Agenda - 10-03-2000-5a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

a DRAFT „ 1 purchased by the County. He owns land that is one of the oldest farms in Orange County. He 2 spoke about the military and his service in the military. He said that it appears we are losing our 3 land and freedom without any compensation. He said that people expect to reasonably be able 4 to do with their property as they want. 5 This was the end of the public comment. 6 7 Commissioner Halkiotis said that he sees this situation as a rural -urban s misunderstanding. He said that Orange County had never condemned property. He said that the 9 Recreation and Parks Advisory Board stamped this the same way they have for years and the 10 Planning Board discussed this issue and ended up with a 4 -4 vote. In order to maintain a corridor 11 of any kind, there must be staff to patrol and a program to maintain the area. He said that this 12 was not a subdivision like the bigger ones that are being proposed in the Efland area. He is not 13 supportive of this recommendation. He feels that additional discussion needs to take place. 14 Commissioner Brown asked Geoffrey Gledhill to explain the process that has taken 15 place on this item. Geoffrey Gledhill said that when a landowner elects to subdivide their land, 16 the legislature of North Carolina and the state and.federal courts have recognized that the 17 government, in approving subdivision of the land, and in order to protect the public health, safety 18 and welfare, can exact certain things from the landowner in order to protect the public health, 19 safety and welfare. Some of the things that can, be exacted are land for public roads, land for 20 public recreation, and land for public schools. He said that if there was no subdivision of this 21 property going on, there would be no basis for exacting public rights of way and public recreation 22 areas: He explained that the other document was faxed to the Efland's because the 23 recommendation that was made to require this land to be reserved for wildlife open space at this 24 time caused a different set of documents to be sent to be put into the agenda than were originally 25 put into the agenda. This is why Craig Benedict asked the Efland's to destroy the other 26 document. It was not the intent to cover up anything. He made reference to the section. that 27 Chris Efland read from the document, "Land Suitability," and said that in the very next paragraph, 28 which was cut off, it talks about the kind of land needed for passive recreation. 29 Commissioner Brown asked for a clarification on the property that would be dedicated. 30 Craig Benedict explained that this property would be more f -a reservation and nothing would be 31 done until there was other property to connect to this property. There would be no public use of 32 the property until there is enough to provide for the low- impact public use bf the property. 33 Chris Efland made reference to the Planning Board meeting and said that Planner 34 Jane Garrett indicated that once the County got the key pieces of land through land dedication 35 the County would condemn the rest of the land and take it to connect the trail system. 36 Mike .Efland spoke about property owned by his uncle, Bobby Efland, questioning why 37 he was only permitted to put eight homes on 25 acres of land. He said that they have been told 38 that the sewer system that is currently from Efland- Cheeks to Hillsborough would not handle any 39 more connections. He said that the current proposal that he has been given about Ashwick 40 Subdivision (his land borders this subdivision), says that there will be 56 homes with a tap fee of 41 $4,000. He said that he would be opposing this subdivision. 42 Chair Carey restricted further comments from Mike Efland. 43 Commissioner Jacobs applauded the stewardship of the people in the rural areas. 44 The County government wants to work to help preserve land. He said that this was not about 45 active' recreation, but about leaving the land the way it was. He said that the law does not allow 46 government to discriminate between a large landowner and a small landowner. He said that there 47 needed to be a discussion on what people want in the Efland area. There are people who want 48 Efland to remain rural and others who want to build homes in the area. He said that the Board 49 was not talking about taking something from somebody and making it a public access point, but So treating everyone the same and having some kind of long-term planning for the Efland area. He 51 feels there has been confusion and a lack of clarity. 52 Chair Carey said that he fully recognizes that the County has the authority to require a 53 dedication of property and that the County would withstand a challenge to this authority. He also