Agenda - 04-15-2025; 8-a - Minutes

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15 1 Commissioner Carter said Commissioners are using 2030 Plan to make their decision, but 2 she understands there is another plan being developed currently for future planning decisions. 3 She said as she looks at the current 2050 Comprehensive Plan, there are goals speaking to future 4 developments that would support businesses and are built in an environmentally conscientious 5 way. She said as they consider what is on its face, a very worthy project, they must use very 6 specific goals that will guide the Board in decision making. She highlighted the need for water and 7 sewer infrastructure in the 2050 plan. 8 Scott Radway agreed there is a great challenge to provide housing opportunities in a good 9 fashion that lives up to environmental, social, and other goals. He said the other layer is how to 10 do that in the current infrastructure or the infrastructure you can reasonably expect to have in the 11 future. He said the county has had real problems with water and sewer. He said there are things 12 that really fit together but infrastructure for safe wells and wastewater includes what you are 13 allowed to do with engineered wastewater systems and how they can reach a higher level of 14 treatment of that. He said he thinks they have provided that information. He said the question is 15 whether the Board is willing to let what is allowed happen and with a large amount of safety. He 16 said the applicant has greatly reviewed the water and soils for wastewater and they feel they have 17 addressed the need. He said that they will abide by the higher impervious surface standards of 18 neighboring nodes. He suggested those standards be put into this district and to other nodes as 19 well. 20 Vice-Chair Hamilton said there seemed to be back and forth on whether this would be a 21 55+ community in earlier stages of the process. 22 Chair Bedford said the Board received an email on that this afternoon. 23 LeAnn Brown said the intention is for this to be a 55+ community and meet all the 24 necessary federal requirements. She said there is question from a county perspective, and it is 25 up to the Board if they would like to make that a condition. She said that if it becomes enforceable, 26 it would be enforced by the county zoning administrator. She said whether it is a condition or not, 27 that is the plan. She said they are in agreement if the Board wants to include the condition. 28 Commissioner Fowler asked if there is a limit to percentage of land that can be 29 development. 30 Cy Stober said the activity nodes have a threshold for non-residential uses, but the zoning 31 ordinance does not address conditional zoning districts. He said non-residential uses could be 32 allowed with conditional zoning districts. He said that for conventional zoning districts, there are 33 different thresholds. He said there is available balance for commercial development in this node 34 and this would not take away from the ability to put commercial uses in the node. 35 Commissioner Fowler asked if the applicant would be willing to have a condition about 36 addressing any remediation for neighboring wells that may be impacted. 37 LeAnn Brown said the applicant has tried to address this issue, but Orange County has 38 not dealt with de-watering and there are no standards. She said that their research discovered 39 that there was a concern about neighboring well issues in Wake County and Wake County 40 investigated a program in place that has not been used for 15 years. She said they do not know 41 what a condition like that would look like because a well can run dry for other reasons. She said 42 they would have to determine if the wells are drawing from the same aquafer. She said the rules 43 in bringing the well up would include determination of the aquafer it is tapped into and if the use 44 is affecting other wells. She said if they were to affect someone's well, that would be one thing 45 but if people had problems with wells otherwise, it is a different situation. She said that Wake 46 County has 600 community wells, and they have not dealt with a dewatering program. She said 47 she is unsure how to write the condition. She said the applicant would consider such a condition 48 if it did not require the applicant to pay to research the cause of the neighboring well issues. 49 Commissioner McKee said he is more concerned about wastewater treatment systems. 50 He said that he knows they are relatively safe and reliable. He asked if the applicant be willing to