic 285 to it. I am here to say, I support baseball fields, I support tennis, I support STEM schools but not on this site, not on this 286 road. It is the wrong place for it. I ask for you to vote no on this. 287 288 Scott Czecklewski: I am CEO of the Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce and I am speaking tonight on behalf of our 289 Board of Directors. The Chamber’s mission is to promote both economic development and quality of life, so we carefully 290 consider all sides of an issue before we take a position. The applicant created the plans for this site based on needs 291 expressed by the public and for the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association and the Orange Tennis Club. Even more 292 importantly, the applicant studied the established ….development ordinance and created a project that fits within the 293 scope of the development deemed appropriate for this site. The applicant then determined and carried out everything 294 required to have the school approved according to state and municipal regulations. This zoning change and proposed 295 uses are consistent with the Orange County Comprehensive Plan. The plan identifies this parcel in a twenty-year 296 transition area which means that the county intended for it to evolve in this manner on this land. As the Chamber Board 297 studied this proposal, it was easy to identify the need for the infrastructure that this rezoning will open the door to build. 298 There is a significant lack of baseball, softball fields and tennis and pickleball courts in the area as you have heard from 299 many people tonight. That’s why this project has such strong support from the Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association 300 and the Orange Tennis Club. Youth participating in HYAA play at 3 fields, one, Collin’s Field, will no longer be available 301 once the development of that site begins. Local tennis and pickleball players have expressed concerns about the courts 302 in the area. They are limited to just three courts. Tennis players must travel to Durham and Chapel Hill when they play, 303 supporting businesses elsewhere. While there will always be traffic fears with any new development, the developers plan 304 improvements in the intersections and with the construction of turn lanes at both entrances to the school and the 305 school’s bussing plan will help alleviate those concerns. Something Mayor Weaver said at the last meeting struck me, 306 she noted that many proposals for this property had been made over the past 15 years, and all had been denied. Our 307 area youth will be served in many positive, life-changing ways for decades to come by these proposed charter schools 308 and athletic fields. It’s time that a project that meets the guidelines of the UDO and the comprehensive plan is approved. 309 The Chamber Board of Directors hopes the plan will be approved. 310 311 Steve Kirby: I am the boy’s and girl’s high school tennis coach at Eno River Academy and a parent of kids who like to 312 play tennis. I am speaking in favor of the proposed rezoning request because the kids need more accessible tennis 313 courts, as we’ve heard. Our tennis teams are young having just started playing in the fall if 2021 but interest in them has 314 been growing. We don’t have enough places to play tennis. We have difficulty renting a space to have practices and to 315 play our matches. The only ones in the area are rented by a middle school in Durham because they lack courts as well. 316 Our athletic director has been able to rent courts at Moreene Road Park but we are only able to do so before school gets 317 out. It is interesting to note that when we have home tennis matches, the kids miss their entire last class, which makes it 318 difficult for us to get parental approval and the kids end up leaving school earlier for home matches than they do for 319 away matches. Matches regularly go for two and a half to three hours so we bump up against the 6 o’clock deadline, 320 even with the three o’clock start. Three weeks ago, when we had a tennis match it bumped right up against it and we 321 had to beg the tennis leagues to let us finish playing our high school tennis matches. They kicked us off and we had to 322 beg them to let us play a match point. The earlier afternoon matches aren’t accessible to us. Some schools such as 323 Orange High, Cedar Ridge and Graham, won’t play us at our courts because it means their kids get out of school too 324 early, so we have to play at their courts. The problem with that is the distance of travel. It’s a tough call for parents to 325 make to say twenty minutes each direction is what we will have to travel to practices every day and for matches. With 326 other sports, it’s right there at school. It also impacts our ability to have a thriving middle school program because they 327 involve courts too. So, we are facing competition not just from other Durham schools but from our own middle schools 328 and we can’t get middle schools to have tennis programs because they don’t have a place to put them. Tennis is a great 329 sport; we love it and we want a place to play and that is why you should vote for this proposal. 330 10