Approved 4- 5 - 23
<br /> 822 base . But what I ' m hearing here as pointed out, 160 D holds the planning boards to the comprehensive plan not the UDO
<br /> 823 and when I read the comprehensive plan , there' s no mention of conditional zoning . In fact, if you look at Appendix D ,
<br /> 824 which is the 1981 Appendix , Appendix 5 . 4 and 6 . 8 they' re the only mentions of White Cross at all and they have a zoning
<br /> 825 category BH2 , which doesn 't appear in the UDO anymore . I strongly urge you to wait on this until you get a
<br /> 826 comprehensive plan that covers this kind of conditional zoning , and really makes a definition of what this node , should
<br /> 827 be . I ' m all over, trying to participate in that discussion , but I think this is just kind of an ad hoc proposal here that really is
<br /> 828 a basis for rejection , even though I as I said , I support property rights and I support tax diversification . Thank you .
<br /> 829
<br /> 830 George Barnes - Thank you for allowing me a couple of minutes to speak . I ' m George Barnes with Glandon Forest
<br /> 831 Equity . I ' m sure I ' m the least popular person in this room , but I wanted to speak to Mister Marshall , one question you
<br /> 832 had , and then also just address a couple of the other points . There' s been a lot of comment on the proposed use node
<br /> 833 consideration on the proposed use being given to the local community and I do appreciate and respect all of the
<br /> 834 community members concerns , I do . I will say that a lot of study and market analysis did go into this . Not by me , because
<br /> 835 I ' m not privy to that , but by the intended user and they have the means to track where their dollars and their customer
<br /> 836 dollars are being spent and where it' s coming from and where are the people that own those cards live . The reason they
<br /> 837 wanted to be here , is because in their mind , it better serves the needs of the community and their customer base . I 've
<br /> 838 also heard comments on "Why does it need to be here , there's one 5 miles down the road to the east , there' s one 7 miles
<br /> 839 down to the road to the West, " that might be true , but we can't assume that those stores will stay there , and we don 't
<br /> 840 know what the intended users ' plans are for those stores . I don 't want to get hung up on how a certain store might look in
<br /> 841 a certain area , because this is a different store . It is going to be 10 , 640 square feet, but it will have a lot of coolers for
<br /> 842 fresh foods in there , and it' s a little something different than what I ' ve been involved with before with this intended user .
<br /> 843
<br /> 844 Beth Bronson- Were you involved with employing the traffic impact analysis ?
<br /> 845
<br /> 846 George Barnes- Indirectly .
<br /> 847
<br /> 848 Beth Bronson - I just wanted to clarify that, since the author of the report is not here to speak on it, and the
<br /> 849 recommendations that were made were kind of generic , that there was only one day that the author of the report was
<br /> 850 actually onsite to get the average . In doing so , do you know the company that you employed , do they do traffic analysis
<br /> 851 in the county , do they normally do it in a rural area?
<br /> 852
<br /> 853 George Barnes- That' s a really good question and I appreciate it . We did employ them , and it was a requirement and we
<br /> 854 have employed them throughout the state with other projects . This is the standard way of doing traffic impact analysis .
<br /> 855 The firm ' s name was on the County' s list of firms that we could work with , it' s a very reputable firm . They take historic
<br /> 856 data , current data , date from being on the site into consideration in coming up with that report . Then they share that with
<br /> 857 the county and also NCDOT .
<br /> 858
<br /> 859 Beth Bronson - So you are aware that the projected traffic means that it would be to the point at which it would be prudent
<br /> 860 for the Department of Transportation to assess for a traffic light or assess for some kind of intervention to help alleviate
<br /> 861 the traffic that's being created and that' s within one year of right now . I ' m trying to find any kind of discussion that was
<br /> 862 had with the developers about any kind of proactive measures or anticipation of. . . .
<br /> 863
<br /> 864 Charity Kirk- Can I clarify? You feel like the dollar store going in is going to affect traffic so much so that the DOT is going
<br /> 865 to have to do something and that it was not addressed in the study?
<br /> 866
<br /> 867 Beth Bronson - The traffic is going to continue to increase regardless of whether or not there is a retail space there . Does
<br /> 868 this report sufficiently reflect that? I think that is to be determined because there's only one day of analysis of data
<br /> 869 collection that was performed . But there is an expected projection of already increasing traffic and so , by adding the
<br /> 870 retail center, you are creating additional safety concerns that are outlined in the County' s assessment . I just wondered if
<br /> 871 there was any kind of response that you guys had for the county to specifically address that?
<br /> 872
<br /> 873 George Barnes. We addressed all the concerns that came our way . I can say that the intent is to provide a closer to
<br /> 874 home shopping option for the customer base and again , they know where their customers are , to offer general
<br /> 875 merchandise , American made , consumable items . As it relates to DOT , they had their report and reviewed it, and we are
<br />
|