Orange County NC Website
166 <br /> residential and commercial activities of those areas for a more rural location <br /> surrounded by similar uses. <br /> ■ Land Use Overarching Goal: Coordination of the amount, location, pattern, and <br /> designation of future land uses, with availability of County services and facilities <br /> sufficient to meet the needs of Orange County's population and economy consistent <br /> with other Comprehensive Plan element goals and objectives. <br /> The application proposes an Agricultural Support Enterprise for an arborist and wood- <br /> processing center within an area surrounded by public or quasi-public uses, including <br /> the actively managed Duke Forest. The tree-related operations are consistent with <br /> both the rural character of this immediate area as well as the more intensive use to <br /> the south of the former county landfill, which is in the Town of Chapel Hill's ETJ. <br /> While, by the applicant's admission, the operations will generate noise pollution and <br /> some odors related to tree processing into wood byproducts, the use is consistent <br /> with the "low-intensity agricultural support" uses allowed in the Rural Buffer by the <br /> Orange County-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Joint Planning Agreement (JPA) Land Use Plan. <br /> The site plan and conditions committed to by the applicant will separate this use from <br /> the properties owned Orange County and proposed for a recreational facility featuring <br /> multiple soccer fields. The combination of the required screening and setbacks with <br /> the natural environmental features of this property and the adjacent ones will <br /> adequately minimize impacts to surrounding properties. <br /> ■ Land Use Goal 2: Land uses that are appropriate to on-site environmental conditions <br /> and features, and that protect natural resources, cultural resources, and community <br /> character. <br /> The proposed use meets all UDO standards for buffering and screening, as well as <br /> the applicable erosion control and stormwater regulations. It will utilize and improve <br /> an existing access road, creating no new stream crossings, and, in fact, improving the <br /> existing one to minimize runoff into the stream. The arborist will process natural wood <br /> products that can be reused locally for multiple purposes, reducing the need for area <br /> residents to rely upon imported products. The restrictions that exist on the uses of <br /> most of the surrounding properties should ensure that low-intensity agricultural <br /> production of the site will have minimal negative impacts upon natural resources or <br /> residents. <br /> ■ Land Use Goal 3: A variety of land uses that are coordinated within a program and <br /> pattern that limits sprawl, preserves community and rural character, minimizes land <br /> use conflicts, supported by an efficient and balanced transportation system. <br /> The proposed arborist and tree processing facility will be placed within the Rural <br /> Buffer, away from residentially-used properties, and within the rural areas of the <br /> county. The neighboring Duke Forest property is, in fact, a site that may be actively <br /> timbered at its owners' discretion; and the southern, county-owned property is a <br /> former landfill that is limited in its redevelopment potential. These surrounding <br />