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20 <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner Hamilton, to <br /> open the public hearing. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> PUBLIC COMMENTS: <br /> There was no one signed up to speak. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Fowler, seconded by Commissioner McKee, to <br /> close the public hearing. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> Chair Bedford clarified that any decision tonight is completely independent of any future <br /> decision on an application and independent of any possible future conservation easement. She <br /> said this is also the first use of tying the Strategic Plan to an agenda item. She said that is <br /> something they want to do in the future. She said that considering it was environmental protection, <br /> any development really is not better for the environment. She said this could also be tied <br /> negatively to housing goals because the number is reduced. She said they need to think about <br /> which Strategic Plan goals will be used and she asked that staff be thinking about this going <br /> forward with other items. She said she plans to support this request. She said she was surprised <br /> to see the length of consistencies and she expressed concern with future adversarial issues due <br /> to long explanations of consistency from staff. She said if the Board did not support this, there <br /> would be four pages that the Board would have to argue over. She said she emailed John Roberts <br /> and Cy Stober and asked if they could remove some items to shorten the portion. She said that <br /> tonight is not especially important but, in the future, she wants to avoid adversarial issues between <br /> the Board. <br /> Commissioner Richards asked about the recommendations from the NC Department of <br /> Wildlife and what happens to those now. <br /> Cy Stober, Planning and Inspections Director said there are requirements in the ordinance <br /> around open space. He said that all input will be gathered during future flexible subdivision <br /> processes. He said it is standard practice to collect the comments from the county and the State <br /> around the value of property from different perspectives. He said that it is standard to provide that <br /> information. He said that they are vacating a site-specific plan and there is a loss of control <br /> however, conditions cannot be placed upon the approval. He said that the county has done a <br /> good job of identifying those values in the ordinance and they can be regulated and accounted <br /> for there. <br /> Commissioner Richards asked if there is anything in the wildlife recommendations outside <br /> of what the county ordinance includes. <br /> Cy Stober said there are identifications of bottomland hardwood forests or floodplains that <br /> are either already protected or are of low value. He said that when they identify high value areas <br /> as natural heritage areas, primary resource areas, and places of cultural significance. He said <br /> they can protect those proactively. He said that they confer with DEAPR on the high-level areas. <br /> Commissioner Richards said she looked at this through an environmental lens because <br /> of its location in a watershed protection area. She asked if the recommendations would go onto <br /> the shelf until a future application is brought to the Board. <br /> Patrick Mallett said that processes like these go through the state clearinghouse and <br /> usually issue statements that are the bare minimum at the state level. He said that floodplain <br /> standards for the state are far less than what Orange County requires. He said that the county's <br /> standards would apply to this parcel. <br />