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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 01-31-2000Approved 4/17/2000 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS AND HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS January 31, 2000 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in joint session with the Hillsborough Town Commissioners on Monday, January 31, 2000 at 7:30 p. m. in the Government Services Center, Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr. and Commissioners Margaret W. Brawn, Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Commissioner Alice Gordon HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Mayor Horace Johnson and Town Commissioners Kenneth Chavious, Francis L. Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, Brian Lowen, and Mark Sheridan COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Visser, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (all other staff members will be identified appropriately below} TOWN STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Peterson and Planning Director Margaret Hauth NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. Mayor Horace Johnson introduced his Board members. Chair Carey introduced the County Commissioners and announced that Commissioner Gordon could not be here because of the weather. The items on the agenda were reordered. OPENING COMMENTS Commissioner Brawn said that she looks forward to working with the Hillsborough Town Commissioners. She distributed a notice about an upcoming meeting with Senator Edwards and a press release on the Shearon Harris issue. She said that all municipalities and counties in the surrounding area would be getting a letter requesting consideration of financial support for the Shearon Harris suit. COUNTYITOWN ISSUES OF MUTUAL CONCERN a. I-40/Old NC 86 Economic Development District Cooperative Efforts County Manager John Link said that the background material provides a brief summary of the plans for this Economic Development District. Planning Director Craig Benedict showed the EDD on a map. The interest of the Economic Development Districts was to create a node of increased nonresidential development with increased traffic activity. Along with the map was an EDD design manual. The County also has two other EDDs - ane at Buckhorn Road and I-85 and the other at the US 7011-85 corridor in the Durham area. The activity has been very slow in the various EDDs in the County. Mayor Johnson made reference to the Meadowlands development and asked how much the County participated in that effort and John Link said he thought it was around $65,000. Commissioner Brown said that she has always been interested in the entranceway from I-40 to Old NC 86 and she would like to work with the appropriate group to improve this entranceway. Commissioner Jacobs said that one of the successes was through the Town and the County working together on Corbin Downs. He hopes that what came out of that process was the identification of issues that need to be addressed. The concerns about the entranceways were part of these issues that were identified. He hopes a small group can be put together to determine how this area should look. He said that there has even been talk about using the transfer of development rights in this area. He explained how this would work to protect other areas of the counties. This would put high density where it is wanted and protect same of the natural areas and open space. Evelyn Lloyd said that she would serve on a committee if such a committee were established. Mayor Johnson suggested that the board be named as soon as possible. Commissioners Jacobs and Halkiotis volunteered to serve on this committee as well as Town Commissioners Mark Sheridan and Ken Chavious. The two Planning Directors would participate as well as the EDC Director as exofficio. Margaret Hauth will convene this committee. Margaret Hauth said that NCDOT has a request to do a feasibility study on the entranceway to Hillsborough. b. I-851 New NC 86 Plans Update Margaret Hauth said that shortly after the implementation of the two EDDs, the Boards met and agreed to add this as the third EDD. A committee was formed, but because of conflicts in meeting dates, it was not continued. She said that, at this time, the property is zoned "general industry." Chair Carey said that this could be referred to the same committee that was established above. It was the consensus to refer this issue to the group established above. c. Adeauate Public Facilities Ordinance Craig Benedict said that the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance would make sure there is enough money in the capital improvement program to build schools. There are various plans within the ordinance. Part of the ordinance would provide a level of service. He has met with bath school systems and will be meeting with the towns to discuss and answer questions about the ordinance. Craig showed a graph on how the ordinance would provide a mechanism to plan ahead for schools. Chair Carey asked if there is a timeframe for bringing this ordinance to all the jurisdictions and was told by Craig Benedict that there is a meeting scheduled in May where this would be presented at an Assembly of Governments meeting. Mayor Johnson asked if this ordinance has been tested in court. He emphasized that the Town has to look at its cash flow. He made reference to the problem of water in planning for the schools and future development. Craig Benedict said that Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances are used around the United States. He said that if there is not enough water capacity, development should be stopped. He said that the interesting part about the ordinance is that it would not affect the nonresidential, industrial office park that the Town is trying to attract to create a good employment base. d. Water and Sewer Boundary Agreement Issues Chair Carey said that he received a letter from the Town Manager related to a request for a waterlsewer service baundary line. He said that the Water and Sewer Boundary Committee did reach consensus an some of the items in the agreement. One item the committee agreed on was the boundary lines. The committee also discussed land use issues on which the group did not reach consensus. The adverse emergency part of the agreement was good and met with a great deal of consensus. The end result was a document that has some parts that were agreed upon by a consensus and some parts that were agreed upon by a majority vote. The Town of Carrboro does not want to support the document at this time. The Town of Chapel Hill agreed to support the document in concept. The Board of County Commissioners reviewed the document and referred it to two of the advisory boards for comment before final action is taken. The Town of Hillsborough does not want any part of this agreement. Chair Carey recently met with the mayors and asked that this document be brought back to salvage those parts to improve the way public health issues are addressed. He made reference to the letter from the Town of Hillsborough and their comments about this agreement. Eric Peterson said that it is hoped that this letter would generate some level of discussion. Mayor Johnson explained the Town's reason for not agreeing with the line as indicated in the agreement. The map attached to the letter included the New Hope area because there was a problem in this area with bad water. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the County looked at the Camp New Hope property with the intention of purchasing this property. The owners of the property told the Commissioners that this facility was not being fully utilized. He feels that if there is a situation where water is needed and it is in the County's jurisdiction, there needs to be joint discussions before running water to Camp New Hope. Commissioner Jacobs said that one of the underlining purposes for having the water and sewer agreement was to designate where lines could be extended. One of the reasons is to be sure that once the lines are extended that the extension supports the County's Land Use Plan. He feels that if this is an adverse public heath condition, it is covered in the boundary agreement. He said that the Board is going to look at the water and sewer baundary agreement. He urged Hillsborough to revisit the document because there are parts that are beneficial to the Town of Hillsborough. He made reference to attachment D-3 and strongly urged Hillsborough to not put the blue area in the way they have it. One part is zoned one unit per two acres because it is a protected watershed. This area also includes a historic site. Evelyn Lloyd said that the main concern of the Town Commissioners was to be able to provide water to the Grady Brawn School which is adjacent to the area the Town presently serves. Chair Carey said that one thing the committee had consensus on very early was the location of the lines. He agrees with the concern of the document constraining the Town's ability to get water and share water. He plans to take another look at that part. He asked if the Town Commissioners would agree to take another look at it. Evelyn Lloyd said that she is more concerned about the school having additional water lines than serving the New Hope area. Mayor Johnson gave an historic perspective of providing water to schools in the area. Geoffrey Gledhill said that the genesis of the water and sewer boundary agreement was that the elected officials on the committee decided how their towns would look and that these would be distinguished from the County portion of Orange County where public water and sewer would not go until it would address an adverse public condition. The agreement allows the governments to be effective in their land use planning in specific areas. He said that the area Hillsborough has described is the area that Hillsborough wants to provide services in the future. Mark Sheridan asked about the next step for this agreement. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners have asked him and Commissioner Gordon to work on a revised draft of the document and he invited Mark Sheridan to help work on this revised draft to go back to all the towns. Commissioner Brown said that she has an interest in working on the adverse public health condition part of this agreement. Mayor Johnson said that Hillsborough's main disagreement is the constraint the agreement has on the Town buying water from Durham. Evelyn Lloyd said that her main concern is providing water to the schools. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the present 8" line is not large enough to provide water to the elementary and proposed high school in that area. Geoffrey Gledhill said that one of the advantages of this agreement is that it protects the land use plan. Eric Peterson said that the staff has done an analysis on how much Hillsborough is going to expand and haw much water there is. He said that this analysis would give them a reasonable idea of when the reservoir needs to be expanded. It was decided that Evelyn Lloyd and Mark Sheridan would serve on this committee from the Town and that Chair Carey and Commissioner Gordon would serve from the County. e. Joint Recreation Possibilities John Link summarized the joint efforts presently being pursued by the Town and the County, including the study of the Fairview Park area that has previously been used as a landfill. Paul Thames said that Phase I will include looking back at past records to see what has happened on the Fairview Park property. Aerial photographs will be used to see if an historical perspective of what was put in this landfill can be determined. Phase II will include the staff meeting with citizens from the community to get input from the residents. The tests will begin by drilling holes (50), some of which will be on the Fairview Park property and some on the Town's property. Some of the material from the geotechnical testing will be sent to labs for specific testing. This testing should be completed by March 1St. The written report should be available after the first of April. Brian Lowen clarified that there would be a meeting with the residents of the community. Paul Thames said that a notice of the meeting would be placed on everyone's door. John Link said that before any written material is sent out to the citizens, it would be shared with the County and Town Commissioners. Eric Peterson said that he is waiting on this report because the Town's present motor pool has been flooded several times and the Town is looking far a place to relocate the motor pool. Commissioner Jacobs said that baseball season would begin in April. He feels that the County Commissioners should have some kind of plan in place to provide a place for this community to continue this activity. He emphasized that there needs to be a backup plan. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners have asked the County staff to come up with an alternative facility to provide for this community. Evelyn Lloyd said that she attended many baseball games on this site and there was a lot of parent interest in this activity. The Town wants to support the effort that has been put forth by Mr. Stewart who built this baseball field. Commissioner Brown asked about the Hillsborough recreation department and the long- range plan for recreation. She asked if it was the expectation that the County provide recreation services for Hillsborough citizens. Mayor Johnson said that the Tawn does not own any property that would be large enough for a baseball field. Commissioner Brown said that the Parks Task Force has finished their work and given a presentation to the other towns and would like to give this report to the Town of Hillsborough. Margaret Hauth said that Hillsborough does not have a recreation department but they have a plan that was adopted in 1992. Commissioner Halkiotis said that the Central Elementary School and the Hillsborough Elementary School facilities might be available. He would like for the County staff to bring back a plan within the next two weeks and get something going as an interim ball field in a safe area. Paul Thames referred to the map in the agenda and said that the light area was the old landfill. The darker areas are tree areas. He said that some of the area is steep. There is another area that may be suitable for a ball field. Chair Carey asked that the two Managers work together and bring back a recommendation for a ball field by February 14t". He asked that Mr. Stewart also be included in these discussions. John Link said that land could be cleared and a ball field could be built, but it is still a public facility to be used by the public. It would not be only a community ball field. The reason this is being discussed with the superintendent is that there are ball fields that are used by a number of groups. Ken Chavious asked about the signage on the property, and if the County had planned to build a park in the Fairview area. John Link said that he could say that there is not any County plan to build a recreational facility in the Fairview area. Mayor Johnson said that in the late'70's, there was a federal grant to build a park in the Fairview area, and somewhere along the way in rehabilitating the community, the funds ran out and there was no park built. f. County Human Services in New Building in the Fairview Community Eric Peterson said that discussion would continue in the next few months on what human service activities could be located in this facility. He said that an architect has been hired and there have been meetings with many of the County departments that may be using this facility. After this input, he will meet with John Link and receive his input. He is still hoping to make this very affordable for all partners in this project. The building will be 2500 square feet. Commissioner Brown asked who would have a permanent presence in this facility. Eric Peterson said that community policing would use the facility for about two hours a day. All activities will be coordinated between the City and the County functions. Community Policing will be permanently located in this facility. There will be a policy for the community using the facility that will be developed by a committee of County and City officials. Frances Dancy said that there is room for expanding. Also, meetings can be held in this facility. g Eno River Park Update This item was not discussed. h. Justice Facility/Downtown Hillsborough Parking Update This item was not discussed. i. Coordination of County Comprehensive Plan with Hillsborough 2010 Plans This item was not discussed. L Watershed Protection in the Upper Eno This item was not discussed. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 due to the weather. The next meeting on the meeting calendar will be held on February 1, 2000 at 7:30 p. m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk