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Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board <br /> Approved Meeting Summary: September 17', 2025 <br /> ***Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough *** <br /> 6:30 pm <br /> Members Present: Compton, Hooten, Hughes, Miller, Ranells, Rose, Thompson, Totten, Wagger, <br /> Weitzel <br /> Members Absent: Taylor, Woods <br /> Guests: Laura Streitfeld, Preserve Rural Orange <br /> Staff: Jessica Perrin, Soil and Water Conservation Manager, Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources <br /> Coordinator <br /> 1. Call to order: Chair Hughes called the meeting to order at 6:31 pm <br /> 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: New members and existing members shared introductions <br /> 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: None <br /> 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Compton moved to approve the meeting summary for July 30tn <br /> 2025, seconded by Weitzel; motion passed. <br /> S. Items for Decision: <br /> a) Election of Vice Chair: Chair Hughes opened the floor for discussion and possible volunteers <br /> or nominees. After discussion, Mary Beth Miller volunteered to serve as vice chair. Hooten <br /> moved to nominate Miller as vice chair, seconded by Weitzel; motion carried. <br /> 6. Discussion Items: <br /> a) Presentation by Laura Streitfeld on behalf of Preserve Rural Orange: Ms. Streitfeld <br /> introduced herself. Her group was initially mobilized in 2008 when a new airport was <br /> proposed by UNC in rural Bingham Township and has since then focused on farmland <br /> preservation. She urged us to share our current plan drafts with the public to help raise <br /> awareness. A major concern is the ongoing rezoning that permits new subdivisions on large <br /> farm tracts, which seems to undermine our initiatives to preserve farmland. The land use <br /> plan update process is of major importance, even though it is a vision plan and not an <br /> update to the UDO. Concerns include: rural activity nodes definitions; the proposed <br /> conservation clusters; and how this plan might end up being less restrictive on rural <br /> development. An example is the current proposal to rezone a large farm on NC 54 at White <br /> 7 <br />