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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 20010313APPROVED 10!212001 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION March 13, 2001 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday, March 13, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Stephen H. Halkiatis and Commissianers Moses Carey, Jr. Alice Gordon, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Margaret Brown COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant Caunty Manager Rod Visser and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) 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. 1. Leaislative Matters - Huntina Resolution Chair Halkiotis said that the purpose of this resolution was to seek authorization from the State legislature to authorize Orange County to regulate the use of alcohol and other impairing substances while hunting with firearms, and to prohibit hunting near government buildings in Orange County, primarily schools. The second piece of the resolution is to empower the Sheriff with the necessary tools to deal with negligence. Once the authorization for an ordinance is given to Orange Caunty, there will be meetings with the Hunting Committee, Chief District Court Judge, and the District Attorney to have an understanding that there will be no tolerance for anyone hunting with a firearm that is impaired by alcohol or drugs. County Attorney Geoffrey Gledhill said that this enabling legislation would allow the County to have an ordinance that will have zero tolerance for drinking and hunting with a rifle. Alco-sensors will be used to test any passible offenders. Commissioner Carey verified that the reason the Board was considering this tonight was that the legislative delegation asked the Board to take formal action. Chair Halkiotis asked Geoffrey Gledhill if this item would be part of a public hearing on the next agenda and Geoffrey Gledhill said that the hunters would have the opportunity to speak tonight and that would suffice. Chair Halkiotis asked for a list of the members of the Hunting Committee that attended the three meetings. At this time Kenny Ray came forward and discussed the resolution. He said that the Hunting Committee has been meeting in the last month and has heard some concerns from citizens about hunters shooting around government buildings and using alcohol while hunting. He said that the Hunting Committee has supported the idea of a County ordinance. He said that the wildlife enforcement officers would have to define "an act of hunting." He added that there were not that many instances of citizens that have a problem with hunting issues. A motion was made by Commissioner Carey, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to approve and authorize the Chair to sign the Hunting Resolution as stated below and send it to the Legislative Delegation. RESOLUTION REGARDING LEGISLATIVE MATTER Be it resolved by the Board of County Commissioners of Orange County that the board hereby requests the Senators and Representatives representing Orange County to introduce and support the following legislative matter: AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE ORANGE COUNTY TO REGULATE THE USE OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER IMPAIRING SUBSTANCES WHILE HUNTING WITH FIREARMS AND TO PROHIBIT HUNTING NEAR GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN ORANGE COUNTY. Exhibit A. EXHIBIT A A BILL TO E ENTITLED AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE ORANGE COUNTY TO REGULATE THE USE OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER IMPAIRING SUBSTANCES WHILE HUNTING WITH FIREARMS AND TO PROHIBIT HUNTING NEAR GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN ORANGE COUNTY The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts Section 1. The Board of Commissioners of Orange county is hereby authorized to regulate, control, restrict, and prohibit hunting with firearms while the hunter is under the influence of alcohol or other impairing substances of every kind, nature, make, and description and to regulate, control, restrict, and prohibit hunting with firearms while the hunter has any alcohol concentration as measured by an alcosensor. Section 2. The Board of Commissioners of Orange County is hereby authorized to regulate, control, restrict, and prohibit hunting within 150 yards of any federal, State, or local government building, including those owned or leased by Boards of Education. Section 3. Any person violating any Orange County ordinance, enacted under authority of Sections 1 and 2 of this Act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined or imprisoned as provided in N.C.G.S. 14-4 ("Violation of local ordinance misdemeanor"). Section 4. This Act applies to the unincorporated areas of Orange County Section 5. This Act is effective when it becomes law. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 2. Capital Needs Advisory Task Force Chair Halkiotis said that there would be a meeting tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. of the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force at Stanback Middle School Media Center. He also said that there should be some direction from the Board of County Commissioners to the task force. Both he and Assistant County Manager Rod Visser felt that the Board of County Commissioners should appoint a chair and a co-chair for the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force tonight. Cammissianer Gordon nominated Judy Margolis and Keith Cook. Commissioner Jacobs nominated Lisa Stuckey and Leo Allison. Chair Halkiotis said that he has a real problem with the appointment of a chair that is an elected official. There are elected officials an the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force and he would have a problem with one of them being appointed aschair or co-chair. He said that he feels that this committee should be citizen-driven, and that the Board of County Commissioners should be in an observer role. He said that all he plans to do is to be an observer this time around. Commissioner Carey shared this concern. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Gordon to appoint Lisa Stuckey as Chair of the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force, and Leo Allison as Co- chair. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Commissioner Jacobs made some corrections to the list of members of the Capital Needs Advisory Task Farce, and these were noted by the staff. Commissioner Gordon told the group that Ms. Mariah McPherson, who is a member of the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force, had a stroke several days ago. A note will be sent to Ms. McPherson from the Board of County Commissioners. 3. Review Remainder of BQCC Goals and Possible Schedule far Future Adoption of Goals a. Joint Master Recreation and Parks Plan Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil and Orange County Recreation and Parks Director Bob Jones sat down at the table with the Commissioners to discuss this subject. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page seven, "Proposed Intergovernmental Parks Work Group develops parameters for standards" and asked if this had been finalized. David Stancil said that this was likely going to be moved to October 2001. Commissioner Gordon made reference to page eight, the last task, "Coordinate a recommendation for payment toward recreation facilities, including the evaluation of impact fees and alternative revenue sources," and said that she would like for this to go to public hearing in May because the County is basically losing money on this. Bob Jones said that the staff was considering using a consultant to expedite this quickly. Commissioner Jacobs supports moving this forward, but he thinks that May is very optimistic. John Link suggested that we pursue, as Orange County, a very solid approach to the fees, carry it to public hearing, and encourage the other jurisdictions to follow the County's lead. He said that trying to get all jurisdictions on board between now and May would be problematic in regards to time. Commissioner Carey asked about the plans for working with OWASA to develop plans for mitigation lands. David Stancil said that this was in the Lands Legacy program in the annual action plan and that there have been discussions. Bob Jones said that OWASA was participating in the Intergovernmental Parks Wark Group. Commissioner Carey said the plans with OWASA should be referenced somewhere in the goals so that it does not get lost. Commissioner Jacobs said that most of the tasks have been completed and the goal should be revised to say, "Implement joint approaches to recreation and parks," {i.e., coordinating impact fees with jurisdictions, working with OWASA, integrating soccer efforts, etc.). Commissioner Gordan said that this revised goal could be addressed in the next cycle. The staff will develop a goal that looks more into the future and bring it forward with the next set of goals. Chair Halkiotis said that it would be helpful to the Board of County Commissioners to have periodic progress reports of these various committees. He would prefer it to be paperless also. John Link would like to work on some kind of electronic triggering process where an update is sent to the Commissioners every two months. b. Historic Preservation David Stancil handed out the draft document, "Heritage Scenic Corridors: A Proposal to Retain Orange County's Rural Character and Scenic Vistas." Commissioner Jacobs said that he went to a Historic Preservation Commission meeting and a concept was brought up about heritage corridors and he asked David Stancil to bring a brief abstract for the Board to look at. David Stancil said that the Historic Preservation Commission has not even talked about this document. He said that this proposal would be something in the middle between a National Register nomination and a zoning overlay approach. He further explained that as the Historic Preservation Commission was struggling with haw to think through the St. Mary's Road study, this document was a way to help that process. Commissioner Jacobs suggested seeing how this coordinates with our bike plan. David Stancil said that there might be an opportunity to pursue donation of or purchase conservation easements for scenic or heritage areas. He reiterated that this is very early in the discussion. The staff will add something in the goals to reflect that the Historic Preservation Commission will pursue developing a heritagelscenic corridors approach. c. Lands Legacy Program David Stancil said that this goal was ongoing and would not change from year to year. He pointed out something new in objective three where some language was added in terms of looking long-term at proportional acquisitions of lands legacy. Commissioner Gordon asked about the Land Conservation Alliance on page one. David Stancil said that this was something that was suggested in the adopted Lands Legacy program in April. The Land Conservation Alliance is a biannual meeting of all the staffs involved in land conservation. Commissioner Gordon said she wants to think about the last task in objective three some mare. She wants to think about what measurement to use in determining how funds would be allocated to the different areas in the County. She said we have to measure it and we have to demonstrate it and it is very susceptible to the type of district that is measured. Commissioner Jacobs said he agrees that there will be some difficulty in measurement, but there should be a basic standard. He thinks it is important to reiterate that eventually the distributions will be evened out over the jurisdictions. Commissioner Gordon would like to think more about how to measure. She suggested that this be deferred until March 29th. She said that this will came up in the bond discussion and the details should be specified. John Link said that the funds would be proportionally distributed according to population. He does not think we can get into a position where we promise so many acres per jurisdiction. He thinks it is a general guideline and not a direct measurement. Commissioner Jacobs wants to incorporate Commissioner Gordan's paint about "active recreation ". d. Natural Resources David Stancil said that the Commission for the Environment met last night and has asked to modify the timetable far same of the tasks. Commissioner Jacobs asked about including something on forestry. David Stancil said that there is something on page nine, in the second milestone. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to add language about the pilot project, such as, "Improve coordination of forestry practices with County government." He would also like to add an objective about getting legislative authority. Commissioner Gordon asked about the State of the Environment Report related to the legislative report. She would like the timeline for the reports to be rearranged so that they coincide. e. Water Resource Quantity and Quality David Stancil said that there was some overlap with the previous Natural Resources goal in that the Water Resources Committee is making its final report towards the end of this month. He said that this goal would be included in the Natural Resources goal in future years, and this reflects the wrap-up of the two projects. f. Watershed Protection David Stancil summarized the objectives of this goal. Commissioner Carey asked if there was a plan to present a report to the Board of County Commissioners. Chair Halkiotis asked for a presentation as well. g, Air Quality Goal (Prapasedl David Stancil made reference to enforcing statutes and said that he has tried to collapse all of these issues into one goal. Chair Halkiotis asked about open burning being allowed in Orange County. He asked David Stancil to explore the issue of the air quality zone that Orange County is in. Commissioner Carey commented that this air quality issue will probably get worse because of what the Environmental Protection Agency will be doing and what the President allows. h. Solid Waste Management Organization, Facilities and Services Solid Waste Director Gayle Wilson came to the table to discuss this with the Board of County Commissioners. Chair Halkiotis asked if the water line had been laid in the Rogers Road neighborhood. Rod Visser spoke about this issue and explained what has been done in the Rogers Road neighborhood. Chair Halkiotis said that it was very important to keep the Board of County Commissioners updated so that confidence would not be eroded among the Rogers Road neighbors. Gayle Wilson said that most of the easements have been obtained. Commissioner Carey asked about recycling and Gayle Wilson answered satisfactorily. Commissioner Jacobs spoke about going to the Whitted Center and that he noticed that deconstruction had started across the street. Rod Visser spoke about knocking the building dawn and said that one of the things that is most appealing is that a video will be done to show the benefits of deconstruction. Chair Halkiotis said that at the next I & E committee meeting there will be a presentation of the deconstruction showing how this process saved the County $25,000. Commissioner Jacobs said that this is very innovative for North Carolina and that there is an incentive to do deconstruction as opposed to demolition. 4. Affordable Housing Task Force Preliminary Report Present from the Commissioners' Affordable Housing Task Force was Mr. Jack Chestnut, Ms. Nancy Milio, and Mr. Robert Dowling. Nancy Milio came forward to speak about the Commissioners' Affordable Housing Task Farce report. She spoke about the housing summit that was held one year ago. She described the work of the Commissioners' Affordable Housing Task Farce. She spoke about the reasons that more affordable housing would be needed in the future. She said that we could only anticipate a very great housing problem for people who want to live and work in the County. She summarized the recommendations of the task force. Commissioner Gordon asked what would be done to make this report final. Commissioner Jacobs said that the group would take into consideration the Board of County Commissioners' comments. Commissioner Gordon asked if this would go to the band committee {i.e., Capital Needs Advisory Task Force) and John Link said yes. He added that the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force would get cone-page summary tomorrow at their meeting. Commissioner Gordon would like to see the one-page summary that is going to the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force tomorrow. Commissioner Gordon mentioned that Commissioner Brown really wanted to be here for this report tonight. Chair Halkiotis said that originally she had said that she had na problem with this report being given tonight. Commissioner Jacobs explained further that the whole time frame was arranged around her schedule. The Manager said that the information would be ready in the morning and faxed to the Commissioners. Rod Visser spoke about the materials that will be presented tomorrow evening at the Capital Needs Advisory Task Force meeting. He said that that Manager's office would do whatever is needed to keep the Board of County Commissioners informed. Chair Halkiotis said that after each meeting of a task force a one-page summary needs to ga out to the Board of County Commissioners of what happened. Chair Halkiotis said that it would be interesting to see a summary of what is happening with affordable hauling in other parts of the country. Commissioner Jacobs said that Triangle J Council of Governments could probably provide this. Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the HUT, {Housing /UNC Task Farce), and said that the idea was that the mayors would get together a few times and then meet with the University officials about affordable housing in Orange County. Commissioner Jacobs spoke about the fact that Commissioner Brown feels that we should have some kind of RFP process (he referred to page 56}. Commissioner Jacobs spoke about weighting the formula. Commissioner Carey said that maybe we should take this particular piece out of this for more consideration because the weighting could change. Commissioner Carey made reference to number seven and haw to keep affordable housing affordable. Commissioner Gordon spoke about the difference between the mobile home parks within the towns and outside the towns. She said that you could infer that probably affordable housing is more of a problem in Carrbaro and Chapel Hill than it is in the unincorporated portions of the County. She envisioned it more as collaboration between the cities and the County and the University. She noticed that the tone of the report focuses more on the County as being the responsible one rather than the collaboration between the cities and the County. Chair Halkiotis asked if the towns were open to the County taking the lead in the affordable housing issue. Commissioner Jacobs said that the towns were open to the County taking the lead, but were also doing their awn thing with affordable housing. Commissioner Carey said that he thinks we can count on the towns to encourage the County to take the lead and to even expect the County to finance mast or all of it. He does not think that we should let what the towns do influence what the County does. He does support collaboration between the County and the Towns. Commissioner Jacobs wants a brief presentation on this report at the meeting next week with Hillsborough so that they know what the County is doing with affordable housing and how Hillsborough can work with the County. Robert Dowling made reference to inclusionary zoning and said that there is a sense that this should be done by all the local jurisdictions. He spoke about how Chapel Hill is very aggressive in enforcing the policy that any rezoning to increase density must include 15°~ affordable units. He said that there was a lot to be done about education and the "not in my backyard" attitude. Commissioner Gordon said that the money has to come from other places than just the County. She feels that the towns need to take some responsibility far funding affordable housing. She sees it as a shared issue between the towns and the County. Commissioner Jacobs suggested that Commissioner Gordon ga to the next task force meeting instead of him. Commissioner Gordon said that she did not want to go if he had been already attending. She will send her comments with Commissioner Brown. Chair Halkiotis made reference to the second task force, Housing/UNC Task Force and said that Commissioner Jacobs would be representing the Chair since Commissioner Jacobs has been working with the Commissioners' Affordable Housing Task Force. John Link said that affordable housing could be brought to the CCC {Coordination and Consultation Committee) because the UNC Chancellor would be in attendance. Commissioner Jacobs said that Commissioner Brawn would also be attending the HUT meetings. 5. NCDOT Road Resurfacing Priorities Karen Lincoln of the Orange County Planning Department and County Engineer Paul Thames came to the table to speak on this topic. Chair Halkiotis said this is the first time that the NCDOT has asked the County to give suggestions of roads that need to be resurfaced. Karen Lincoln also affirmed that this is the first time the NCDOT has asked the County for input. The recommendations will be addressed in the summer of 2002 resurfacing program. She showed the Commissioners on a map all of the roads in the County that were in need of resurfacing. She said that EMS and the Sheriffs Department were asked to help identify the roads. EMS had no comments and the report from the Sheriffs Department has not been received. Chair Halkiotis said that he would call the Sheriff tomorrow and ask him about any additional roads that need resurfacing. Commissioner Jacobs suggested asking the postal carriers about roads. Chair Halkiotis gave 43 letters from citizens to John Link in reference to the tax revaluation in Carolina Springs. He said that the citizens were saying that because of the increase in the value of that property, their monthly rents are going to go up $57 a month. ADJOURNMENT With no further items for the County Commissioners to discuss, it was decided by consensus to adjourn the meeting at 9:53 p.m. The next meeting on the calendar will be held next Tuesday, March 20 at 5:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Stephen H. Halkiotis, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC