12_4_24 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 2.5.25 because it's the only one. But when they get there, that land is going to be through the roof as far 874 as cost is concerned, and it's only going to drive the cost up for us here. As an electrician, I see it 875 every single day. We keep adding more and more and more and more. Let's require sidewalks 876 when you build a house. You know, put a sidewalk on. I drive by houses. There's a sidewalk on 877 the front of the house to nowhere because that person was required to under the ordinance. They 878 got to plant two trees out in Durham. You keep adding costs. How do you think the house is 879 going to stay cheap. It's never going to. And so, as we continue to go down the path of adding 880 more and more requirements to this, the only obvious thing is that the cost is going to climb. It's 881 getting out of control. There's a double wide by me for $470,000.00 on 10 acres. A double wide. 882 Are you all right? How? 883 884 Leigh Anne King: The land values in the County are very, very high. 885 886 Adam Beeman: Right. But that's what I'm saying. Come on and develop until we have no more land left. And like 887 I said, when that happens, it's going to be ridiculous. I come from Massachusetts. Most of the 888 land was gone. There was a gentleman that was buying a half-acre empty lot for $350,000.00. 889 Just so he had a yard. $350,000.00. That's where we're heading. The median price in North 890 Carolina is what, $420,000.00, $450,000.00, somewhere in that range? Let's keep adding more 891 and more to it and don't provide anybody with any of the services. The septic systems are 892 ridiculous, wells are ridiculous, all that cost continues to add up, so we're never going to have 893 affordable housing unless the County steps in and provides something, infrastructure or the land, 894 and they don't seem to want to do that. And too many people are blind to the fact that the costs 895 are going to continue to climb. I just don't understand, it baffles the mind that nobody can see the 896 obvious. It's like, the more you keep the land precious and conserved, the more value it's going to 897 be and we're going to be pushed out. And I'm not against conserving land, trust me, I'm not, I 898 know there are many people out where I live that want their farmland. I understand that. There 899 has to be a balance. And like you said, encourage the growth in municipalities. We're going to 900 have to probably expand the municipalities boundaries in order to solve some of the housing 901 crisis. Doesn't seem like anybody's interested in that. 902 903 Statler Gilfillen: I think you're missing something here. What does it cost to put a smoke detector system in a 904 house these days. It adds to the cost. These items are necessary also though. Those are adding 905 to the cost. There's a balance in here. 906 907 Adam Beeman: I understand the smoke detector. I'm talking about a sidewalk to nowhere. How much do you 908 think it cost him to pour 50-foot sidewalk 4 feet wide, or 2 feet wide? It's not free. 909 910 Statler Gilfillen: But we have to be practical. Many of these costs are things that made us safer. 911 912 Adam Beeman: How is requiring two trees be planted in your front yard make you safer? I'm just trying to make 913 the point, like, if we're trying to make it more affordable, we can't continue to pile on more 914 regulations. 915 916 Leigh Anne King: But what would be the question to ask, yeah. 917 918 Cy Stober: To respond to your question or concern, Chairman, the commissioners did discuss that matter. 919 And the public did too. I'm actually going through the free responses and pulling out common 920 themes. So rural buffer, no. No one really actually talked about it, which is pretty surprising 921 because we were pretty blunt about it on all the maps. We're showing development there and 922 scenario for, or alternative for, and some development in there and Alternative 3, so there wasn't 923 much discussion about it. There was a lot of discussion about sprawl and appreciation for 924 containment of Chapel Hill and Carrboro growth, and to a lesser degree, Hillsborough. And a little 925 dislike for the growth pattern in Mebane. So, we did hear that. We also have heard from the 926 commissioners concerns about the under-utilization of the existing OWASA utility lines, and 927 especially given that OWASA has 70 years of capacity based on forecasted growth. That is going 928