Minutes-05-16-2023-Business Meeting

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39 Commissioners is the lead, they will be kept informed, and they will be the decision makers throughout the process. She said it is a community driven process and will reflect community input. She said no decisions will be made at a staff level. She said they will review the process at different times to see how it is going. She said the commissioners will have to adopt the plan on behalf of the entire community and will not be left out because it is their role to adopt. Commissioner Greene thanked the County Manager for her comments and said it made sense. Vice-Chair McKee said he has no issue with staff on the steering committee. He said that his concern is exactly what is meant by "community driven" because he has seen many projects be driven by activists and if that happens here, it will have a devasting effect on the rural community. He said that he fears will end up with 500 pages and he wants to be sure that what they are driving at will not impact personal property rights. Cy Stober, Planning Director, said the toughest part of the process is that no one can have everything they want in the plan. He said they need to be responsible as planners to receive feedback and sending it to the consultant. He said the Board can provide feedback as to whether it is appropriate. He said that there are different tools that can be used to reach out to the community. He said that he looks forward to bringing synthesized information back to the Board and then receiving feedback from the Board. Vice-Chair McKee said his hesitancy has been from watching other processes and seeing things take a life of their own and walk away from the original intent. He said that he does not forget the comments from a former commissioner that said that Orange County would become a gated community and a bedroom community for the Triangle and there would not be economic development. He said he has a fear of more and more rules about what people can do with their own property. Cy Stober said this is a guidance document. He said it does not have to be followed and can be changed with Board action. Chair Bedford said there is another water authority that is around, and she is curious about the MPOs being included. She asked when they are looking at roads and transit, it seems it is chicken and egg; does the road system come first or do they envision where they would like to develop and then that is where they would put the roads. She asked if it is a big vision, and they are not constrained or is this fresh eyes. Tom Altieri said the linkage between land use and transportation, transportation follows land use in NC. He said they will look at areas they want to preserve and develop but they will also look at areas where change might be needed. He said this is a general plan and there may be areas where change occurs after adoption. Chair Bedford asked what an ESRI story map is. Tom Altieri said it provides mapping information and application tools in a storymap. He said it reads like a video or a virtual storybook. Cy Stober said there is one on the Planning and Inspections website about the Greene Tract and it that is one they can check out. Chair Bedford asked what the language in task 3.12 meant. Tom Altieri said it refers to the establishment of existing conditions in the county like utilities, roadway networks, and critical county facilities. He said it also refers to joint planning areas. Chair Bedford said one issue that has never seemed fair to her was the fact that residents in the ETJs vote for county commissioners, but a different unelected body decides their land use. She said that should be reviewed in the future. She said that the reference to jobs shows the fluctuation of job needs in different times. She said there needs to be living wage jobs to support the residents. She said that there is a lack of water in the future planning discussions and that should be in the plan to plan for water and sewer. She asked about the fact book and what it would be used.