Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 02-25-1998Agenda Joint Meeting of Orange County Commissioners and OWASA Board of Directors February 25 1998 Chair Margaret Brown welcomed everyone to the meeting. Introductions Alan Reimer, Peter Gordon, Bill Strom, Ed Kerwin, Bob Epting, Geoffrey Gledhill John Link Commissioner Carey dan vanderveer, Commissioner Halkiotis Chair Margaret Brown, joan broun, Commissioner Crowther Items to add tothe agenda: Joint task force for the master parks and recreation masterplan add as HD I. DISCUSSION TOPICS A. Land Use Overview: Brief overview of the County's land use plan and joint planning areas, as well as zoning overlays. Presentation by Gene Bell, Acting Planning Director, Orange County (Attachment 1) Interim Planning Director Gene Bell made reference to the land use element of the Orange County comprehensive plan which he distributed. He highlighted items as indicatedin his presentation. I needto getacopy of that presentation. Gene is now talking into a mic which willhelp. He described the various areas of the Land Use Map. Key features of the plan rural activity nodes are sly, white cross, etc. Our most extensive land classification is rural. He mentioned the conservation areas on the map. He showed the Joint Planning area on the map. Bill Strom asked about Cane Creek Reservoir and the protection area and asked about the zoning - the difference between light green and dark green . Gene Bell said that this area has a 2 acre lot size with an overlay district. (call Gene Bell on this) gb showed on another map the permitted densities and developed areas. B. Public Health: County's proposal, designation of and definition for "adverse public health condition in lieu of the definition of public health energy as acknowledged by BOCC on 12/16/97, and referred to the Water and Sewer Boundary Task Force. 1. Inspection and Maintenance of Septic Tanks and Alternative Waste Disposal systems: Status Report - Ron Holdway, Director, Orange County Environmental Health (Attachment 2) John Link said that they have tried to come up with a definition that would be functional and something that we could use when situations arise. Ron gave background and actual definition we are trying to pursue at this point. we were loking for something that would be definable. the definition has three basic criteria in order to be determined to be defined as adverse public health condition. see what Geof gave me. Commissioner Carey asked about one that would be approved and Ron explained that all sites must have an approvable repair area. Margaret asked geof and Geoffrey Gledhill said that the task force appointed a committee to look at the adverse health ... staffed by a number of people working with this committee. the adverse public health condition is important in all of that. listen to tape the final decision to which of the tools to use to fix the adverse health conditions would become a goernmental decision and where thereis joint planning, it would become a joint governmental decision. Commissioner Gordon said that this defition they are coming up with and a set of remendies and with the Health Dept. having a pivotal role hear these a good way to approach al of this. Peter Gordon said thatthe OWASA Board has not discussed this however when they do have a request for water and sewer they would take this into consideration. His reaction to this is that this clarifies for them what Dan agreed with what Peter said. He congratulates the County on what they are trying to do. Also, it sounds like the elected officials are taking the respon for making the call. or final decision. After a career of 35 in public health, he cautions the County that they are taking on a huge respons but it will be very difficult to make the final call. Commissioner Crowther asked how the role of decision making would come back to the Board of County Commissioners and Geoffrey Gledhill said that in instances where the public health problem is that the remendy would come back to the Board of County Commissioners. BIll Strom made ref to the componant of having an onsite repair is a part of the policy that really alows citizens to come to the appropriate dept and try to resolve the problems they have with septic tanks. Alan Reimber made ref to who decides there is one sentence that concerns him enties having zoning jurisdictions inthe area thatif the difficulty is in the JPA, does the homeowner have to wait six months for a JPA meeting to occur. How would this be accommodated. Geoffrey Gledhill said thatthe entirerural buffer is in the JPA and he does not have an snwer to the question of how long it would take for the governmental entities tomeet. Chair Margaret Brown said that they would be sure that Alan Reimbees concern will be addressed by the process set up by the Water and Sewer Boundary Task Force. Epting said that his concern is that Hillsborough has not attended but a few meetings and it would be awful if they came up with an agreement and Hillsborough did not sign off on it. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested that Margaret content the Mayor of Hillsborough and ask for their participation in an effort to haveeveryone sign the boundary agreement. 1. Inspection and Maintenance of Septic Tanks and Alternative Waste Disposal systems: Status Report -Ron Holdway, Director, Orange County Environmental Health (Attachment 2) Ron Holdway made reference to the informationin the packet. Ed Kerwin said that their primary interest is protectionof their two watersheds. There has been questions about education and maintainence of septic tanks. They just want assurance that proper inspections are taking place. Peter said that their paramount concern is protection of watersheds. In answer to two questions, Ron said that some systems are not included in their inspection program. The systems that are inspected are more complicated and those at risk systems. We have authority for septic systems in the County including municipalities. Alan Reimer said that the reality is that for the systems that fail they are the conventional systems. He says that the problems they are seeing are for thosesystems that were previously constructed before 1994. If the County could have a periodily inspection of all systic systems countywide and work out the cost and come back to the OWASA Board and wewill consider helping in that regard. Bill Strom siad thatthey have talked about having different standards for septic systems in watershed areas and asked if the County has considered that and Ron said they have not look at setting different standards for watershed areas. Commissioner Halkiotis made ref to ten years ago when people were dumping their septic in fields and wooded areas of the county and how we are continuing to education citizens about the care of their septic systems. Geoffrey Gledhill said that Orange County requires that a declaration be filed as part of the title of the property and in those instances where special things happen for example someone wants to build a six bedroom house when the septic tank is approved for 4 bedrooms, they are asked to sign a declaration which must be filed. whenever property is sold or transferred, evidenced must be presented that the septic is working. Moses Carey pointed out that the lot sizes are larger in the watershed areas. Geoffrey Gledhill said that in the watershed, you cannot use offsite systems for new homes. Commissioner Gordon pointed out that from now forward, all wells and septic systems will be identified on the GIS system. 2. Brookfield situation including relationship of OWASA's role in the process of identifying and addressing potential "adverse public health conditions in context of Orange County's Planning and Zoning requirements related to municipal utility services: Written excerpt: Creation of on -site water /waste water treatment failure classification /termination policy_(12 /16/97 BOCC Agenda Abstract) (Attachment 3) Geoffrey Gledhill said that if they can wait until the Water and Sewer Boundary TF finishes their work and Brookfield will be addressed. Alan Reimer said that they don't think they can wait that long. He asked if all the homes are okay for now and Ron said that some of them are failing because of all the rain. It will abate some with dryer weather. He has detailed information on all the homes in that area. What responsibilities do Orange County and OWASA share when types of adverse public health conditions arise? (Discussion Item) Commissioner Gordon pointed out that the problems being experience are those older systems and not the newer systems. 3. Rogers Road provision of water to the neighborhood: Municipal Water Service to Orange County Regional Landfill Vicinity. (1/12/98 Paul Thames) (Attachment 4) Paul Thames described the map that he distributed of the entire landfill area. He pointed out the area where the citizens are negotiating with the LOG for community benefits -- water and sewer. The map shows six neighborhoods. He pointed our the Historic Rogers Road neighborhood. 2.9 m to provide water and sewert this entire area. He broke this out. There are 280 homes in this area. Looking at the entire area there are 600,000 is OWASA fees and $280,000 plumbing fees. C. Zoning Issues: 1. Permitting the use of the American Stone Quarry as a water storage facility for OWASA. Attachments: Summary and Status Report, Proposed Stone Quarry Expansion, February 19, 1998 (Attachment 5) Letter from OWASA Chairman Barry Jacobs to Carrboro Mayor Michael Nelson, June 25, 1996 (Attachment 6) • An Overview of the American Stone Joint Planning Area Land Use Plan Amendment 98 -0225c doc 02/23/98 2:38PM Request (Attachment 7) John Link explained that both towns have items they want on the jpa ph and also OWASA has an item they want on the JPA. Joan said that from OWASA's point of view, this issue has been batted back and forth a considerable amount of time. It is their wish that they feel some sort of urgency for this to be placed on the JPA ph agenda. They would like to have some closureto this matter prior to Oct of 1998. Chair Margaret Brown suggested that the Chapel Hill representative talk with their council to seeiftheir item could be delayed. Mr. Epting said that this has taken so long that Mr. Danzinger hasindicated that the contract should be nuld and void becauseof the time it has taken. 2. Cane Creek -- Zoning policy for the protection of the watershed. Attachments: Summary, Final Recommendations for Protecting the Cane Creek Water Supply Adopted by Orange Water and Sewer Authority, October 23, 1997 (Attachment 8) • Implement Watershed Protection Standards and Classifications to Insure High Quality Water Resources in Orange County (Attachment 9) John Link made ref to a timeine on pages 4 and 5 of attachment 9. The ph will be in August. Pat Davis said that the official proposal went beforethe governing board in 1991. OWASA is getting ready to entertain proposals to do an integrated plan for OWASA. We need to get some resolution. D. OWASA Assessment Policy and Service Availability Fees. Attachments: • Provisional Assessment Policy, January 2, 1998 (Attachment 10) • Service Availability Fees, OWASA Staff Memorandum, February 6, 1998 (Attachment 11) • Housing Factors and Water Use Patterns, OWASA Staff Memorandum, December 5, 1997 (Attachment 12) Provisional Assessment Policy Ed Kerwin made reference to Attachment 10 and said that this document has not been acted on by the OWASA Board of Directors. The documents lays out legal constraints, etc. The OWASA Board will look at their assessment policy and look at the constrainsts withan effort tomake sewering areas more affordable. Bob Epting gave background information on the formation of the OWASA Board of Directors and athe rules they acquired OWASA. He suggested that the County may want to meet with the Towns and the University. They are not able to legally pay a significant portion of runing water and sewer because of this contract. Commissioner Gordon asked about asurvey of areas not being served - primarily interest areas, town limits, bookfield, all within their service areas. none in the rb except Brookfield. Gordon said that regardless of the legal contraints hear the tape he does not feel that policy would not allow subsidy for areas developed not putting in the right systems. Pat Davis said that it is important to recognize that there are different philosophies on the OWASA Board about this issue. Thoseof us who are supportive of OWASA taking on a assistance program for those areas that are unsewed, hear these coomments. Chair Margaret Brown made ref to Mt. Bolis area and that it was subsidized and why. The Board adopted a policy where they attempted to use an average process of the average cost of extending sewer for a number of projects -- some costing less and some more. They tried tominimize cost over a period oftime. The actual subsidy was 35 to 45 %. Purchase and Sale Agreement brown said that they are continually talking about how they can modify the purchase and sale agreement to find a way to assist people who may have financial problems. They hope pretty soon they can relay these decisions that they willmake inthe near future. Dan said that everything they can legally do wihtin the purchase and sale agreement they do. They are working on what they can do. consensus to continue for 15 minutes Availability Fees - ED Kerwin explained what this is and that right now they have a flat fee for all residential connections totheir system. They have done anaylis which is attached 11 andletter dated dec at the end There is achart - attachment 12 - not 11 we see that there is a strong coalition of the size of the house andthe amount of water they use. What the OWASA Board has directed the staff to do is to collection additional data teered approach to their availability fees. They plan to have a final recommendation this spring. Bary Jacobs said that feelthis study will have a good outcome. H. INFORMATIONAL ISSUES A. Status of discussions for OWASA water connection to Chatham County. Attachments: Letter from OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin to Chapel Hill Town Manager Calvin Horton, August 15, 1997 (Attachment 13) • Letter from OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin to Chapel Hill Councilwoman Julie Andresen, January 30, 1998 (Attachment 14) Broun - informational item They are in discussns for emergency connection only. Emergency only interconnect is what this is. Anything beyond the emergency use would need to be shared with all governments. Commissioner Carey feels we are making progress on the water and sewer boundary task force and there is general consensus on what should happen with emergency transfers and documentation. That will deal with most people's concerns. Pat Davis said that it isimportant for the Board of County Commissioners to know that in 1988 the region executed a mutual agreement to provide assistance to each other in times of emergency. Also, it is important to recognize that Chatham County has 6M gallon allocation from Jordan Lake per day. They have other abilities tomeet their needs. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the concerns are magnified when the newspaper reportes that a huge goat course will begoing in and other constructin in that area. Commissioner Gordon said thatthe water and sewer boundary task force has discussed this issue in detal and she feels this can be handled through that tf. Ed Kerwin will provide a definition of emergecy as soon as they develop one and will provide asummary of details and what they recommend. Dan said that it may be helpful if they tell us about their other interconnects historically. B. Status of OWASA Comprehensive Rate Study. Attachments: • Water and Sewer Rate Study, Memorandum from OWASA Chairman Barry Jacobs to Rate Study Stakeholders Steering Committee, September 2, 1997 (Attachment 15) • Executive Summary, Orange Water and Sewer Authority Comprehensive Rate Study, Black & Veatch, January, 1998 (Attachment 16) C. Status of new Comprehensive Master Plan. Attachment: • Comprehensive Water and Sewer Master Plan, OWASA Staff Memorandum, February 20, 1998 (Attachment 17) Joan suggested that the Board of County Commissioners set another date when they can meet again. 98- 0225o.doc 02/23/98 2:38PM