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Page 1 of 4 <br />1t1 <br />Tom Altieri <br />From: Janet Schoendorf [Janet@schoe.com] <br />Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2008 2:03 AM <br />To: CompPlanUpdate <br />Subject: Comments on the Comprehensive Plan <br />Janet Schoendorf <br />1925 Fountain Ridge Rd. <br />Chapel Hill, NC <br />27517 <br />May 31, 2008 <br />Dear Members of the Orange County Planning Board, and Board of County Commissioners, <br />I attended the public hearing concerning the Orange County Comprehensive Plan at <br />the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough on Monday, May 19, and have reviewed the <br />Comprehensive Plan on your website to the best of my ability. I think the overall plan <br />with its focus on sustainable growth and economic development in conjunction with the <br />preservation of rural land use, and natural areas is excellent. After some reflection, I <br />would like to make four points about achieving those goals. <br />Point 1-- Emphasize the retrofitting of existing developments and neighborhoods into <br />sustainable, walkable communities by increasing density, installing bike paths, and <br />sidewalks throughout, and changing zoning to mixed-use, so people actually have <br />places to which they would want to walk. Mixed use developments, like Southern <br />Village, and Meadowmont are very popular with the public. Why do we have to tear up <br />virgin land to have this kind of development? We should encourage businesses to flourish <br />in all neighborhoods, not just in these upscale new ones. I would love to see a coffee <br />shop/restaurant/bookstore, banking facilities, a general store, doctors', dental offices, <br />day care, school, park with outdoor swimming pool, library/reading room etc. reside in my <br />neighborhood. If we want to decrease automobile use, we must have places within each <br />neighborhood that people need to walk to .like the places listed above. <br />Research indicates that children learn best in smaller schools. I would love to see <br />small schools spring up in all neighborhoods. Let's bring back the neighborhood school <br />(existing houses, ideally ones that are already for sale, could be converted into schools- <br />probably at very reasonable costs), because it is not only good for children and their <br />families, but among other benefits., it supports several of the County commissioners' <br />planning principles (energy efficiency, sustainability, preservation of community <br />6/6/2008 <br />