Orange County NC Website
33 <br /> DRAFT <br /> 164 reasonable solution that's kind of a one size fits all and is really the constituents,the public can <br /> 165 understand it and the staff can understand it and there's not a lot of ambiguity to it. <br /> 166 <br /> 167 Venkat Yendapalli: And I have one question, Patrick. <br /> 168 <br /> 169 Patrick Mallett: Yeah. <br /> 170 <br /> 171 Venkat Yendapalli: This developer center impervious surface, does it apply only to the older lots, older subdivisions, <br /> 172 or? <br /> 173 <br /> 174 Patrick Mallett: Yes,these are all older. These are not new subdivisions. So, like the one you heard today,this <br /> 175 would, that's not an issue. It's these older lots that were developed or at least recorded in the <br /> 176 '60s, 70s, and '80s. <br /> 177 <br /> 178 Christopher Sandt: Before the Clean Water Act. <br /> 179 <br /> 180 Patrick Mallett: Yeah, so the number of lots that qualify for this are not huge. <br /> 181 <br /> 182 Venkat Yendapalli: All right. Thank you. <br /> 183 <br /> 184 Cy Stober: I would only editorialize that the number of lots that qualify for this are not huge, but the amount of <br /> 185 time that each one of these lots consumes by the staff and the owners' money and time and <br /> 186 anxiety and trying to figure all this out with us is extraordinary. And we have a simpler resolution, 1 <br /> 187 think. <br /> 188 <br /> 189 Christopher Sandt: Thank you Pat and Cy. Yeah, and we also want to make sure that folks have the ability to <br /> 190 develop their lots in a fashion that conforms with the UDO and the way we do things in Orange <br /> 191 County. So,this is another part of the amendments. This is one of the bigger items here.We've <br /> 192 got good old Lake Orange. It was constructed up there, starts at the east fork of the Eno River. <br /> 193 So, you know the Eno River starts at the west fork and east fork. Lake Orange is on the east fork, <br /> 194 the WFER, the West Eno Reservoir that is owned by the town is on the west fork. They come <br /> 195 down,they confluence, and come through downtown. So, it's been there since the'60s. A lot of <br /> 196 the lots were plotted. There are about 120 residential lots around this WS2, a water supply to a <br /> 197 drinking water supply reservoir. You don't find anything like this in the state. I'm not here to talk <br /> 198 about Lake Orange as to why it's set up like that, but let's just say it's a distinct reservoir in the <br /> 199 state. It was built in the Iate'60s. The WEFR was built herein the late'90s, early 2000s after <br /> 200 these state rules for water supply watersheds were enforced. So, if you go to the WEFR, all the <br /> 201 land around the lake is owned by the town. That's kind of how you want a reservoir built. It's all <br /> 202 wooded. It's buffered. Lake Orange has got residential lots around it, and they were built <br /> 203 primarily in the'70s and'80s prior to these rules being implemented. So,we've just in the last <br /> 204 year or so have processed,you know,those homes are older. If you were built in the'80s or'90s, <br /> 205 you're now having to do renovation. You're having to,this is an older house, so we get a lot of <br /> 206 these folks just wanting to do improvements to their properties that are now they come in,they <br /> 207 say,wait a minute,you have a 150-foot reservoir setback? So, all the lots on Lake Orange are <br /> 208 technically subject to a 150-foot reservoir setback per our rules, per our riparian rules. The state <br /> 209 minimum is 50 feet for reservoir buffers. So,we're way above and beyond, and really how it <br /> 210 happens in my mind. It's staff at that time when these laws were rolled out in the early'90s, <br /> 211 nobody was kind of thinking,well,what about Lake Orange over here? Because those lots <br /> 212 already, if you look at those lots, there's about 90 to 100 of them that have homes on them, and <br /> 213 about 70 of those homes are already within 75 feet of the lake. That's just where they were built. <br /> 214 They were built before these rules existed. So,those folks that have come in and tried to do <br /> 215 renovations can't do it because of our reservoir setback, so then they have to go through an <br /> 216 amendment process, a zoning amendment, and go through our Board of Adjustment. So that's <br /> 217 happened four times in the last year or so, and I believe the Board of Adjustment has approved all <br /> 218 four of them. Yes,you have the right to fix up your house. Sorry,this law is not really matched up <br />