PB Agenda Packet - Feb 5 2025 - Laserfiche WebLink

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23 DRAFT 874 because it's the only one. But when they get there, that land is going to be through the roof as far 875 as cost is concerned, and it's only going to drive the cost up for us here. As an electrician, I see it 876 every single day. We keep adding more and more and more and more. Let's require sidewalks 877 when you build a house. You know, put a sidewalk on. I drive by houses. There's a sidewalk on 878 the front of the house to nowhere because that person was required to under the ordinance. They 879 got to plant two trees out in Durham. You keep adding costs. How do you think the house is 880 going to stay cheap. It's never going to. And so, as we continue to go down the path of adding 881 more and more requirements to this,the only obvious thing is that the cost is going to climb. It's 882 getting out of control. There's a double wide by me for$470,000.00 on 10 acres. A double wide. 883 Are you all right? How? 884 885 Leigh Anne King: The land values in the County are very,very high. 886 887 Adam Beeman: Right. But that's what I'm saying. Come on and develop until we have no more land left. And like 888 1 said,when that happens, it's going to be ridiculous. I come from Massachusetts. Most of the 889 land was gone. There was a gentleman that was buying a half-acre empty lot for$350,000.00. 890 Just so he had a yard. $350,000.00. That's where we're heading. The median price in North 891 Carolina is what,$420,000.00,$450,000.00,somewhere in that range? Let's keep adding more 892 and more to it and don't provide anybody with any of the services. The septic systems are 893 ridiculous,wells are ridiculous, all that cost continues to add up, so we're never going to have 894 affordable housing unless the County steps in and provides something, infrastructure or the land, 895 and they don't seem to want to do that. And too many people are blind to the fact that the costs 896 are going to continue to climb. I just don't understand, it baffles the mind that nobody can see the 897 obvious. It's like,the more you keep the land precious and conserved,the more value it's going to 898 be and we're going to be pushed out. And I'm not against conserving land,trust me, I'm not, 1 899 know there are many people out where I live that want their farmland. I understand that. There 900 has to be a balance. And like you said, encourage the growth in municipalities. We're going to 901 have to probably expand the municipalities boundaries in order to solve some of the housing 902 crisis. Doesn't seem like anybody's interested in that. 903 904 Statler Gilfillen: I think you're missing something here. What does it cost to put a smoke detector system in a 905 house these days. It adds to the cost. These items are necessary also though. Those are adding 906 to the cost. There's a balance in here. 907 908 Adam Beeman: I understand the smoke detector. I'm talking about a sidewalk to nowhere. How much do you 909 think it cost him to pour 50-foot sidewalk 4 feet wide, or 2 feet wide? It's not free. 910 911 Statler Gilfillen: But we have to be practical. Many of these costs are things that made us safer. 912 913 Adam Beeman: How is requiring two trees be planted in your front yard make you safer? I'm just trying to make 914 the point, like, if we're trying to make it more affordable,we can't continue to pile on more 915 regulations. 916 917 Leigh Anne King: But what would be the question to ask, yeah. 918 919 Cy Stober: To respond to your question or concern, Chairman, the commissioners did discuss that matter. 920 And the public did too. I'm actually going through the free responses and pulling out common 921 themes. So rural buffer, no. No one really actually talked about it,which is pretty surprising 922 because we were pretty blunt about it on all the maps. We're showing development there and 923 scenario for,or alternative for, and some development in there and Alternative 3, so there wasn't 924 much discussion about it. There was a lot of discussion about sprawl and appreciation for 925 containment of Chapel Hill and Carrboro growth, and to a lesser degree, Hillsborough. And a little 926 dislike for the growth pattern in Mebane. So,we did hear that. We also have heard from the 927 commissioners concerns about the under-utilization of the existing OWASA utility lines, and 928 especially given that OWASA has 70 years of capacity based on forecasted growth. That is going