Approved & 7 - 23
<br /> 329 Hollis Chatelain : I support schools , I support athletic fields , I support all of these different sports , but I don ' t support them
<br /> 330 being built here . One of the things that nobody has really mentioned is that the surrounding houses , all around this
<br /> 331 enormous field , are still on the older wells . On Lawrence Road , there are still people who are still on the older, sixty-foot
<br /> 332 wells . When we don ' t get a whole lot of water, those well have a risk of drying up . This field could take a lot of the water
<br /> 333 from all of these houses that are on these older wells . A lot of these people are lower income people , who is going to pay
<br /> 334 for new wells . Nobody seems to be considering that . This is really a big problem . I am just really surprised that nobody
<br /> 335 has said anything about that . One of the things that they said and the next thing I would like to mention is the traffic . One
<br /> 336 of the things that they have said is that there were 4 , 500 cars that went on Lawrence Rd . in February of 2021 . This was
<br /> 337 during lockdown . I live on Lawrence Rd . there are so many more cars when we were not in Covid and now . I do not think
<br /> 338 it is realistic for one of the only roads that go North/South through Hillsborough . If there were some sort of emergency at
<br /> 339 the school or somewhere else around there , they could not get emergency vehicles in there . They could not get them to
<br /> 340 the hospital which is south of there . I am against a facility like this in this spot and I ask that you vote no .
<br /> 341
<br /> 342 John Dempsey : The owner has already brought a request for rezoning for this parcel to the town of Hillsborough where it
<br /> 343 was denied . It was found by the Mayor and the Town Board in keeping with Hillsborough ' s future land use plans and
<br /> 344 would not be in the long -term interest of Hillsborough ' s businesses and residents . Their decision was informed by a
<br /> 345 variety of Hillsborough ' s town agencies . Being turned down by Hillsborough , the developer has come to Orange County
<br /> 346 asking for conditional district rezoning for the same plan . You should be aware that if Orange County permits this
<br /> 347 rezoning , then it will be triggering a recent North Carolina State Law that requires municipalities to provide water and
<br /> 348 sewer services to charter schools if they have the capacity to do so . The Town of Hillsborough has been formally put on
<br /> 349 notice by the developer to reserve water and sewer capacity for this development . If you rezone this parcel , then make
<br /> 350 no doubt about it, at that point , neither Orange County nor the Town of Hillsborough , will have any say in the distribution
<br /> 351 of Hillsborough ' s water and sewer resources to this non -contiguous parcel . They will be forced to do so by state law . As
<br /> 352 one town board member put it, " this will rip Hillsborough ' s Comprehensive Sustainability Plan to shreds . " It should also
<br /> 353 be noted that if Orange County decides to permit this rezoning request, that it will be breaking the WASMPBA planning
<br /> 354 and boundary agreement signed by Hillsborough , Chapel Hill , Carrboro , and Orange County . That agreement
<br /> 355 signatories to growth management . . . . resolve and preclude conflicts about future service areas and also provide
<br /> 356 predictable planning and financing . Rezoning will also result in tax and service fee hikes for Hillsborough businesses and
<br /> 357 residences over time . Without bringing any new tax revenue to the town regardless of who pays for the initial extension
<br /> 358 of services , it is alarming to me that these costs to Hillsborough are not mentioned or addressed by the applicant or by
<br /> 359 the Orange County Planning Department . At the last planning board meeting on April 5 , Hillsborough ' s mayor and a town
<br /> 360 board representative , signed up for 3 minutes to address this board on these and other concerning issues with this
<br /> 361 proposal . Three minutes , for the jurisdiction that would be held responsible for servicing this project, paying for the
<br /> 362 consequences , and the jurisdiction that should be making these decisions . Please , listen to our town representatives and
<br /> 363 vote unanimously to not recommend this rezoning proposal to the Orange County Board of Commissioners .
<br /> 364
<br /> 365 Margo Lakin : I ' m for schools and ball fields and tennis courts and pickleball and skateboards and walking , what I ' m
<br /> 366 against is this spot zoning that will disenfranchise Hillsborough voters and compromise our water and sewer capacity .
<br /> 367 We have been told that rezoning decisions are based on land use , not on traffic patterns , not on who will occupy the
<br /> 368 development . This rezoning doesn ' t promote Hillsborough ' s future land use plan . It will rip the town ' s comprehensive
<br /> 369 sustainability plan to shreds . It doesn ' t even support Orange County' s Comprehensive Land Use Plan that serves as a
<br /> 370 guide to county growth and development through 2030 . The rezoning will not efficiently use existing capacity, it will
<br /> 371 create light, noise , and air pollution . I haven ' t heard one mention of . . . ratings for buildings . It will destroy federally
<br /> 372 recognized habitat for five protected species , it will threaten two watersheds , and compound the stress on the town ' s
<br /> 373 finite water and sewer capacity . There are eight planning principals in the 2030 plan that have been the foundation for
<br /> 374 development, this proposal meets none of them . We heard that conditional zoning only allows for this project and no
<br /> 375 variations but according to the planning department presentation , at the April 4 Board of County Commissioners
<br /> 376 meeting , where another conditional rezoning proposal was voted on , we were told that conditional zoning does allow for
<br /> 377 negotiation between applicant and staff or appointed board , or the elected body of Orange County . If rezoned , this
<br /> 378 proposal could change and Hillsborough would not be part of those closed door decisions . We haven ' t heard from the K-
<br /> 379 8 charter school proposal because it doesn ' t exist . At the neighborhood information meeting , the developer failed to
<br /> 380 mention that he is also the landowner. He told the room that the sports fields were place holder ideas only . Two weeks
<br /> 381 ago , we heard for the first time in a public forum , that well and septic can now support this project and Hillsborough
<br /> 382 Water and Sewer isn ' t needed . So why was there an annexation request to Hillsborough in the first place ? If rezoning is
<br /> 383 approved , are we to believe that the new state law forcing towns to provide water and sewer to charter schools won ' t be
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