Minutes 03-11-2025-Work Session Meeting

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20 Chair Bedford said the Board liked the Rural Conservation Neighborhood, yet in a recent board action they voted against a development that would fit in with this kind of neighborhood. She said she is not sure she would like to see this kind of density all over the county. She asked about having them closer to the towns rather than scattered about the county. She said it seems like a different kind of sprawl. Leigh Anne King said some communities have figured out how to live with working lands nearby. She said there is a neighborhood conservation district in Chicago that has working prairie, but she also agrees with Commissioner McKee that it may not be feasible to actively farmland around a subdivision. She said there is site design and management to have residents near working lands. She said there is a lot of site design and management that would have to be worked out in the details. She said that it is an opportunity to do both. She said they can continue to stay the course with smaller sized lots, or they can do something that is larger to protect a larger part of land. Chair Bedford said that there will be an increase in the number of vehicle miles traveled with more people driving and that impacts the climate. She said she is unsure about the tradeoff. Leigh Anne King said the yield of units would increase but it is not a huge jump. She said if the concern is about the yield, then that can be dealt with a density change. Commissioner Fowler skipped to slide #24. She said that Blackwood was not listed and asked why. She noticed there are no rural conservation neighborhoods in the rural buffer. Leigh Anne King said that is intentional because of the rural buffer and the joint planning agreement. She said they tested that with the land use alternatives to get reactions. She said there is a small rural node along the 86 corridor and there are not rural conservation neighborhoods listed. She said in the implementation section of the plan, there is a call out for specific actions to be considered as any future review of those documents. She said that would have to happen as part of those interjurisdictional planning efforts. Commissioner Fowler said it looks like there is a municipal transitional area in the rural buffer. Commissioner Greene said that is Carrboro's transitional area and not in the rural buffer. Cy Stober said they can change the language if necessary but that is basically Carrboro's ETJ. He said it is important for the commissioner to read objectives because the map is not the plan. He asked the Board to read the recommendations. He said there are 58 actions and objectives. He said there are ideas such as revisiting the JPA to address some concerns, mobile home park standards, single family zoning, and duplex zoning. He said as the Board reviews the document, they should keep those initiatives in mind because they are proposed actions but are not ordinance changes. He said they would direct Planning staff to look into these. He said that they do not envision utility extensions to support the community conservation neighborhood. He said these communities would be supported by community wells and community septic systems and to move forward with any other assumption is not realistic. Commissioner Carter said she appreciates the actions, and she thinks they need to look at strategic, targeted ways to address the gap they have in housing. She said she supports the conservation cluster approach on a limited scale. She said she would like to have more information on community health and utilities. She said she wants to support the conversation with the development community to give scenarios for how to provide. Chair Bedford said the School of Government is providing some information on affordable housing on the Greene Tract and they also have the farm preservation draft coming up in a week or two as well. Commissioner McKee said he believes that between now and 2050 water and sewer will be a necessity.