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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20091123 - Deleted:PR ---- Formatted APPROVED 12/15/2009 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD Dinner Meeting November 23, 2009 5:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners and the Orange County Planning Board met for a dinner meeting on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. at the Link Government Services Center in Hillsborough, NC COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie P. Foushee, and Commissioners Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, Pam Hemminger, Mike Nelson, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Frank Clifton and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker(All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Brian L. Crawford, May Becker, Pete Hallenbeck, Rachel Phelps Hawkins, Tommy McNeill, Earl McKee, Mark Marcoplos, Jeffrey L. Schmitt, Judith Wegner and Larry Wright PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT: Samantha Cabe, Mary Bobbit-Cook I. Introductions and Opening Comments Valerie Foushee, BOCC Chair Brian Crawford, PB Chair Introductions were made. II. Developing and Prioritizing 2030 Comprehensive Plan Implementation Strategies Planning Director Craig Benedict said that the County Commissioners have been focusing on the goals and objectives. With the recent update to the Comprehensive Plan, it provided a laundry list of objectives that are of interest to move the County forward. He said that, in the interest of trying to prioritize these goals, the Planning Board needs to know the Board of County Commissioners' priorities. He said that if there is a joint interest between the Planning Board and other boards and they work together with their associated advisory boards, then maybe there can be a comprehensive list at the end of each year and the Board could pick 10 of these. Brian Crawford said that the Planning Board is interested in narrowing down their focus and what the Board of County Commissioners wants the Planning Board to do this year. He said that the small area plans are a priority for the planning board but may be different for the Board of County Commissioners. He said they want to give feedback about staffing considerations for planning on these issues. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he thinks that the things that should be focused on should include the Unified Development Ordinance, how to implement all of the small area plans that have been adopted, anything and everything that has to do with economic development. There may need to be some new planning constructs created to allow implementation. Commissioner Pelissier agreed with Commissioner Yuhasz and said that the economic development issue may require some coordination with other advisory boards. - Deleted:PR Commissioner Gordon recommended that the Planning Board review the Commissioners' goals and priorities that were recently adopted. She said that there are goals related specifically to planning and economic development. She commended these goals to the Planning Board. She said that some Planning staff has retired and these positions will not be filled for now, so the resources and dollars will have to be stretched. Regarding specific things, Commissioner Gordon said that transportation is related to economic development, the environment, and other things that are important to the Board of County Commissioners. Chair Foushee added that it might be such that there might be an expectation of this Board that the Board of County Commissioners will prioritize the goals but it has not at this point. Jeffrey Schmitt said that the Planning Board has not seen the Board of Commissioners' goals yet and asked if they are different from the Comprehensive Plan. Chair Foushee said that they are aligned with the Comprehensive Plan. Jeffrey Schmitt said that with the difficulty with the funding this year and next, then working on economic development and the Comprehensive Plan will go a long way to let the citizens know what the Board is trying to do to augment the County's revenue stream. Frank Clifton said that Orange County has been in the forefront of developing many planning guidelines to avoid development in this County. He said that now the County needs to develop guidelines that encourage development in Orange County. He said that the permitting process could be changed to lessen the time it may ordinarily take to get through the process of development. Jeffrey Schmitt agreed with Frank Clifton on changing the permitting process. Discussion ensued about changing regulations. Earl McKee said that the Board needs to keep in mind that the Planning Board is an advisory board and they make recommendations and it all falls back onto the Board of County Commissioners. He said they were shown the work schedule for the Planning staff and they do not know any way that staff can do the work that is needed to be done with the resources they have. He said that the Board of County Commissioners needs to prioritize. Mark Marcoplos said that the most interesting meeting he attended was when they looked at a small area plan and the rural communities do not want a lot in the rural areas. He said that everyone wants the regulations to be lax until it comes to their community. Larry Wright supported what Earl McKee said and he remembered a Board of County Commissioners meeting and how Craig Benedict tried to tell the Board that they needed to prioritize, and he remembered Commissioner Gordon trying to make some order out of that. What ultimately happened is that the Board of County Commissioners loaded the Planning staff up with more work. He said that staff cannot work 80 hours a week and do a good job. He said that Commissioner Gordon said today that they need to think about transportation. What brings back the most money are the small businesses. He said that the County needs to think about its small area plans and transportation and make them multi-use. Brian Crawford said that he thinks he hears that they need to figure out how to make the development process easier for small businesses. He said that this is also about job growth. Earl McKee said that the County does not need to focus on any one type of business, but the atmosphere and the regulations should be as reasonable as possible. Commissioner Gordon spoke about the County building on its assets with respect to economic development and said that the Board discussed this at the retreat. The County needs to find a way to attract the businesses that it wants. Commissioner Yuhasz said that while there may be some difficulties that may arise, there are structural issues that the Board of County Commissioners can move forward on and the County Commissioners need to do their part also. He said that in a lot of ways the Planning - Deleted:PR Board is closer to planning issues than the Board of County Commissioners and the Planning Board can bring these issues to the Board of County Commissioners' attention. Frank Clifton said that Craig Benedict has been working on a reorganization plan for the Planning staff that is forthcoming. He said that they want quality people, which are hard to find. The staff then has to be educated on the history and the regulations. Rachel Phelps Hawkins said that there is still the Shaping Orange County's Future document and a lot of these things are still viable. The Board of County Commissioners never adopted this document. Mark Marcoplos asked about the revolving loan money and Commissioner Nelson said that this has been around for many years, and the first monies were dispersed this year. III. Closing Comments IV. Adjourn With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 6:58PM. Valerie Foushee, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board