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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19761109... ~:.. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS NOVEMBER 9, 1976 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in special session on Tuesday, November 9, 1976, at 7:30 p.m., in the Carrboro Town Hall. Members present were Chairman Flora Garrett, Commissioners Norman Gustaveson, Jan Pinney and Richard Whitted. Member absent was Commissioner Norman Walker. Others present were S. M. Gattis, Ccunty Administrator; Neal Evans, Finance Director; and Agatha Johnson, Acting Clerk. Chairman Garrett opened the meeting by informa.ng those present of meetings that were scheduled for the forthcoming weeks. The Legislative Conference is scheduled for December 1 through 3, 1976; A conference is scheduled for November 16 and 17, at North Carolina State University regarding Land Use Planning in Rural Areas, Problems and Alternatives; Public Hearing on the State 208 Plan on Thursday, November 18, 1976. Mrs. Garrett stated that she had re- ceived the final proposal for a Land Classification System. She informed the Board that they had 90 days to respond to the proposal. She stated that she had received a request from Joint Orange- . Chatham Community Action for a meeting with the Commissioners to dis- cuss operating procedures of the Cedar Grove and Northside School Building. The Chairman also instructed the Acting Clerk to send copies of the Orange County Intergovernmental Task Force Report on Planning. The Chairman referred to Ttem 1 on the Agenda: Mr. James Webb, Architect for the Orange-Person-Chatham Mental Health Center project, will review a memorandum he prepared relating to the speca.al use permit that must be obtained from the Town of Chapel Hill prior to starting work on this site. Mr. Webb stated that the items listed in the memorandum were the topic of discussions between the Chapel Hill Planning bepartment and himself. These items are tailored according to request made of developers who might apply for a Special Use Permit from the Tovan of Chapel Hill. He stated that this special use wculd be occuring within a residential area. Mr. Webb reviewed with the Board his memorandum indicating the modifications which were recommended by the Planning Department. Mr. Webb emphasized the first item in the memorandum which stated that the special use permit should include the entire site, rather than only a porticn of it, as was originally requested. He stated that the Town did not feel that the Northside property would ever be a school again and should be consider as a total piece of property and special considera- Lion should not be given on certain parts of it. He stated further that if the Multi-Purpose Center continued, this was an additional reason for the special use permit to include the entire site, since the Multi-Purpose Center was under a non-compliance use and was illegal based on the pre- . sent zoning for that area of Chapel Hill. Mr. Webb continued by reviewing with the Board the characteristics of some of the buildings and their sites. He stated that the Town felt it was important to bring the Multi-Purpose Center up to standards. He spoke of the non-comforming parking area of the Center. He stated that there were not sufficient parking spaces. The site, as a whole, must show a minimum of 83 parking spaces. The site plan proposes 50 new spaces plus the 19 existing paved spaces which would not be sufficient to meet the requirements for the Multi-Purpose Center alone. Thus, there is need for a minimum of 14 additional spaces for the site as a whole. Mr. Webb stated that .the County should consider the impact of eventual development of the total site on the use of the existing street system, which may require provisions for future street connections and the dedication of rights-of-ways. He added that alternatives for solving the traffic problem were being looked at. Further, precise determination of the right-of-ways may require a detailed site analysis involving both Orange County and the Town of Chapel Hill. The Chapel Hill Planning Staff believes this can be accomplished by a mutual agreement to undertake such a study. Mr. Webb stated that pending the results of the site analysis, the applicant should provide a site plan which does not conflict with any of the possible right of ways options or the site development possibilities as determined by the site analysis. This may be most easily accomplished by a phasing of site improvemens. The commitment to all aspects of the phasing would be recommended as a condition to the granting of the special use permit. The phase plan could be as follows: A. Phase One (maximum, three years): 1. The renovation of the OPC Buildings. 2. The grading and temporary stome or gravel, surfacing of parking for at least 83 cars. 3. The completion of the site analysis. •• 4. The dedication of all rights-of-ways and easements. B. Phase Two (five years): 1. Capital improvements to the Multi-Purpose Center build- ings, including needed renovations to meet current regulations. 2. The paving of parking, walks, and drives. 3. The execution of screening and general landscaping. Discussion ensued between the members of the Board and Mr. Webb. Commissioner Pinney inquired of the cost of paving the walks and drives. Mr. Webb stated that the minimum requirements were for gravel driveways with the utilization of the present paved parking lot. He stated that basically, Chapel Hill was asking for a very modest change involving the immediate building plan and the remainder was spaced over a three to ten year period. Commissioner Gustaveson stated that he felt there should be flexi- bility in the use of 'the site and that whatever agency goes into the building should be in the same nature as the Orange-Person-Chatham Mental Health. Commissioner Gustaveson moved that the Board acquire a special use permit that would include the entire site as owned by the County. Comte. missioner Whitted seconded the motion. Discussion ensued. The Board agreed that this w.as the beginning of discussion with Chapel Hill and was not necessarily approving the memo- randum as presented by Mr. Webb. Commissioner Pinney stated that he would like further dialogue with Chapel Hill. The Chairman called for a vote on the motion, and all members of the Board voted aye. The motion was declared passed. The Chairman referred to Item II: Discussion of ways to implement the County's facility plan developed by Mr. Nassif. Mrs. Garrett stated that the Board would like to know how to pro- ceed to get the Facility Plan underway. Commissioner Gustaveson inquired as to the time schedule needed to implement Proprosal A. Mr. Nassif stated that the renovation of the~Grady Brown buildings was the key. He stated that if these buildings were renovated first, everything else would fall in line. He stated that it would take from eight months to one year in construction for the entire building. For design, it would depend on how much time was available to talk with each of the agencies going into the building. He suggested from five to six months for. design and one month for bids, acceptance, and the signing of bids and documents. Mr. Nassif stated further that the County could be ready to go out for bids by April or May of 1977. He added that any of the other buildings could be done simultaneous. Discussion ensued concerning the stress test done on the Grady Brown Auditorium. Mr. Nassif informed the Board that the test results an the strength of the auditorium floor in Grady Brown had not been interpreted yet. He stated that additional supports for the floor from underneath may be necessary, but would not prohibit use of the auditorium. Commissioner Gustaveson stated that to get the facility plan into high gear, the Board needed some parameter as to what would be budgeted next year in terms of County capital outlay. He stated that the County had available, now, approximately one million dollars in this year's budget, and whatever is budgeted in the fiscal year of 1977-1978, would be added to that amount. Mr. Gustaveson used the figure $800,000. for fiscal year 1977-1978• He stated that this would give the County $1,800,000. and all of this amount would probably not be spent. This amount would allow the County to gear up to a full level of implementation, doing the Grady Brown all at one time, and begin to phase in the jail sometime next year. Then the balance could be budgeted into 1978-1979 to finish up the jail. Commissioner Gustaveson suggested that Mr. Nassif, Mr. Gattis and the Finance Director work out a realistic time schedule based on a com- mitment to begin now to implement the time schedule. Discussion ensued concerning renovating the Grady Brown Buildings in its entirety rather than breaking the project into phases. The County Manager stated that he, Mr. Nassif and Mr. Evans would meet and propose to the Board the amount of money needed to implement the renovation of the Grady Brown Building and the Board of Commissioners would then work out the time schedule according to amount of monies they ~ are willing to provide. The County Finance Director stated that with the Grady Brown as the first priority, the County could go to bids today with what monies it had. "Assuming everything would be completed by this time next year, we could do that comfortably." He stated that the County had $510,000.. in the Building Fund, $400,000 which was released by .the School Bond Referendum and approximately $240,000 is in the unappropriated fund balance. xe stated these are clear monies. However, if the County built the jail before the start of fiscal year 1978-1979, there could be a problem due to the cash flow. Mr. Nassif said that he would be meshing what is proposed in Proposal A and the monies there, with the monies that you have available and will have available and what time they will be available. Commissioner Gustaveson requested that a rough time schedule be meshed with the finances. He suggested that Mr. Nassif and Mr. Evans submit several options in terms of next years' appropriations. Mr. Nassif was requested to prepare a contract for the design of the Grady Brown Building and to have ready for review by the November 16th meeting. Commissioner Gustaveson suggested that the Finance Director have information concerning the cash flow worked into the time' schedule. Chairman Garrett stated that she would have to leave. She stated that regarding Item 4: Discussion of the County's Comprehensive Land Use Plan, she had several items which she would like to be considered. She stated that her priorities on the Land Use Plan were: 1. Enlarge the Planning Board and see that they meet at least twice a month. Once for plat review, and once far planning. 2. The Subcommittee should have a meeting at least once a month of Commissioners and the Planning Board. She stated that the Commissioners needed to work on the Zoning Amendments, to review the Subdivision and Zoning Ordinance in regard to the tran- sional areas around the Towns within the County. Consideration of Bingham, Cheeks, and Hillsborough Township to be zoned. She spoke of establishing advisory committees within these townships to receive imput - from the citizens. Chairman Whitted continued with the meeting by referring to Item 3: The Board of Commissioner has been requested to enact a Resolutien en- dossing the loan application filed by the Orange County Medical Founda- Lion with the Farmers' Home Administration. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Gustaveson stated that he would like some assurance from the Medical Foundation Beard that their Board would not prevent or stand in the way of the possibility of other health care delivery of another kind of medical service for Northern Orange County. Commissioner Pinney stated that he felt the Board of Commissioners should endorse the loan application filed by the Medical Foundation. Commissioner Gustaveson suggested that a resolution be forwarded from the Medical Foundation stating that they will not prevent or pre- empt the passibility of other health care delivery or another kind of medical service in the Hillsborough area. Commissioner Pinney moved that the Board endorse the loan application for the Medical Foundation. This motion died for lack of a second. The County Manager was requested tc inform the President of the Medical Foundation of the request for a Resolution as so stilted by Mr. Gustaveson. The Chairman referred to Item 4: Discussion of the County's Compre- hensive Land Use Plan. The Board discussed briefly the items which Mrs. GArrett had. mentioned prior to leaving the meeting. Commissioner Gustaveson asked that discussion and action concerned with enlarging the Planning Board to twelve members be added to the agenda for the November 16th meeting, and that this action be taken within the next couple of weeks. He spoke further of the need for scheduling a work session with the Planning Board and Staff to review the work plan that the Planning Director had formulated. Commissioner Pinney suggested that a date for the work session be scheduled for the Tuesday's night meeting of November 16, 197.6. Commissioner Gustaveson reminded the Board of the need to set a date to meet with the Emergency Medical Service Council. Commissioner Whitted reported on a meeting he and the County Manager had with Mayor Cates concerning the rent of $150. for office space for the Council on Aging. He stated that May Cates said that the must have $150. for rental of the office space, despite the fact that the Council on Aging Program is a multi-jursidictional agency of which Hillsborough is a part. Discussion ensued concerning a location for the Council on Aging Office. Commissioner Gustaveson stated that in order not to jeopardize the use of one of the Town's Building fo.r the Meals on wheels Program, he felt the Board should go along with Mayor Cates' request that the County pay $150. rental for office space for the Council on Aging Program. Commissioner Pinney stated that he was opposed to doing this. The consensus of the Board was that they should proceed with the drafting of a contract for rent of office space fox the Council on Aging Program, since Mayor Cates was anxious to have a reply by the end of the week. The meeting was then adjourned. ~\~~.~ ~ Flora R. Garrett, Chairman Agatha Johnson, Acting Clerk