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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 02-01-2011 � APPROVED 3/3/2011 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MEETING February 1, 2011 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the DSS Offices, Hillsborough Commons in Hillsborough, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Bernadette Pelissier and Commissioners Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, Pam Hemminger, Earl McKee, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT County Manager Frank Clifton, Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff inembers will be identified appropriately below) 1. Additions or Chanqes to the Aqenda The Chair called attention to the items at the County Commissioners' places. - Revised public hearing notice for item 4-I, Legal Advertisement for Quarterly Public Hearing — February 28, 2011 - Buff-colored item for item 6-b, Orange County's Proposed 2011 Legislative Agenda - Salmon-colored item was a potential addition to the legislative agenda - Handout from Orange County Voice - White/Blue/Red-colored item, which was an announcement about the Orange County Comprehensive Transportation Plan Public Input Meeting. - Three additional items from Commissioner Gordon related to items on the consent agenda PUBLIC CHARGE The Chair dispensed with the reading of the public charge. 2. Public Comments a. Matters not on the Printed Aqenda NONE b. Matters on the Printed Aqenda (These matters were considered when the Board addressed that item on the agenda below.) � 3. Proclamations/ Resolutions/ Special Presentations NONE 4. Consent Aqenda A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve those items on the consent agenda as stated below: a. Minutes The Board approved the minutes from December 6 and 14, 2011 as submitted by the Clerk to the Board. b. Appointments — None c. Motor Vehicle Property Tax Release/Refunds The Board adopted a refund resolution, which is incorporated by reference, related to 30 requests for motor vehicle property tax releases or refunds in accordance with NCGS. d. Advertisement of Tax Liens on Real Property The Board received a report on the unpaid taxes for the current year that are liens on real property as required by North Carolina General Statute 105-369 and approved the order setting the lien sale advertisement date for March 23, 2011. e. Oranqe County Arts Commission Annual Desiqnated County Partner(DCP) Renewal with NC Arts Council The Board authorized the Orange County Arts Commission and staff to apply by the March 1, 2011 deadline for annual Designated County Partner renewal with the NC Arts Council in order to receive state Grassroots Arts Program funds for Orange County. f. Community Development Block Grant Award — Infrastructure Hook-up Proqram This item was removed and placed at the end of the consent agenda for separate consideration. g_ Durham Technical Community Colleqe's Nature's Kitchen Culinary Proqram and Oranqe Countv Senior Centers This item was removed and placed at the end of the consent agenda for separate consideration. h. Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (Schools APFO) —Approval of Corrected Membership and Capacity Numbers for Oranqe County Schools The Board approved the revised November 15, 2010 membership and capacity numbers for elementary and high school levels for Orange County Schools, which will be used in developing 10-year student membership projections and the 2011 SAPFO Technical Advisory Committee Report. i. Leqal Advertisement for Quarterly Public Hearinq — February 28, 2011 This item was removed and placed at the end of the consent agenda for separate consideration. i Requests for Road Additions to the State Maintained Secondary Road Svstem The Board approved forwarding the Petitions for Addition to the State Maintained System to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for subdivision roads in Beechridge Subdivision (Beechridge Court), Cedar Pointe (Cedar Pointe Drive and Sam Miller Drive) and Meadow Ridge Subdivision (Spring House Lane and Woodlot Ridge) to the State Maintained Secondary Road System. k. Boards and Commissions — Commissioner Assiqnments � The Board approved the list of boards and commissions on which members of the Board of County Commissioners agreed upon at the January 25, 2011 BOCC Work Session and reflected in the attached listing. VOTE ON CONSENT AGENDA: UNANIMOUS 5. Items Removed From Consent Aqenda f. Community Development Block Grant Award — Infrastructure Hook-up Proqram The Board considered approving the execution of the Funding Approval Form and Grant Agreement, and approving a Resolution for the FY 2010 Community Development Block Grant Award and authorizing the Chair to sign. Commissioner Gordon wanted to highlight this item and said that this is a grant award for the Roger's Road community, and the County has been planning for a long time to put sewer hookup in this community. She wanted to recognize that this has been done. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve execution of the Funding Approval Form and Grant Agreement and approve the Resolution giving signatory authority to the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. VOTE: UNANIMOUS g_ Durham Technical Community Colleqe's Nature's Kitchen Culinary Proqram and Oranqe County Senior Centers The Board considered approving a facility use agreement for Durham Technical Community College's Nature's Kitchen Culinary Program usage of the Orange County Senior Centers' kitchen facilities and authorizing the Manager to sign. Commissioner Gordon recognized Carlo Robustelli from DTCC Orange County Campus. She verified that the County Commissioners had received her comments and changes and that they were in agreement. Frank Clifton asked Carlo Robustelli to explain what this program is. Carlo Robustelli thanked the County Commissioners and the Department on Aging for this opportunity. He said that the vision in Orange County is to provide new programs while maintaining existing programs and services for the community college in Orange County. This is an extension of that effort. This program has been provided in Durham County for a long time and there was never a kitchen to be able to provide it in Orange County and this will make it possible. He explained the program, which teaches the very basic foundations of culinary cooking. This enables students to be able to work as chefs and caterers. There is a focus on sustainable preparation of food. Janice Tyler, Acting Director of the Department on Aging, said that she hopes that this will be a partnership and this will result in cooking food on-site for the daily nutrition program. Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Jacobs commended both parties on such an innovative program. Commissioner Hemminger said that she hopes that the public schools that are sending their students to Alamance Community College were contacted to possibly send them to DTCC in Orange County. Chair Pelissier echoed the comments. Commissioner Jacobs congratulated the County Commissioners for having the foresight to put commercial kitchens in both of the senior centers. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to approve and authorize the Manager to sign the facility use agreement, with the changes as submitted by Commissioner Gordon. � VOTE: UNANIMOUS i. Leqal Advertisement for Quarterly Public Hearinq — February 28, 2011 The Board considered the legal advertisement for items to be presented at the joint Board of County Commissioners/Planning Board Quarterly Public Hearing scheduled for February 28, 2011. Commissioner Gordon suggested changes in the legal advertisement. She entered her questions and comments into the record because she wanted everyone to see the questions and the staff answers. Regarding the Unified Development Ordinance, she saw in the notice that there are no paper copies in the libraries. She said that it has been the tradition to put copies in the libraries. She said that she is grateful to staff for revising the QPH advertisement as she suggested. She said that there is not enough funding to make hard copies for the libraries. She suggested having one copy in each library, since they are $200 per UDO. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to have, at a minimum, one copy of the UDO in each of the libraries and budget the money, and modify the draft notice to reflect this. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Gordon called attention to her questions and comments and staff answers, as shown below: Commissioner Gordon, Please see attached a revised legal ad addressing your comments and also providing further clarification on the MTP Map. Planning Department staff will bring 20 color copies of the revised legal ad to tonight's meeting on white paper. Regarding having paper copies of the UDO in libraries, this was not envisioned due to budget constraints. The approved Budget allocated $2,600 for printing, copying, and legal advertisement for the UDO. The Planning Department had requested $10,000 for these activities. The amount allocated has not been sufficient to cover the printing that has been done to date ($200 per UDO copy). This lack of funding has been noted in the "Financial Impact" section of most abstracts dealing with the UDO. I hope the attachment and this information is helpful. Greg REVISED QPH LEGAL AD ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD � A joint public hearing will be held at the Department of Social Services, Hillsborough Commons, 113 Mayo St., Hillsborough, North Carolina, on Monday, February 28, 2011, at 7:00 PM for the purpose of giving all interested citizens an opportunity to speak for or against the following items: A. PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS 1. Unified Development Ordinance (UDO)—Continuation of November 22, 2010 public hearing: The November 22, 2010 public hearing was continued to February 28, 2011 to give the public more time to review the proposed document. The public hearing draft of the UDO is available on the Planning Department's website at: http://www.co.oranc�e.nc.us/plannin�/UDO.as�. A paper copy is available for public review in the Planning Department office located at 131 W. Margaret Lane, Suite 201 in Hillsborough, NC during regular business hours (Monday— Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). A paper copy is also available for review during the regular hours of each of the following libraries: Orange County Main Library in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill Library in Chapel Hill, and the Carrboro Cybrary in Carrboro. Purpose: To receive additional citizen comment on the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). 2. Master Telecommunications Plan Map: In accordance with the provisions of Section 6.18 Telecommunication Towers and Equipment and Section 6.18.5 Master Telecommunication Plan of the Orange County Zoning Ordinance, the County proposes the adoption of the Master Telecommunications Plan (MTP) Map. The purpose of the MTP is to identify potential properties where telecommunication providers are encouraged to develop, redevelop, modify, or expand telecommunication facilities. The plan is further intended to illustrate an efficient distribution of telecommunication facilities that will benefit the public at large. The MTP Map, once adopted, may be modified on an annual basis at the February Quarterly Public Hearing. Properties identified on the MTP Map may include: • Public sites (i.e. County or government owned property), • Quasi-publicly owned property (i.e. volunteer fire departments, public utilities, etc), and • Private property where current owners have expressed a formal interest to the County in locating telecommunication towers. The draft MTP Map is available on the Planning Department's web site at http://www.co.oranqe.nc.us/planning/index.as�. There are currently ten proposed properties located on the MTP Map. Current owners may make a request to have their properties added to the map by submitting a formal application to the Planning Department. All applications require a pre-application meeting. Submittal of requisite technical design plans is necessary before an application is found to be complete. The proposed MTP Map identifies potential location(s) for telecommunications facilities including locations that serve, or may be required to serve, the public safety and information technology telecommunications network. � Approval of the MTP Map only pre-identifies potential telecommunication sites. It does not formally approve a specific application for the shown properties allowing for the development of telecommunication towers nor does it exempt providers from obtaining all required permit approvals consistent with the Orange County Zoning Ordinance. The Zoning Ordinance may or may not require the issuance of a special use permit. Towers 150 feet in height or less on County property, irrespective of being included on the MTP Map, are approved administratively rather than requiring a Class B Special Use Permit, as per section 6.18.1. Private sites, to be eligible for administrative approval, must be less than 150 feet in height and either lease the tower to the public for public safety purposes or allow the public to collocate antennas on the tower at no charge. No formal applications proposing the development of telecommunication facilities have been received or will be approved through this scheduled public hearing. Purpose: To review the item and receive citizen comment on the Master Telecommunications Plan Map. 3. Zoning Ordinance or Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Text Amendment: In accordance with Article Twenty (20) of the Orange County Zoning Ordinance (Section 2.8 of the proposed UDO), Mr. Ben Lloyd has submitted a zoning text amendment petition to amend Section 4.3 Table of Permitted Uses of the Zoning Ordinance (Section 5.2 of the UDO) modifying the Motor Vehicle Sales & Rental (New and Used) use category to allow the sale and rental of motor vehicles in the Neighborhood Commercial Two (NC-2) zoning district as a permitted use. Within his application, Mr. Lloyd is proposing to cap the allowable number of automobiles displayed/stored on NC-2 zoned property to twelve (12). If approved, the proposed text amendment will be incorporated into either Section 4.3 Table of Permitted Uses of the Zoning Ordinance or Section 5.2 Table of Permitted Uses of the UDO (whichever document is in effect at the time of approval). Purpose: To review the item and receive citizen comment on the proposed text amendment. Accommodations for individuals with physical disabilities can be provided if the request is made to the Director of Planning at least 48 hours prior to the Public Hearing by calling the one of the phone numbers below. The full text of the public hearing items may be obtained after February 18, 2011 from the Planning Department (Note: the UDO is available only digitally via the Department's website or a CD containing a PDF file of the document may be obtained from the Department). The agenda abstract and attachments may also be obtained at the County website www.co.oranc�e.nc.us at the Meetinq Aqendas link prior to the meeting. Questions regarding the proposals may be directed to the Orange County Planning Department located on the second floor of the County Office Building at 131 West Margaret Lane, Suite 201, Hillsborough, North Carolina. Office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. You may also call (919) 245-2575 or 245-2585 and you will be directed to a staff inember who will answer your questions. PUBLISH: � News of Oranqe Chapel Hill Herald February 16, 2011 February 16, 2011 February 23, 2011 February 23, 2011 February 1, 2011 - Consent Agenda - Questions and Comments From Commissioner Gordon Item 4-f Community Development Block Grant Award (Rogers Road community) and Item 4-g DTCC Kitchen Culinary Program I would like to pull these two items from the Consent Agenda to highlight them. Item 4-i - Quarterly Public Hearing Notice A-1 Unified Development Ordinance (page 2) Is it true that hard copies of the UDO document are not available in the public libraries? If they are not, they should be made available since it would be a benefit to the public. Then the hearing notice should be modified to state in which libraries the document is to be found. That change should be made in the text for A-1 and also in the next to last paragraph on page 3. A-2 Master Telecommunications Plan Map (page 2) (Note: Shouldn't the abbreviation be MTP Map, not just MTP?) To make the notice more informative and transparent, I suggest the following additional language or something similar (and of course checked by the staff for accuracy). Also a good color MTP Map should be made available. (1) Start with the sentence "Properties identified on the MTP Map may include:" a. Change the third bullet to add the word "Private" so it reads "Private property where current owners have expressed a formal interest to the County in locating telecommunications towers." b. Now add the language given below: "The draft Master Telecommunications Plan (MTP) Map is available on the Planning Department's web site at (give reference)." "There are 14 proposed properties located on this map. Current owners may make a formal request to have their properties added to the map by (give the process and deadline). c. Change the first sentence of the next paragraph to the language below: "The MTP Map identifies potential locations for...." (2) Now go the next to the last paragraph on the page and add the following language at the end: � end: "...may not require a special use permit. However, for towers 150 feet in height or less, being included on the MTP Map means that the towers are approved administratively rather than requiring a Class B Special Use Permit." Commissioner Gordon pointed out that she wanted the public to be aware of how to apply for telecommunication towers. She also thought it was important that people knew that if the site was on the map, if it was a County-owned site, then it could be approved administratively rather than requiring a Class B Special Use Permit. She also pointed out that when this public hearing agenda was approved, there were 14 sites and now there are 10 sites. Planning Director Craig Benedict went over the agenda items for the QPH. He made reference to the question about the map and whether the property owners of sites on the map had any special rights. Any land that the County owns, even if it is not on the MTP map, does not have to go through a special use permit. The map is posted on the website and if property owners call the Planning Department, then they can find out how to get on the Master Telecommunication Plan map in the future. There were 14 sites originally, and there was discussion about the sites and the staff decided to pick three sectors — Little River Township, Cedar Grove Township, and Bingham Township. Commissioner Gordon asked how many of these sites were public. Craig Benedict said that the fire stations —White Cross, Eno, Caldwell, and Cedar Grove — are public sites. OWASA is considered a public site also. The Future Northeast Park, Walnut Grove Solid Waste Center, Cedar Grove Park, and the County soccer fields are County-owned sites. Occoneechee Mountain is also County-owned. There is a private site in the southeast corner of the County that serves an important public safety purpose because there is a void in that area. Commissioner Jacobs thanked the staff for switching the bulls eye from Little River Park to the fire department. This site would serve the County equally as well. He said that the wording is less preemptive than what it was previously, and he appreciates this. He is still not sure it communicates adequately what is going on, but he will wait until the public hearing to address this. He said that he spoke with Craig Benedict today about this regarding the County being subject to the same standards as the private developers. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to ask staff to bring to the public hearing criteria which the County would apply to its own sites regarding things like the balloon test, public notice to adjacent property owners, siting limitations, etc., so that it can be part of a record that people see at the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Frank Clifton said that this is fine. Commissioner Gordon asked if the ordinance says that the public sites have to go through the balloon test and Craig Benedict said no. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon that any of the sites on this list have to go through the same public hearing, balloon test, and other criteria. � There was no second. Craig Benedict said that, with the previous motion, since the County is the property owner, it can self-impose those conditions. If those conditions are to be imposed on quasi-public or private property, then the ordinance has to be changed. Commissioner Gordon said that she will have to bring this up at the public hearing because that is quite a difference. Craig Benedict further clarified that if the private properties put public safety facilities on the towers, then they do not have to go through a special use permit. Commissioner Jacobs said that since the County adopted the ordinance, the County has not seen a tower greater than 150 feet. Chair Pelissier said that Craig Benedict can flag this for something to discuss during Phase 2 of the UDO. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to approve the proposed February 28, 2011 Quarterly Public Hearing legal advertisement including the suggestions made by Commissioner Gordon. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 6. Public Hearinqs a. Oranqe County Consolidated Housinq Plan Update The Board received comments from the public regarding the housing and non-housing needs to be included in the Annual Update of the 2010-2015 Consolidated housing Plan for Housing and Community Development Programs in Orange County and proposed uses of 2011- 2015 HOME funds. Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes said that the purpose of this public hearing is to receive comments regarding housing and non-housing needs to be included in the annual update of the 2010-2015 Consolidated Housing Plan for Housing and Community Development Programs in Orange County. Contained within this plan are four goals that the County is working towards in addressing affordable housing community. There are four goals with the update: 1) Provide decent and affordable housing for lower-income households 2) Provide housing and services for homeless populations 3) Provide housing and services for special needs populations 4) Increase capacity and scope of public services The second part of the public hearing is to receive comment on the proposed use of $733,000 in HOME funds anticipated in the coming year. This is a HUD funded program and allows activities such as property acquisition, new construction, housing rehabilitation, and rental assistance. An application form has been designed for agencies who are interested in accessing these funds. The form is available in all local government offices — County and Towns — and is also available on the website. The deadline for submitting applications for HOME funding is February 2gtn PUBLIC COMMENTS: Susan Levy, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity, handed out DVDs from the 25tn anniversary celebration. Commissioner Foushee spoke on the County Commissioners' behalf. She reviewed a summary of the past year's activities. She said that Habitat hopes to assist the County in meeting Goal #1. Habitat for Humanity has continued to provide affordable housing, � housing, despite the economy, by forming partnerships with employers like UNC, UNC Healthcare, Orange County Schools, and with the faith communities. Volunteers are used to keep the costs as low as possible. There were 4,000 volunteers that gave 20,000 volunteer hours in 2010. In 2010, Habitat built its 200th home in Orange County. She gave some more encouraging statistics of the activities from the year. She said that Habitat serves people that are between 30-60% of the area median income. For the upcoming fiscal year, Habitat will be asking for HOME funding to continue to support home building efforts in the Rogers Road community with 50 green-certified homes. They will be looking to the HOME funding to help with pre- development and land acquisition costs for a property currently under contract in the Efland community to build 26 affordable homes. This will be submitted as an application to Orange County soon. Robert Dowling, Executive Director of Community Home Trust, said that he gave an update a couple of weeks ago on what was accomplished recently. The Community Home Trust has two requests for HOME funds. One is for operating funds of $30,000. The Home Trust is not asking for additional funding from the County this year or from anyone else, but the $30,000 will help to augment the operating budget. The second request is for funds to help subsidize homes. This request is for$185,000. He said that the reason this is so high is because of the new housing requirements. A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner McKee to close the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS b. Oranqe County's 2011 Leqislative Aqenda The Board conducted a public hearing on Orange County's potential legislative items for the 2011 North Carolina General Assembly Session and reviewed and discussed potential items for inclusion. Assistant to the County Manager Greg Wilder pointed out the two additional documents at the County Commissioners' places (peach and buff-colored). He said that Chair Pelissier and Commissioner Jacobs served as the Board of County Commissioners representatives to the Legislative Issues Work Group. They met with staff and developed this potential legislative package. On January 20th, the County Commissioners approved an advertisement for the public hearing of this meeting. He went through the materials in the agenda packet. The Manager recommends approval of the three Legislative Matters Resolutions that deal with hunting deer with dogs, Orange/Alamance County Line, and Commissioners' Disclosure; approval of the Statewide Issues Resolution; approval of the items of interest and areas of support documents; and consideration of identifying some issues of focus in the February 28th meeting of the Legislative Delegation. Frank Clifton asked Deputy Clerk David Hunt to come forward with a potential legislative agenda item. David Hunt said that this has been a topic of discussion in many counties statewide and the NCACC is putting this as part of its legislative package. He read the statement, "to seek legislation to protect the privacy of email notification and distribution lists of citizens who have requested electronic communication in local governments." In Orange County, in the past year, a new list tool has been implemented and there are 15 different groups within the County that are using this to communicate with the public. Members of the public request to be on this list voluntarily. As it stands right now, this list of email addresses is a matter of public record and anyone can ask for it (including commercial entities). This legislation would allow the list of names to be available to the public, but it would not be provided electronically or in a printed list. � PUBLIC COMMENT: Steve Graf spoke in regards to the dog hunting issue. He said that he appreciated the Board of County Commissioners' efforts with moving this item forward. He thanked the Sheriff and his Deputies, who did a lot of extra patrols. It made a big difference. Carol Ann McCormick spoke about the Orange/Alamance County Line issue. She lives on Morrow Mill Road. She said that she and her neighbors continue to be concerned about this issue and they were included in the 91% of the properties that were agreed upon, which means that as of January 2012, they will be transferred to Alamance County. She said that they continue to want to remain part of Orange County. She is disappointed that they have not been able to convince anyone that they should remain. She asked how they would go about continuing to press their desire to remain in Orange County and to continue to pay Orange County taxes. She said that this community would like to be included in any discussions about the Orange/Alamance County Line that take place in the future. Commissioner Gordon said that if this passes, then she would like someone to answer Ms. McCormick's question later. Keith Coleman said that he is the General Manager of the News of Orange. He spoke about the proposed item of electronic public notices. He said that for the last several years, republicans have been advocating for electronic public notices, which will save counties and municipalities money. He said that he does not think this is a good idea because in this area, there are many residents that do not have internet and only get their information via newspapers. He said that he is afraid that paid legal advertisements will go away. He thinks that this is a mistake. Tom Schopler spoke on the Orange/Alamance County Line. He lives on Morrow Mill Road. He said that he would also like to remain in Orange County. He said that this is basically giving Alamance County what it wants. He said that once the County Commissioners agree to the 91%, then there is no longer an item for the Commissioners to act. He said that he wishes that Orange County would push back against Alamance County instead of letting them dictate what happens to Orange County citizens. He said that he is in contact with State legislators to try and get some pressure put on Alamance County from that side. He thinks that a little resistance from Orange County Commissioners will allow time to facilitate that pressure. A motion was made Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to close the public hearing. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the three proposed legislative matters resolutions with exhibits — Hunting Deer with Dogs, Orange-Alamance County Line, and Commissioners' Disclosure. Commissioner Yuhasz said that the hunting deer with dogs was something they promised last year and he is in favor of continuing this. He does have concerns with the Orange- Alamance County Line proposal for the reasons that have been stated when this moved forward the last time. He said that he has a commitment to the people who are within the 9% that is yet to be discussed. He does not feel that they have upheld the commitment to the Morrow Mill � the Morrow Mill Road residents and he thinks that this commitment was made by both Boards of County Commissioners in more than one meeting. He has a problem asking that this go forward in this way. Commissioner Foushee said that there is not a member on this Board that does not have concerns about the residents on Morrow Mill Road. She thinks that on two separate meetings, it appeared that there was agreement from both Boards that they would move forward in keeping the residents in Orange County. She would like for the Manager or the Attorney to speak to the question that was asked by the first citizen so that there is an understanding of what the Board can do if this is passed. Frank Clifton said that during this process there were County elections in both counties and the membership of the Board in Alamance shifted slightly. He said that there was reluctance with Alamance County to move from the line that was surveyed by the State. He said that the 91% solution met the criteria that both Boards agreed to. The other 9% is still under negotiation. He said that if the legislature in general decided to change the line, it has the authority to do so. He said that the areas in question can come back if Alamance County can agree to it. He suggested treating them separately as separate bills. County Attorney John Roberts said that the legislature is the final authority on approving the county line. This would not go to the General Assembly until next year in the short session. Alamance County's concurrence would be needed to do this. In the long session following, Alamance County's concurrence would not be needed to submit a local bill that brings these two communities back into Orange County. Commissioner Jacobs said that he supports these two bills, but he wrote out a resolution to forward to the Alamance County Commissioners. He read the resolution: "In the interest of all and moving forward with a resolution of determination of the Alamance-Orange County Line, the Orange County Board of Commissioners has agreed to support two bills defining 91% of the boundary and separately to further refine the remaining 9% of the boundary. However, we ask that the Alamance County Board of Commissioners also consider the concerns of the Morrow Mill Road area and Mill Creek area residents who wish to change or remain in affected counties." A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to approve sending this proposed resolution to Alamance County. Frank Clifton said that if they follow through on this resolution, he would suggest considering a third bill to address these changes. Commissioner Hemminger suggested a letter, a conversation, or a request for a meeting to discuss this rather than a resolution. This would be more collaborative. Commissioner Gordon said to put on record why they are going with the 91% and the 9%. She asked about the effect of putting a third bill in now. John Roberts said that a third bill would not get submitted in time and there are still two bills that are in draft form. He was going to ask the Board to approve the two bills subject to review by both counties. He doubts that a third bill would make it to the March deadline. He would recommend waiting until next year and going to the General Assembly with Alamance County. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he agreed with John Roberts' recommendation. He said that the point of the resolution was to communicate with the Alamance County Commissioners about the continued concern about these two specific areas. Commissioner Foushee said that her problem is with the resolution. She is all for communicating, but she does not want to send a resolution. � Chair Pelissier said that she also does not want to send a resolution. She would prefer sending a letter. Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not feel that strongly whether it is a letter or a resolution, but the letter should be firm. A substitute motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to send a letter from the Chair in consultation with the Attorney to the Alamance County Commissioners to the purposes outlined in the withdrawn resolution, which was to work together to resolve the issues with the two neighborhoods that would like to be included, excluded, etc. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner McKee made reference to hunting deer with dogs and said that he understands this ban. However, the deer population is growing rapidly and he thinks that this may be a future problem because of crop and property damage from deer. He has spoken to citizens in the rural areas of the County who are concerned with this. Vote on approval of the three legislative items. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Attachment 3 Chair Pelissier made reference to Attachment 3 and the State wide issues. The additional item related to distribution lists is on the salmon-colored sheet. Commissioner Jacobs said that this is not a priority in Orange County government and he always has concerns any time government tries to restrict access to information. There are enough issues with people trying to get information from the government. Commissioner Gordon suggested adding this to the areas of interest (blue sheet). Chair Pelissier clarified that Attachment 3 was not on the list of high priority items. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to put this item on the items of interest and state that there is an issue. VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve Attachment 3, Resolution Regarding Legislative Matters. A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner McKee to consider Item 1 of the resolution separately from the other items so that he can vote against it. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Item 1 Commissioner Yuhasz said that his opposition to this is because it gives the Board of County Commissioners the opportunity to adopt a revenue option, namely a transfer tax that the citizens of Orange County clearly rejected. He does not want to adopt what the citizens have rejected. Commissioner McKee agreed with Commissioner Yuhasz and said that the County Commissioners already have an option of revisiting failed revenue votes if they feel strongly enough to go back to the voters. He has a problem going around the wishes of the voters. Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner McKee and Commissioner Yuhasz because they lobbied for having the ability to obtain revenues like other counties but the residents of Orange County do not want a transfer or an additional sales tax. � A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to change item #1 from Attachment 3 to read, "seek legislation to allow all counties to enact by resolution or, at the option of the Commissioners, by vote of referendum, any or all revenue options other than a real estate transfer tax from among those that have been authorized for any other county." Commissioner Hemminger asked if this would affect raising the motor vehicle tax or other small ways of increasing revenue and it was answered no. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he appreciated the effort to resolve this, but he does not think that it is appropriate for the Orange County Board of Commissioners to have the option to impose any source of revenue that has been approved by any other county in the State. Other counties have different situations. He is concerned that Orange County might decide that it needed to impose one of those revenue options that was available to another county that is inappropriate for Orange County. He cannot support this kind of broad-based authorization for imposing taxes that have not been considered in the context of this particular county. Chair Pelissier said that she fully supports the options. She understands that things have been on the referendum that voters have rejected, and they were on a referendum because the State legislature required the County to put it on a referendum. She said that it is very hard for individuals to vote yes to taxes in general. She said that if the County Commissioners had revenue options, they would not make foolish decisions and would tailor it to the needs of the citizens and try to have a taxation system that is equitable. Property taxes are not equitable to all citizens in Orange County. She would like to see a little more flexibility. Commissioner McKee said that he sees this as a matter of the taxpayers, if they speak and say no to a tax, then he does not see it as a Board prerogative to be able to find an alternative avenue to impose another tax. VOTE: Ayes, 3 (Commissioner Hemminger, Commissioner Foushee and Commissioner Jacobs); Nays, 4 MOTION FAILED A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve Item #1 from Attachment 3, Resolution Regarding Legislative Matters. VOTE: Ayes, 5; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Yuhasz and Commissioner McKee) (Vote on remainder of Attachment 3) VOTE: UNANIMOUS Attachment 4— Proposed Leqislative Matters on Statewide Issues Commissioner Jacobs thanked the staff for the information about help for the permanently disabled. This is related to the Homestead Exemption Relief Program. He suggested providing some background information on this to share with the legislators. Also, regarding electronic advertising, he said that the Board was just talking about it as an additional authorized option and not as a substitute for print. Commissioner Gordon said that this might be a slippery slope to eliminating print advertising. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve the items of interest as stated (salmon-colored sheet) with electronic advertising as a separate vote. � Commissioner Yuhasz said that he has some concerns about the forestry notification. Commissioner Gordon and Commissioner Jacobs agreed to this. The motion included everything except forestry notification and electronic advertising, which will be addressed separately. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Forestry Notification Commissioner Yuhasz said that he has some concerns with requiring people to notify their neighbors about what they have a right to do. Most of the heavily wooded areas in Orange County are under some kind of forestry plan and receive a reduced tax rate as a result of that. Part of the requirement of any forestry plan is that the trees be cut and harvested. This is an agricultural activity with timber being the product. He thinks that the people who live adjacent to these large wooded tracts should anticipate that at some point in the future, the property will be logged. A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner McKee to not include this as an item of interest. Commissioner Hemminger disagreed because when this activity is done there is a lot of noise and trucks and it is a courtesy to notify of this activity. Commissioner Yuhasz said that people should not necessarily be discourteous, but they should not be required to do this. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Hemminger. He thinks that many times these are commercial entities doing the logging and it distresses citizens. Commissioner Foushee agreed that it does require people to be courteous to their neighbors, and then they have a right to do what they have a right to do. VOTE: Ayes, 2 (Commissioner McKee and Commissioner Yuhasz); Nays, 5 MOTION FAILED A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to keep the Forestry Notification on the Items of Interest in Attachment 4. VOTE: Ayes, 5; Nays, 2 (Commissioner McKee and Commissioner Yuhasz) Electronic Advertisinq A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to delete this item from the Items of Interest. Commissioner McKee said that there is nothing to prevent anyone from advertising these notices electronically. He agrees that this might be a step down the path toward eliminating the requirement that the ads must be placed in newspapers. Commissioner Hemminger said that she appreciates that, but the reality is that most of these things will be electronic. Commissioner Jacobs said that if the majority of the Board wants to take this off he thinks they should still affirm that the staff should use both newspaper and electronic notices. VOTE: Ayes, 4; Nays, 3 (Chair Pelissier, Commissioner Foushee, and Commissioner Hemminger) A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Yuhasz to direct staff to use both newspaper and electronic means for notices. VOTE: UNANIMOUS � Chair Pelissier asked for a motion on the Areas of Support, which is part of attachment 4. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to approve the Areas of Support. VOTE: UNANIMOUS NCACC 2011-12 Leqislative Goals Commissioner Foushee said that these are items that are very prevalent in Orange County. A motion was made by Commissioner Foushee, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to make item #2 the first choice (Reinstate ADM and lottery funds for school construction) and item #1 the second choice (Oppose shift of state transportation responsibilities to counties). VOTE: UNANIMOUS A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger support keeping #3 (Ensure adequate mental health funding) and #5(Authorize local revenue options). VOTE: UNANIMOUS 7. Reqular Aqenda a. Impact Fee Reimbursement Request The Board considered an impact fee reimbursement request from Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, NC. Inc. for$72,239 for ten (10) homes recently constructed in the County. Frank Clifton said that the County has, in the past, set aside funding to pay the impact fees on affordable housing units as they qualify. Once this request is approved, the funding will have been depleted. There are some large projects coming forward and the Board will need to decide how to proceed with the impact fees regarding affordable housing. Commissioner Foushee said that given that the available funds from the bond are more like $130,000, then the County Commissioners should take the opportunity to hold those funds and make a decision on how they plan to meet the obligations for the remaining units that will come online in the next couple of years before that money is dedicated for another purpose. Commissioner Gordon would like to find out how many units will need to be funded for this fiscal year. She agreed with Commissioner Foushee about holding the money for that purpose. PUBLIC COMMENT: Robert Reda said that he is a member of the Board of Directors of Habitat of Humanity. He thanked the Board of County Commissioners for their continued support for their work. He said that they recognize the difficult position that the Board of County Commissioners is in with limited resources. He said that Habitat is looking at other options, but having to pay this impact fee would be a deep hole in their budget because the impact fees have risen steadily in the past few years. He said that the Habitat homes are considered costing approximately $78,000 and the impact fees are almost 13% of that figure. He said that in the next 24 months, there will be about 26 homes built by Habitat. � Commissioner Yuhasz asked when Habitat would ask for the reimbursements and Robert Reda said after the closings. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to see an accounting of all of the bond money that the County has spent. He was under the impression that the County had spent all of the bond money. He asked if HOME funds could be used as impact fee reimbursements. Tara Fikes said that they could be used for impact fees if it is done during the construction phase. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to refer this to the Affordable Housing Advisory Board to discuss the options. Tara Fikes said that the County did commit all of the bond money that was available, but all of it has not been expended. The $130,000 has been made available because there was a commitment to the Chrysalis Foundation, who has now gone out of business. Chair Pelissier asked if there would be any other requests this fiscal year and Frank Clifton said that Habitat would be closing on seven homes this fiscal year. Commissioner Gordon said that she remembers that the County has a policy to reimburse impact fees. She thinks that Habitat and the others that come in would have an expectation that the impact fees would be reimbursed. She would advocate for approval of this in full. A motion was made by Commissioner Gordon, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to approve an impact fee reimbursement request from Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, NC. Inc. for$72,239 for ten (10) homes recently constructed in the County, and then figure out whether there should be a change in the policy going forward. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs said that as part of the development of the policy he would hope that the Affordable Housing Advisory Board would be included. Robert Reda said that Habitat has 31 families that have been approved for homes and all of those families already reside in Orange County. There would not be a further impact on the schools. b. Peddlers and Solicitors Ordinance of Oranqe County The Board considered an ordinance to regulate door to door offerings for sale and selling of goods, wares, merchandise, food, periodicals and services and the solicitation of orders or the solicitation of monetary contributions in residential areas of the county, and to promote the public safety and welfare. Willie Best introduced this item. In September, the County Commissioners requested a draft ordinance and staff consulted with the Sheriff and the County Attorney. Only two counties in the state have this sort of ordinance — Pasquotank and Catawba. Each of these counties has had difficulties with the ordinance. John Roberts said that the research on this is not complete and was only prepared as a report item to seek input from the Board. He said that the County Commissioners should not adopt this until there is further study. One concern is the fee structure. He also has concerns with non-profits and thinks that they should be exempt altogether. Frank Clifton said that certain properties could be posted that no soliciting was allowed and this would still work. John Roberts said that the County Commissioners received an email from Orange County Voice and a couple of things are not true, but one suggestion from this group was illegal and that is for towns to extend their ordinance permits to the County. � A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs not to move forward on this item. VOTE: UNANMOUS Chair Pelissier said that there was great success in apprehending some criminals in the County by the cooperation between the Sheriff's Department, Orange County Voice, Orange Grove Fire Department, and other individuals in the community. She thinks that this is the kind of effort that is needed. If there was an ordinance, then individuals could pose as a non-profit. 8. Reports-NONE 9. County Manaqer's Report Frank Clifton said that the Sheriff and his staff have been extremely efficient and cooperative. 10. County Attorney's Report John Roberts said that he conveyed the message about the Water and Sewer Management Planning and Boundary agreement clarification language to the Attorney for OWASA, who said that he very much appreciates Commissioner Gordon's recommended changes in the language. The new language agreed upon by the two attorneys has been submitted to the Town attorneys so that their boards can consider it. 11. Appointments -NONE 12. Board Comments Commissioner Hemminger said that all of the parks and recreation departments in the County will be meeting tomorrow night. The DTCC Orange County Campus will be used. This will be a brainstorming and collaboration meeting. Commissioner McKee said that he attended the Communities in Schools meeting last week and they are facing financial difficulties in the coming years. Commissioner Foushee said that she met with the Governor with a delegation of leaders in the State yesterday. She sent a synopsis of the meeting via email. Commissioner Jacobs distributed a brochure about the agricultural processing center. He said that he and Chair Pelissier represented the Board at the Human Relations Month Kickoff event. Commissioner Gordon distributed handouts and gave a report on Triangle Transit. There was a meeting on January 16th and they talked about a financial model and the Triangle Regional Transit Update. She reviewed these handouts which are attached and made part of these minutes. Chair Pelissier said that they had their first transit meeting on the Orange County Transit Plan with the Towns, UNC, and Triangle Transit. There is a rough outline of a timeline of engaging all of the stakeholders in the Orange County Transit Plan. One of the big issues is who is going to pay for the line between UNC and Leigh Village. There will be a series of ineetings scheduled. Chair Pelissier reported that she attended a meeting of the Mayors, representatives of UNC, representatives of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce to discuss common interests related to economic development. There was a discussion about common priorities. The group was very interested in knowing what directions the County Commissioners might take at the retreat. � Chair Pelissier said that last week was her last meeting on the OPC Mental Health Board. There were discussions about the scenarios for the potential budget cuts coming down from the State. There may be some serious implications for certain programs. 13. Information Items • January 20, 2011 BOCC Meeting Follow-up Actions List 14. Closed Session-NONE 15. Adjournment A motion was made by Commissioner Hemminger, seconded by Commissioner Foushee to adjourn the meeting at 9:55 PM. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Bernadette Pelissier, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board