Agenda - 08-19-2008 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

.1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 4 Joe Griffin has lived in Eno Township all of his life. He is really concerned about the annexation into Durham. He said that it seems like this has been set up to be annexed in this process. He said that in the legislature this year, there is supposed to be a proposal to limit municipalities' ability to annex. He asked the County Commissioners to support this legislation. David Wolberg lives in Whispering Pines subdivision. He said that he appreciates the attention that has been given to Whispering Pines and preserving this as a residential neighborhood. He also appreciates that the land use plan keeps the commercial development north of US 70 and has mixed use south of US 70. He is concerned that, given that much of the land south of US 70 is already zoned commercial and is going to remain zoned commercial, and given that annexation by Durham is likely, he is not convinced that the land use plan has much in the way of teeth. Also, given what exists on Hillsborough Road /US 70 into Durham, he is not really impressed with this kind of development continuing out into his backyard. He has nothing against Durham, but he chose to buy land in Orange County. He has backyard poultry and this would not be permitted under Durham ordinances. He sees an extra layer of government and higher taxes if this is annexed. He has no objection to land being developed in this area, but he is not in favor of annexation. Chair Jacobs requested that staff provide a plain, simple map of the Durham Urban Growth Boundary, the Eno EDD with the reserve area, the roads, and the streams. Chair Jacobs commended the staff, citizens, and Commissioner Foushee for working on this plan. When this began in December 2005, people who owned property in the Eno EDD expressed their frustration that Orange County had done nothing for years. It is an achievement that the plan has come this far. Regarding Durham's annexation policy, he said that there should be something clearly written about this in the table of contents so that someone could turn right to it. He suggested that the Board of County Commissioners sit down with the Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, the new Manager, and the Planning Director of the City of Durham to discuss the annexation policy, water and sewer boundary interlocal agreement, etc. He said that it is a fact that, since the County does not provide water and sewer, the municipalities that do provide water and sewer have their own rules about how they provide it, and Orange County will have to abide by those rules. It is a concern in looking at the rates, but it needs to be discussed. Chair Jacobs made reference to the mixed use and asked if someone could come in with a very large retail space with residential upstairs for the dark purple portion. Perdita Holtz said that the recommendation is that no new residential would be permitted in that area and that retail /trade would require a Planned Development. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that in the light purple area, the mixed use area would allow retail /office /service and residential. Chair Jacobs said that there are very few areas within Orange County's planning jurisdiction where there can be high - density residential. Chair Jacobs made reference to page 53 and the improvements to 1 -85. He said that there are recommendations every year in the TIP about how Orange County wants this improvement to take place in regard to an underpass on New Hope Creek. He thinks that those improvements that are requested every year should be incorporated in this document. Also, on page 56, under item E -1 and the second bullet, he suggested taking out the word "small." He made reference to Appendix A and the uses and asked where he would find an asphalt plant. Perdita Holtz said that this table was not complete and this exact table would not be adopted. Commissioner Foushee said that for those persons involved in the permitted use table, most of the efforts were geared to ensuring that what was permitted now would not become non - conforming if the City of Durham were to annex the area. Also, the focus was economic development and not necessarily residential development.