Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
planning if they were separated. She suggested asking staff to look at the resources needed <br /> for the task forces and look at a possible work group model. <br /> Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Gordon but would suggest that <br /> when the Board meets at the AOG that the entities could talk about convincing the task forces <br /> into one work group and allow the work group to determine the subset, depending on the <br /> issues. <br /> Commissioner Nelson said that the Board has so much going on and it is too much to <br /> do task forces right now. He would like to find a different way to reach the same goal. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that staff was probably responding to what was said at the Assembly <br /> of Governments meeting, where people said that they wanted to separate out transportation. <br /> He said that, because the water group is moving at an expedited pace, he is concerned that <br /> the Durham/Orange/Chapel Hill model will not work because it only meets quarterly and it is a <br /> relatively unstructured process. He thinks that land use planning needs to get up to speed to <br /> be parallel with some of the concerns that were raised very strongly at the AOG meeting <br /> regarding land use and the application of increased water resources. He does not think that <br /> the current group has constituted to do this in any kind of expedited, regimented manner. He <br /> would like to consider bringing Planning Board members from each jurisdiction to the planning <br /> group, which would then break into subcommittees. He wants to look at how to move forward <br /> without over-stressing anybody on the land use issues a little faster than if the group just met <br /> four times a year. <br /> Commissioner Gordon said that it seems that the urgent part is the water, and she does <br /> not have any objection to target a task force to look at the water issues. She suggested trying <br /> to do something about the western intake and issues that are urgent. She would like to figure <br /> out a way to construct the work group to have land use, transportation, and the overall <br /> watershed protection issues in one group. <br /> Chair Jacobs said that it sounds like the Board would like to marry the transportation <br /> and land use plan, but the water plan is moving ahead faster than the others. The Board <br /> would like the staff to come back with some proposed structure for addressing the <br /> planning/transportation in a manner that does not overtax the County's resources or the <br /> County Commissioners, but does not lag far behind the water issue. <br /> The staff will summarize this discussion at the AOG meeting. <br /> b. WC Breeze Family Farm Agricultural Extension & Research Center <br /> Memorandum of Agreement <br /> The Board considered a Memorandum of Agreement between Orange County and N. <br /> C. State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences for program development and <br /> associated activities at the WC Breeze Family Farm Extension and Research Center in Hurdle <br /> Mills, Orange County and if approved, authorizing the Chair to sign. <br /> Cooperative Extension Director Fletcher Barber said that there is a timeline in the <br /> packet regarding the events so far. One event in particular is the PLANT, which is the farm <br /> enterprise incubator, and stands for People Learning Agriculture Now for Tomorrow. This is a <br /> very successful program so far. The Breeze property is 270 acres and was donated by the <br /> WC Breeze Family and is a unique partnership in that this is the first time that a county has <br /> come to N. C. State to ask about utilizing property. There are a number of research farms <br /> owned by N. C. State, but this is the first time that Orange County wanted to get engaged with <br /> the university. He asked the Board to sign the Memorandum of Agreement. He already has <br /> the appropriate signatures from the university. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to <br /> approve a Memorandum of Agreement between Orange County and N. C. State University <br />