7_10_24 Planning Board Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Approved 8.7.24 need to slow down traffic to, I don't know, 15 miles in that area. So, all this entry and 853 exiting of people will not hit, , I don't want to have so many crashes in my front yard. And 854 it's going to impact my neighbor, Chelsea. She has five kids and they want to put an entry 855 and exit right in her gate. I'm not comfortable with that, I'm not too happy with that, 856 especially if she has the young special child, and I think this has to be reviewed and entry 857 and exit has to be on Gold Mine Loop, not on Morrow Mill Road because it's going to 858 create lots of crashes. 859 860 Carol Mellon: I'm Carol Mellon, I live at 6410 Goldmine Loop with my husband Jim, and I just wanted to 861 say that our area is not zoned for high density development. We purchased our property 862 with existing zoning in mind because we desire to live in a rural area with a rural lifestyle 863 away from the noise, pollution, and congestion that we have experienced living in cities or 864 suburbs. Some of neighbors continue to find properties that their families have owned for 865 generations. We do not need another rural Fearrington Village type development in our 866 area or yet another party barn or entertainment venue with events disruptive to the lives of 867 nearby residents. Nor do we need a multistory apartment building. That's just out of 868 character with our area. And I would just like to say that most of us, even those of us who 869 are newcomers, bought properties that were appropriately zoned for our own plans and 870 now the applicant comes in and wants to change the character of the neighborhood and 871 we feel that that's unfair and we hope that you will reject their proposal, thank you. 872 873 John Kizer: John Kizer is my first name, but Steve Kizer is what I go by. And my home and property 874 are located about 600 yards from the proposed urban development. At the last meeting, 875 several board members wondered what the original framers of the land use plan, zoning 876 ordinances were thinking specifically about the contour of the rural nodes. I'm standing 877 here as a relic of that time. I was chairman of the board of adjustment and a member of 878 the planning board when they put zoning in place in Orange County, and at that time, we 879 developed the land use plan with several considerations. For example, the rural nodes 880 that you asked about, had we followed the parcel boundaries in defining the nodes, we 881 would have codified a commercial monopoly on a select few properties, an outcome that 882 neither we nor the community desired. The nodes were circular to provide a crude area to 883 which we could apply the principal zoning, avoiding any preference to a given landowner. 884 The philosophy charged to us by the county commissioners in those days of developing 885 the zoning ordinance was twofold. Number one, prevent urban sprawl and direct intense 886 urban development to the cities of Hillsborough and Chapel Hill where urban services and 887 utilities were available. Preserve the rural character of the county and prevent strip 888 development, that was threatening transportation quarters in and out of the county. As an 889 incentive, the selling of zoning to a wary and skeptical county population was based on 890 the promise that once enacted and approved, exceptions and variances to the ordinance 891 would be few and difficult to obtain. Thereby providing permanence to the county 892 structure. I have a few comments about the proposed project. Number one, water. The 893 proposal lists a minimum of 150 living units. According to the EPA, the average water 894 usage per day for an adult is about 85 to 100 Gallons. Assuming two persons per living 895 unit, the daily water needs of this development would be upwards of 30,000 gallons of 896 water a day. At the meeting, it was stated a well on the property could produce 40 gallons 897 per minute. This is an unrealistic estimate. And notwithstanding, it is not plausible that 898 one could pump 30,000 gallons daily from this relatively small parcel of land. In our area 899 wells usually produce no more than 5 to 6 gallons per minute; moreover, wells also run 900 dry in drought conditions in our area. For example, several years ago my neighbor had to 901 sell off his dairy herd as his wells ran dry. Wastewater, number two, assuming a closed 902