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HYAA is a long-standing institution, it is community built. I rolled off the board in 2009 and I still see people all over this 441
<br />community that I met through our mutual association through HYAA. It is a 100% volunteer run organization. People 442
<br />volunteer to do things they enjoy doing and, in this case, they volunteer because they want to serve and mentor kids. 443
<br />Through that, these kids learn some valuable life lessons; sportsmanship, teamwork, how to handle winning and losing, 444
<br />you can’t put a price on those kinds of things. HYAAers are also a valuable asset in this community just because of the 445
<br />number of kids it serves year-round, Spring, Summer, Fall, boys and girls, a wide range of ages. I think it is relevant to 446
<br />ask the question what would it cost the county or the town to try to provide that kind of recreational experience for that 447
<br />number of kids, year in and year out? I certainly don’t know the answer, but I can guess that it’s a pretty big number. As 448
<br />a member of the board 20 years ago, I had conversations from time to time with officials of the town and county 449
<br />government, we knew at that point that Collins field days were numbered and that is so true today. I understand that 450
<br />there are design engineering plans underway at that site right now. When we had that conversation 20 years ago, it is a 451
<br />lot like it is today. We would say to the town and the county, We are not asking you to pay for it, not asking you to build it, 452
<br />we are saying that we have got great support in this community from the business community, from parents, and from 453
<br />developers and time to time as the opportunity arises for us to secure a long-term location for our fields, we just need 454
<br />you to work with us. That’s the request here tonight. I won’t dismiss some of the concerns that have been raised tonight, 455
<br />I don’t necessarily agree with them, but I do believe that wise and reasonable people are coming from a place of good 456
<br />faith in addressing these concerns and this could be a win-win for this community. 457
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<br />Mary Parker: I have been a resident of Orange County since 1981, I was a public-school teacher for 35 years and I have 459
<br />seen the importance of athletics for all people. I am an avid tennis player and unfortunately when I want to play tennis, I 460
<br />have to drive all the way to Durham to do so because we can not have the amount of fields that are needed to have 461
<br />USTA tennis and that is something that I thoroughly enjoy. I also love to go out to Orange Tennis and see all the young 462
<br />people who are taking the sport up. There are not many sports that you can still play and have a good time at my age. 463
<br />Tennis is one of those as well as pickleball. This is a great opportunity for us to have some good change and change 464
<br />does come. This is a great opportunity to advance everyone’s lives by having athletic endeavors to get together as a 465
<br />community and offer ways that are good health incentives. I hope that you will consider this and accept this as a great 466
<br />way to improve Orange County. 467
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<br />MOTION BY Lamar Proctor to allow anyone who signed up to speak on April 5th, and their name was not called, be 469
<br />allowed to speak if their name is on the list. Seconded by Statler Gilfillen 470
<br />MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 471
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<br />Matt McDermott : The home in which my wife and I have lived in for 24 years, borders Lawrence Road and is within 473
<br />1,000 feet of the proposed development. My comments tonight go to the subject of equity, specifically with respect to the 474
<br />well water demands necessary to support all facets of the proposed development. In other words, all recreational spaces 475
<br />but not the charter schools which as the applicant has proposed, will be serviced by public water and sewer. I have not 476
<br />seen, nor am I aware of any daily well water consumption projections. Why is this important you may ask? Because the 477
<br />daily lives of those of us neighboring the proposed development site, depends dearly on our wells remaining viable in 478
<br />terms of providing ongoing potable water. Further, no hydrogeological study has been conducted in an attempt to 479
<br />determine if there are any present or foreseeable concerns with respect to supporting the well water demands, not only 480
<br />at the proposed development site but our neighboring ones as well. My strong suspicion is that none of this has been 481
<br />investigated as any state statutes, ordinances or otherwise do not demand this of any conditional rezoning applicant. 482
<br />Here is where the equity issue makes itself abundantly apparent, we have no safety net. We currently have no access to 483
<br />publicly provided water unlike the applicant who ultimately will, and God forbid if any of our wells run dry as a result of a 484
<br />significant increase in well water demands, should this proposed development be accrued. Some of the older wells, 485
<br />those which are shallow in nature, in the neighboring area are already encountering periodic flow and water quality 486
<br />problems/perc challenges. Arguably, we are being asked to simply accept the increased probability of a well failure as a 487
<br />part of this proposed development. For many in this area, who simply do not have the means, the cost of addressing a 488
<br />failed well would be financially catastrophic. That ask of us, patently, is unfair. It speaks to my initial equity comment. We 489
<br />have an online petition against the rezoning, can I provide that to you? 490
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<br />Beth Bronson: We have an online public email address that you can send it to. 492
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<br />Drake Edwards: I have lived here for 10 years, I am a physician at Duke. I have a 2-year-old son, my wife and I drive on 494
<br />70A and stop at that 4 way stop at Lawrence Road. I wanted to talk about a story from 8 years ago. I was visiting my 495
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