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MINUTES
ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
SPECIAL MEETING
APRIL 19, 1993
The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in special Session on .
April 19, 1993 at 7 :30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Government
services Center, Hillsborough, North Carolina. The meeting was held to
discuss with the Economic Development Commission and the Orange County
Planning Board the Economic Development Districts as presented at. the
Quarterly Public Hearing on February 22, 1993 and to hear a report from
the Water Resources Committee.
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr. , and
Commissioners Stephen Halkiotis; Alice M. Gordon, Verla C. Insko and Don
Willhoit.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSXON MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Lindsay
Efland and members Patrick Davis, Guido Demaere, Jim Gibson, Karen
Raleigh, Tom Roberts, Edward Siebert, Richard Williams and Steve Yuhasz.
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PLAING BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Carol Cantrell and members
Virginia Boland, Betty Eidenier, Clinton Burklin, James Gray, Jean
Hamilton, Paul Hoecke, and Joan Jobsis.
COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill
COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr. , Economic
Development Director Ted Abernathy, Clerk to the Board Beverly A.
Blythe, Planner Emily Cameron, Planning Director Marvin Collins, County
Engineer Paul Thames and Planner Mary Willis.
1. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Chair Carey welcomed everyone to the meeting. Introductions were
made.
2. CHANGES ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA -- NONE
3. DISCUSSION - .ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICTS
A. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Economic Development Director Ted Abernathy gave an historic
perspective beginning is 1975. A conference was held in 1982 by the
Department, of City and Regional Planning which made the following
recommendations:
(1) ' Broaden the tax "base in order to increase the proportion
of non-residential county revenue from 25% to 30%.
(2) Establish development and expansion policies for
industrial and commercial districts.
(3) Consider enactment of strong industrial performance
standards, and
(4) protect the county's environment by establishing optimal
erformance standards for new development.
In 1989, the Orange County strategic plan was prepared by a 30
member citizen executive committee and close to 100 members of five
j subcommittees. The first challenge of the plan called for "identifying
appropriate areas for industry, commerce, and institutions in the
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County" . In December, 1990, the Board of Commissioners adopted a goal
to complete preparation of an "Economic Development District" . The goal
called for (1) identifying specific locations, (2) developing .
performance standards, and (3) identifying approval procedures. In
October, 1990, a joint resolution by the Economic Development Commission
and the Orange County Planning Board was adopted and for -2-1/2 years a '
joint citizen committee has been working on the details. In February,
1993, Township Advisory Committee meetings were held and the initial
recommendations were brought to public hearing.
B. REVIEW OF PROPOSALS
Planning Director Marvin Collins briefly reviewed the four
proposals that were presented at the February 22, 1993 quarterly public
hearing and recommended a strategy for carrying these proposals forward.
C. REVIEW OF CITIZEN CONCERNS
Mr. Collins reviewed the citizen comments made at the public
hearing in February. These are detailed in the agenda abstract in the
permanent agenda file in the Clerk's office.
D. ALTERNATE PROPOSALS
Mr. Collins recommended. four alternate proposals which are
listed below:
(1) Revise Permitted Use Table from 80 to 43 permitted uses
and from 22 to 9 Special Uses.
(2) Implement higher performance standards.
(3) Increase the use of vegetative buffers and/or
transitional uses/zoning, and
(4) Eliminate the Morrow Mill/White Cross proposal and the US
70/1-85 district along Old NC 10.
Mr. Collins recommended eliminating the two Bingham Township
districts and expanding the nodes already there. He will recommend that
this be considered at the August public hearing. Commissioner Willhoit
asked that consideration of the remaining nodes be completed before
doing--anything about- enlarging the Bingham nodes. The nodes- in -B-?rgham
could be converted -to Economic Development Districts without -expanding
them.
E. RESOLUTION STRATEGY
Mr. Collins noted that they will have four district meetings
to educate the. citizens about the •Economic Development Districts. ,
The Board discussed the advantages of Economic Development
Districts. Commissioner Gordon suggested doing a fiscal impact analysis
or a pilot project to determine if the objectives are met. In answer to
a question from Commissioner Insko, John Link indicated he feels the
County will need to invest in the infrastructure that will be required
for these Economic Development Districts.
Lindsay Efland emphasized that the county is going to grow and
if jobs are not available in this county, people will go outside of the
county to work. All County Commissioners agreed that it is important to
provide business people the opportunity to bring good paying jobs to the
area.
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4. DISCUSSION - WATER RESOURCES COMMITTEE REPORT
Reference was made to the "Revised Interim Report of the Water
Resource Committee" dated March 23, 1993 . The report outlined the
process for defining groundwater resources and the first year work plan
and budget.
County Engineer Paul Thames presented overheads which outlined (1)
the significance of the ground-water resource to Orange County, (2)
current understanding of the ground-water resource, (3) recommendations,
(4) first year work plan - committee and staff combined, and (5)
resource allocation estimates for year one work plan.
Discussion ensued and it was decided that an allocation for this
project would be included in the budget for 93-94. John Link will show
how this allocation will impact on other projects. The Board agreed
that this is an important project that affects all citizens in Orange
County.
5. ADJOURNMENT
With no further items to discuss, Chair Carey adjourned the
meeting. The next regular meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 20,
1993 at the OWASA Operations Center, Carrboro, North Carolina.
Moses Carey, Jr. , Chair
Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk
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