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pppppp- <br /> Orange County <br /> Department on Aging <br /> endless possibilil-je`' Robert& Pearl Seymour Center 12551 Homestead Rd. I Chapel Hill, NC 27516 <br /> Jerry M.Passmore Center 1 103 Meadowlands Dr., PO Box 8181 1 Hilisbarough, NC 27278 <br /> March 22, 2024 <br /> Orange County Board of County Commissioners :!' <br /> Orange County Planning Department <br /> C/o Patrick Mallett, OC Planning Department <br /> Dear Orange County Board of County Commissioners, <br /> We, the Orange County Advisory Board on Aging, are writing in support of the Fiddlehead <br /> Corner application for a rezoning that would allow the development of a 150-unit residential <br /> community in Orange County whose focus is aging in place. This project would be an <br /> excellent step towards meeting a portion of Orange County's urgent need for senior housing <br /> along the outlines of the Orange County 2030 Comprehensive Plan and the 2022-27 Master <br /> Aging Plan. <br /> The applicant is Hands Four Development Cooperative (1141)).The members of H4D and its <br /> sister organization, Triangle Traditional Music and Dance Retirement Society(2T),are <br /> largely residents of Orange County and its vicinity. Over the past decade,members of 2T and <br /> H4D have pursued the goal of creating a community where they can live and age in <br /> community together. In their planning, they have developed a deliberate and thoughtful <br /> master plan that echoes issues crucial to successful aging as reflected in the current Orange <br /> County Master Aging Plan.These issues are highly relevant in the evaluation of the H4D <br /> application,so they will be enumerated. <br /> First of all, it is important to keep in mind that Orange County is facing"an explosion in the <br /> numbers of older persons, a dramatic increase in longer lives", as described in the 2007-12 <br /> Master Aging Plan (MAP), The most recent update of the MAP, (2022-27), reinforces this <br /> point with an estimate that the overall population will increase by 20%b from 2020 to 2040, <br /> while the number of adult ages 65+ in Orange County is expected to increase over three <br /> times as fast- 68916! <br /> This oncoming wave of aging adults will produce an increasing demand for housing and <br /> neighborhoods that are designed specifically to meet the needs of an aging population. <br /> Foremost among the goals of the MAP is the housing element to address this demand.The <br /> Comprehensive Plan's Chapter 4 makes specific reference to the MAP with its emphasis on <br /> the housing needs of seniors. MAP 2022-27 continues the emphasis on Housing,with Goal <br /> 3 being to"improve choices, quality, and affordability of housing for older adults". <br /> Visit us online @ www.arangecountync.gov/departments/aging <br /> Like us on Facebook @a www.facebook.com/OrangeCountyDepartmentOnAging <br />