Minutes - 20080902 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Metadata

Thumbnails

Annotations

~� 1. Receive the Zoning Officer/Planning Board recommendation as detailed within Attachment One (1). 2. Receive the information contained within the record for this project, 3. Close the PUBLIC HEARING, 4.a. Schedule September 16, 2008 for BOCC review and deliberation, and 4.b. Schedule October 7, 2008 for BOCC action on the rezoning and SUP Chair Jacobs asked if anyone had to be sworn. Geof Gledhill said that if anyone plans on giving testimony, they will need to be sworn. Deputy Clerk David Hunt swore in Anita Badrock and Aaron Nelson. The following was done verbatim, since this is a Class A Special Use Permit. Aaron Nelson: I appreciate the opportunity. My name is Aaron Nelson. I'm coming on behalf of the Chapel Hill-CgrrbonJ Chamber of Commerce. I serve as their President and CEO. On behalf of 920 members and our Board of Directors, I want to rise before you and express our support for the p ject and to let you know that in my judgment, I think you are blessed, fortunate, and projects maybe'be eVen lucky. Many communities in today's eCoUDny, and some even in good economies, have too8cheiO the name of economic deVe|opDeOt. Some of them hav e to xith substantial negative environmental impacts or ones with substantial egative neighbor pod and community impact in the name of additional tax revenue. We need the money, xv� �n�fo[tuD�teb��.G�xVedon'thaVatodnthosethings. VVe have a -[opoe' we've,that is proposed in a location thade'Ve. for more than 20 years, have designated for proposal development. A proposal situated along existing transportation infrastructure; a proposal located in an area where the neighbors have long been aware of its future development; a proposal that gives you both a double positive impact of property tax x revenue Ve nue as well as sales tax revenue; a proposal designed by a team that you hand-picked and convened and asked that they would endeavor to work on this project; a proposal developed by y folks from this community committed to it rather than those that come in from oUtside, do it, and d then go, as most communities have to suffer; and a proposal offered to you by nationally award-winning developers, who's local work we have evidence of, it's commitment to environment, it's commitment to co0mUnity, it's commitment to sustainability as well as good design. We like it because it's one that creates jobs for local citizens in a place along the employment spectrum, which we don't have many jobs in this community, and that's important to us as well. We like that it draws revenue from outside of our County rather than inside our County, which is happening right now where we spend our money in other places and wanted to bring shopping opportunities to local residents. We think that we're very fortunate that we're getting what we've long VmDted, what you all have said out loud that you've hoped for—a major r economic development project in a location that we've said was for that, in a way that is properly balanced and respectful of the interests of our community. Though I want to talk mostly about the positive, there is also, I think some negative implications of denial, other than the lost revenue, the lost opportunities, the lost jobs. That is, that we're all working hard right now to change the reputation of Orange County. For a long time folks have been saying that it's a tough place to do business. We're trying to change that, you guys are trying to change that. You have a new Economic Development Officer, you've hired a new K8anGge[, and the same is happening in Chapel HiU, it's happening in Carrboro. It's a new day where business is welcome, the kind of businesses that we look for and that we want. We're moving people that have been negative towards neutral about doing business in