Agenda 08-26-2025; 8-a - Minutes

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2 1 easements will be available, and they are supported. She said that farming is a local business, 2 and this county supports local businesses. 3 Susan Walser said she is part of the Maple View community and there was a meeting last 4 week to educate the community on the agritourism improvement requests from Union Grove 5 Farm. She said these requests are detrimental to the Maple View community and neighbors. She 6 said that this was a standing room only crowd and she estimates there were 300 at the event and 7 they were all in support of the neighbors and the community. She said that they will be making 8 public comments to the Board at the next several meetings. She said that one of the largest 9 concerns is seeing bona fide farm owners abusing the agritourism statute to advance their goals 10 of large commercial enterprising in areas of the county where the businesses would never be 11 permitted but for the loose definition of agrotourism. She said the farm exemption properties are 12 exempt from zoning except for electrical, water, and septic reviews. She said there are no other 13 inspections. She said that they have concerns about public safety. She said this is especially true 14 in the rural buffer. She said agrotourism can be better defined and they are already working with 15 legislators to do that. She asked the Board to review their website. 16 Marilee McTigue said that she is a thirty-year resident of Bingham Township. She said that 17 she wanted to add some to what Susan Walser spoke about. She said that there was a party in 18 Northern Orange County recently with 2,500 people. She said the party was in the rural buffer 19 and in a protected watershed. She said the implications of this are clear. 20 Elizabeth Young said she met with a resident that wanted to do an appeal of her property 21 valuation. She said the latest revaluation was one of the largest in history. She thanked the Board 22 for taking this issue seriously and said that it is important to address each neighborhood issue. 23 24 b. Matters on the Printed Agenda 25 (These matters will be considered when the Board addresses that item on the agenda below.) 26 27 3. Announcements, Petitions, and Comments by Board Members 28 Commissioner Fowler said she attended the Board of Health meeting last Wednesday and 29 heard updates from the Child Fatality Task Force. She said local teams are no longer required to 30 review every death of a resident child, and instead will review deaths of residents under age 18 31 that fall into one of 9 categories. She said interestingly, perinatal deaths were removed from the 32 list, which was one of the largest subsets. She said she believes they should still be investigated 33 in order to understand factors that affect prematurity and perinatal deaths. She said the Board of 34 Health also received an update on the opioid settlement and approved allocations for the coming 35 year. She said she also heard concerns from a Board of Health member who is an Emergency 36 Room physician at a private hospital in Roxboro. She indicated that the hospital offered a $120 37 million parachute to their departing CEO, while she has trouble finding sutures in order to sew up 38 people in the ER.Along those lines, she said the Board received a letter from a resident concerned 39 about the state of care for seniors in nursing care facilities. She said the corporatization of medical 40 care is to blame in this case as well. She explained that direct care workers are stretched thin 41 across large number of seniors who are therefore receiving inadequate care. She thanked the 42 Adult Care Home and Nursing Home Community Advisory Committee for their regular visits to 43 these facilities. She said this is another reason the Board should continue to advocate for 44 Medicaid funding. This past Friday, she said she attended the measles symposium, which 45 included a table-talk exercise on how to respond to a measles outbreak. She acknowledged that 46 the Board has heard many concerns about the revaluation and the impact it will have on residents, 47 with particular concern about vertical inequity. She said something of particular concern to her is 48 that commercial apartment properties were valued less than recent sale values, while single 49 family homes saw a much larger increase. She said she is glad residents can appeal their 50 revaluation and encouraged them to do so. She said there is an avenue for more systematic 51 review via the Board of Equalization and Review and hopes the county will use what tools are