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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 19961217 APPROVED FEBRUARY 3, 1997 v 892 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1996 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, December 17, 1996 at 7:30 p.m. at the OWASA Operations Center community meeting room in Carrboro, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair William L. Crowther and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon and Stephen H. Halkiotis. CCLUNTY-AT ORblEy NT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MIN A IN Ift PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN 1BE CLERK'S OFFICE. AJLL RECORDING T P Of IIE MEETING WILL BE KEPT 1=48 fLVE (5) YEARS• I ADDITIONS QR CHANGES TO THE A?pA . Chair Crowther removed item 5a from the agenda for further review. Commissioner Halkiotis asked that the County Commissioners convey to the Governor that it is critically important that there be an Orange County resident on the Board of Transportation. It was decided that the Board would further discuss this appointment with their local legislators. 2. UA QIENCE S a. Matters on the Printed Agenda Chair Crowther asked that citizens please sign up if they want to speak to an item on the printed agenda. b. Matters no on the Printed Agenda-NONE PUBLIC CHARGE Chair Crowther dispensed with the reading of the Public Charge. 3. BOARD COMMENTS - Commissioner Halkiotis distributed Christmas Cards and Commissioner Gordon wished everyone happy holidays. 4 COUNTY MAt4AGER"S R PORI John Link said that the notices for the reevaluations have gone out to all the property owners in Orange County today. A news release has been distributed to the news media for publication. 5 RESOLUTIONS/PROCLAMATIONS A. APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH CAROLINA BOARD QE TRANSPORTATION DELETED It I 893 6. SPECIAL PRESENTAIIONS -NONE PUBLIC HE 4L LOC LAW ENFORCEMENT BLO K GRANT John Link made the presentation. The Local Law Enforcement Block Grants Program is authorized by the Omnibus Fiscal Year 1996 Appropriation Act, Public Law 104134 for the purpose of providing units of local government with funds to underwrite projects to reduce crime and improve public safety. The Orange County Sheriff s Department has been awarded $14,419.00 from the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants funds for Law Enforcement Overtime. An advisory board will be established before any funds will be received. No comments were made. The public hearing was closed. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the acceptance of the Local Law Enforcement Grant. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 8. ITEMS FOB DECISION: CONSENT G0 ENDA A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve those items on the Consent Agenda as stated below: A. LUTES The Board approved the minutes for December 2, 1996 as presented. B. ENGINEERING SERVICES CONSULTANT = EE-LAND ESTATES rdDBG PROGRAM This item was removed and considered separately at the end of the Consent Agenda. C CODIFICAILQN OF ORDINANCES The Board approved and authorized the Chair to sign an agreement with Municipal Code Corporation for the codification of all the County. ordinances contingent upon attorney approval. D LEASE APPROVAL ; PARENTING EDUCATlQN INIT IVE OFFJGE SPACE This item was removed and considered separately at the end of the Consent Agenda. E= VOLLJNIA-RY RICULTU DISTRACT DES GNATION = PLEVI W FAR PROPERTY OF ROB Ps NU This item was removed and considered separately at the end of the Consent Agenda. F. REVOCATION OF PRELIMINARY PLAN = FD HILL EA PHASE IIA. The Board approved revoking the Preliminary Plan for Fox Hill Farm Phase IIA which will restore the property to its preapproval status. C, CO TI OF NATIO EG?IS ER NOMINATION FOR TH5 CEDAR ROY RURAL HISTORIC DISTRICT = REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Board approved a Request for Proposals to be used in evaluating consultants' qualification to complete the nomination of the, Cedar Grove crossroads area to the National Register of Historic Places. H,, HOLM HEIRS BD V S N = PRELIMINARY PLAIy. The Board approved the Preliminary Plan for the Holman Heirs Subdivision in accordance with the Resolution of Approval. The property is located in Chapel Hill Township west of the intersection of Old School Road and Moon Ridge Road south of Jones Ferry Road. 1. CLA C LOFTIN = PRELIMINARY PLAN The Board approved the Preliminary Plan for the Clarence Loftin Subdivision in accordance with the Resolution of Approval. The property is located in Cheeks Township on the west side of Frazier Road two-thirds mile south of West Lebanon Road. 1. LETTER OF CO RATU I N TO THE VOLUNTEERS QND STAFF QF THE NORTH CAR TRANSPORTATION MUSEM ON THE QCCASION 4F T E 100 1 ANNIVERSARY The Board approved sending a letter of congratulations to the volunteers and staff of the N.C. Transportation Museum on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the historic Spencer Shops in Spencer, N.C. K COUNTY C MSS NE ASSOCIATION GOALS This item was removed and considered separately at the end of the Consent Agenda. VOTE ON THE CONSENT AGENDA: UNANIMOUS ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE C CONSEbil AG END B ENGINEERINra SERVICES NS ULIANT = lF -AND ESTATES 0_5_ Q PROGRAM Orange County has. been granted $147,750 in. Community Development Block Grant funds to provide the public water and sewer and street paving for a small nine (9) single family unit subdivision being developed by Habitat for Humanity in the Efland community. To accomplish these improvements, the County must engage the services of a qualified engineering consultant at a cost of $28,960. Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes stated that the $28,960 will be paid from the $147,750 grant. The Board approved and authorized the Chair to sign the Consultant Agreement on behalf of the Board contingent upon Attorney and staff review. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Q. LEASE A P V - PA ENTING ED?., Cl ATI. M INITIATIVE FO FICE DACE It was clarified that the Parenting Education-Initiative is a local initiative. It will be funded from Smart Start monies through the County's Department of Social Services through at least June 30, 1997. The Board approved and authorized the Chair to sign the lease for office space to be used by the Parenting Education Initiative. VOTE: UNANIMOUS E. VOLUNTARY AGRIC RAL DISTRICT DESIGNATIQN ; MAP EW FARM PROPERTY CAF OR BEP-NU T?E3 Commissioner Carey asked that the Nutter family be recognized for the role they have played in preserving farmland. This will be done at an upcoming meeting: The Board approved and authorized the Chair to sign the application as submitted by Robert P. Nutter for certification of Mapleview Farm as qualifying farmland and designation as a Voluntary Agricultural District. VOTE: UNANIMOUS K. COUNTY COMMISSIONER ASSOCIATION GOALS Chair Crowther made reference to the list of goals from the NCACC and asked for suggestions. After a brief discussion, the Board decided not to support two items under "Environmental Protection" as listed below: Critical Habitat Rules - proposed legislation would assure that inconsistent rules adopted by state-level commissions with overlapping jurisdictions do not have the effect of unreasonably precluding 'ise or development in critical habitats of threatened or endangered species. Pe 'ttin and r the enviro t I Polcp Act - proposed legislation would amend the State Environmental Policy Act to accelerate the permitting process conducted through the Division of Water Quality in the Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources, while maintaining environmental safeguards. f. 895 A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Brown to not support items #1 and #3 under "Environmental Protection" , as stated above, and to adopt the remainder of the items as listed by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 9. ITEMS FOR 12ECI5I9N = REGULAR AGENDA g, D OM IC VIOLENCE GRANT AWARD John Link made this presentation. The grant from the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety for Domestic Violence Support Team will provide funds to expand the services that the Orange County Sheriff Department is able to offer victims of domestic violence. This new award will allow funding for a full-time Support Counsel. Megan Pearson, Hudson Fuller and Major Don Truelove gave a brief report on what is happening with domestic violence. The calls have increased by about 20 each month from last year. In 80% of the homes where there is domestic violence, the children are also abused. Last year the Sheriffs Office received a total of 981 calls. This year so far the total is 1,035. They also work with UNC, Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro which add to that number. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis; seconded by Commissioner Carey to approve and accept the grant award from the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety for domestic Violence Support Team. VOTE: UNANIMOUS B. ZONING ORDINANCE TEXT AMENDMENT = TEMPORARY EVENTS Planner Mary Willis made the presentation. She made reference to-the concerns expressed at the last Board of County Commissioners' meeting and reviewed how these concerns have been addressed. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the definition of Temporary Events and the number of days that they would be allowed -- seven (7) days in a thirty (30) day period or not more than fifty (50) days _ per year. She feels that that is a considerable number of days and seems more ongoing than temporary. .A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Brown to reduce the number of days from 50 per year to 30 per year. Commissioner Carey stated his opposition to this because he feels that the proposed amendment already has constraints which would mitigate the impact on neighbors. VOTE: AYES, 2; NOS, 3 (Commissioners Carey, Crowther and Halkiotis) Commissioner Gordon said that her concern with this proposed amendment is about commercial activity taking place in residential areas. It is a significant change to the residential definition and goes beyond the impact of home occupation. She believes it is too much of an infringement on neighbors. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Brown to limit the noise level of the boundaries of the area included in the Special Use Permit between 7:00 a.m and 7:00 p.m. to 50 decibels and to 45 decibels between 7:00 p.m. and 12:00 midnight, with quiet times between midnight and 7:00 a.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS VOTE ON THE PROPOSED AMENDMENT AS AMENDED ABOVE A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to approve the amendments to the Zoning Ordinance for Articles 8.8.14, 4.3, 6.16.17, and Article 22 including revisions as approved above and including the revisions to address concerns raised at the 12/2/96 Board of Commissioners meeting and to change the name from Temporary Events to Special Events. VOTE: AYES, 3; NOS, 2 (Commissioners Brown and Gordon) C.. C UNIVERSITY MANOR P S 1= APPROVAL OF CONS V TION EASEMENT- 896 On December 2, 1996, the Board of County Commissioners considered a conservation easement for the conservation area of University Manor Phase I. There was considerable discussion concerning responsibilities and liabilities associated with the easement. The easement was approved in concept, but was to be returned to the Board of Commissioners, in final form, after revisions were made in response to 3oard comments made at its December 2 meeting. Planner Mary Willis outlined the revisions that were made to the conservation easement. Commissioner Halkiotis restated his concern that someone will get hurt on the property comprising this conservation easement and the County will be held responsible. Geoffrey Gledhill said that the County owns parcels of land which are part of the rural buffer greenway system and that the extent of the ownership is far less with a conservation easement than an actual ownership of the property. He feels that owning the conservation easement will not trigger liability against the County. Commissioner Gordon said that if this is desirable open space then she feels the County should accept the easement. If it is not desirable open space, then they need to tum it down and redo the resolution of approval. Commissioner Carey said that he feels it more of a precedent to go back and change the resolution rather than to accept this with the risk factor involved. A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to approve the conservation easement as presented in the agenda adding an amendment which would eliminate the ability to use the development rights associated with this property anywhere else and an agreement with the developer to clean up the debris in this area. VOTE: AYES, 4; NOS, 1 (Commissioner Halkiotis) D. MZ LEGISLATIVE ISSUES With reference to the agenda abstract and the four items listed thereon, the Board decided to not support item #4 dealing with exemption from payment of impact fees for certain types of housing for the ?Iderly and deleted this item from the list. They decided to support the other three items as listed below: (1) authorization to impose an impact tax, rather than the current impact fee, for educational facilities (2) authorization to levy a real estate transfer tax (3) inclusion of sexual preference as a protected class in the County's human rights ordinance enabling legislation In addition to these issues, the. Board decided to discuss with their legislators (1) accountability of funds distributed by the State for Smart Start, (2) entertainment tax or ticket tax, (3) proof of residency, age and citizenship for the purpose of registering to vote and (4) ABC request to restructure the state excise taxes as it is related to beer, wine and spirituous liquor. A motion was made by Commissioner Brown, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to delete item #4 as presented in the agenda abstract and noted above, and to support the other three items listed above and in the abstract and to discuss the four additional items as listed. VOTE: AYES, 4; NOS, 1 (Commissioner Carey) Chair Crowther said that he will try to schedule a breakfast meeting with their local legislators for the second week in January, probably Tuesday, January 7 at 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. E, SCHOOLS D LAND 1 C John Link noted that Commissioner Gordon presented this item at the December 7 Board of County Commissioners retreat. The proposal would be to establish committees for each school district that would advise the Board of Commissioners concerning growth and land use issues relating to schools. He asked that the Board refer this proposal to staff to study how this council would relate to the other goals. Commissioner Gordon said that her thought in terms of the interrelation effort with other goals and the development of the time line is that the group would be charged with developing a coordinated plan for approving developments in the County that may have impacts on school capacity and school sites and that<.,: the group would come up with a plan that would come back to the County Commissioners for approval. The ' 89'7 plan would have in it what the Council considers should be in the plan. At that time the County Commissioners could determine how it impacts on other goals or GIS applications. John Link said that it may be well at the first meeting for the group to take a look at how their activities might interrelate with other goals. Commissioner Gordon is thinking about something more targeted. Something more specific would be to write out the charge and purpose and send to other jurisdictions to see if they are interested in participating. They could probably start meeting in February or March and then develop a plan and get approval and not meet until they have something to discuss. County staff could probably contact people and send out meeting notices and take notes for these first two meetings until a plan is approved and then set up more permanent staff. Commissioner Carey feels that such a group could have positive effects on long range planning but he is concerned and feels the charge needs to be crafted more specifically. His concerns with the charge is that he is not sure how it relates to the planning board in approving developments. If it overlaps with approving developments it may be a conflict of interest with the Orange County Planning Board. He feels there should be just one committee instead of two. Commissioner Halkiotis supports this idea. Commissioner Gordon said that the problem with having one committee instead of two right at the beginning is that the ordinances in Chapel Hill and Carrboro are quite different from those in Hillsborough and the County. Also, she feels a smaller group would be more effective. They could join in discussions but they need to start out separate. Chair Crowther suggested that they could start out whole and then separate into two groups. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Brown to send a letter to the towns and the two school systems to determine their interest in this effort and to establish the committee if there is sufficient interest. VOTE: AYES, 4; NOS, 1 (Commissioner Carey) F. TO C ED-R FUTURE WORK ESS.INS The Board reviewed the list of topics for future work sessions and meetings. A list of topics with corresponding dates will be distributed in early January. G. REVISION IN MEETING -$CHEDULE FOR CALENDAR YEAR 1997 The Board changed the regular meeting date of May 20 to May 21. All other changes were accepted as presented. All meetings listed on the schedule will begin at 7:30 p.m. The schedule proposes moving the goal setting retreat to January, 1998 but Commissioners Gordon and Carey questioned this change. Three meetings will be televised -- April 16, August 20 and November 19. When the new courthouse addition is completed, the meetings scheduled for the Old Courthouse will be moved to this new facility -- in May or June, 1997. This schedule is on file in the Clerk's Office and will be distributed to those on the Facesheet Distribution List. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the schedule as presented changing the date of May 20 to May 21, 1997, and leaving for further discussion the question of whether the goal setting retreat should be in December or January. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 0 REPORI[S A. ORANGE : ALAMANCE COUNTY LINE The Board received a report on staff discussions between Orange and Alamance counties on resolving the location of the Orange-Alamance County line. G. 898 The next step will be to continue working at the staff level and do a parcel by parcel inventory to be sure the data matches and to determine the. ramifications for property owners of any proposed changes. 11. APPOINT,M NTS - NONE 12, MIN_ UTES - NONE 13. CLOSED Sr;5SION A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to consult with the County Attorney pursuant to NC Gen Statutes, Section 143-318.11(a)(3) in the matters of Marion Henry Wilson and wife, Nancy C. Wilson v. Orange County Board of Adjustment et.al. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Halkiotis to reconvene into regular session of the Board. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 14. ADJOURNM,IENT With no further items to consider, Chair Crowther adjourned the meeting. The next scheduled meeting will be held on January 16, 1997 at 7:30 p.m. in the Government Services Center, Hillsborough, North Carolina. William L. Crowther, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk