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117 <br /> As shown on Attachment 1 , the property which you now own includes a cellular <br /> transmission tower that to our understanding is still owned by Crown Castle, Inc. <br /> Since that property is landlocked, an access easement was recorded for the cell <br /> tower with the previous owner of the County's future park site, which now runs <br /> with the County's land. This easement has for the last 20 years consisted of a <br /> rudimentary unpaved path that runs east along and through the County's future <br /> park site to your 10-acre parcel with the cell tower. <br /> As mentioned in our meeting, our concerns with transforming this rudimentary <br /> access easement into a commercial driveway with regular traffic poses significant <br /> problems for the County's future soccer center site. I should note that these <br /> concerns come from the County as impacted adjacent landowner, and are not <br /> part of any comments on the impacts of the rezoning proposal on natural and <br /> cultural resources that our Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and <br /> Recreation (DEAPR) makes as part of the normal development review process: <br /> 1. The current unpaved access easement, if improved, would sever access <br /> to 20 acres of the 79-acre future park site that lies south of the existing <br /> access easement. To date, the few trips per year by Crown Castle to visit <br /> the cellular tower and the fact that the future park has not yet been <br /> constructed has not posed an issue for this separation of the property. <br /> However, if a commercial driveway were constructed on top of this <br /> easement in its current location, this would change things substantially. <br /> 2. The creation of a commercial driveway with a projected 300 trips per day <br /> in this location will create safety and access problems for the Millhouse <br /> Road Park site. It is likely that parking and soccer fields would be located <br /> across this driveway, with parents and children crossing back and forth <br /> across it to access vehicles or other fields. We have serious concerns <br /> about the safety of future users of the facility, especially small children, if <br /> such a driveway separated the facility. <br /> 3. The change to a commercial driveway in this easement location would <br /> impair the County's ability to use its property for its intended purpose. <br /> Having said this, as we discussed in our meeting, the County would be amenable <br /> to relocating the access easement to minimize the severing of any of the future <br /> soccer complex by a potential future driveway. The current adopted Capital <br /> Investment Plan for construction of the Millhouse Road facility would find design <br /> and engineering in FY 2027-28 and construction of the facility (with the Town of <br /> Chapel Hill) in FY 2028-29. <br /> In our previous discussion, you mentioned the potential for allowing the current <br /> access easement to serve as your commercial driveway in this proposal, with <br /> relocation of the driveway and access to a new location timed to occur with the <br /> construction of the Millhouse Road Park facility. <br /> Orange County Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks & Recreation <br /> PO Box 8181, Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br /> Phone: (919) 245-2510 <br />