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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 04-19-2001APPROVED 11/7/2001 MINUTES ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS MEETING ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COUNCIL APRIL 19, 2001 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in joint session with the Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro Board of Aldermen, and the Hillsborough Town Board on Thursday, April 19, 2000 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Stephen H. Halkiotis and Commissioners Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONER ABSENT: Margaret Brown COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Harmony Whalen COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Manager Rod Uisser, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (all other staff members will be identified appropriately below) CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and members Flicka Bateman, Joyce Brown, Pat Evans, Kevin Foy, Bill Strom and Jim Ward CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN PRESENT: Mayor Michael R. Nelson and members Allen Spalt, Jacquelyn Gist, Diana McDuffee, Alex Zaffron and Joal Hall Brown HILLSBOROUGH TOWN BOARD PRESENT: Mayor Horace Johnson and members Kenneth Chavious, Frances Dancy and Mark Sheridan 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. OPENING REMARKS FROM THE CHAIR AND MAYORS OF CHAPEL HILL. CARRBORO. AND HILLSBOROUGH Chair Halkiotis welcomed everyone. 1. PRESENTATION OF REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION STRATEGY Mayor Waldorf said that after the election of November 1999, the Mayors of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, and Cary met to talk about how to work together to try to craft some greater initiative for long-range transportation solutions to the transportation problems in the region. They came up with a plan to develop a study and an analysis of the region's transportation needs. The Regional Transportation Alliance and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce has helped in this initiative. The study began in August 2000, and the deadline of February 2001 was met for completing the study. The study was based entirely on existing plans that had gone through the public processes. She introduced Mayor Glen Lang of Cary, who was to present the results of the study. Mayor Glen Lang of Cary made a presentation on the results of the study. He said that the first thing they accomplished was to figure out how big a problem the Triangle had if mobility were going to stay about where it is now. The second piece they were hoping to get out of the study was haw to provide the funding to keep mobility where it is at this time. The consultants took all the MPO's plans and tried to put them together into one plan. They also looked at DOT's plans and Triangle Transit Authority's plans. He said that between the state, federal, and municipal funding that was currently in place at the time of the study, there is going to be about 7.7 billion dollars spent on transportation far the Triangle over the next 25 years. The four mayors all agree that doing nothing about transportation in the Triangle is not an option. He said that it was quite likely that the Triangle region would experience a 111 % population growth over the next 25 years. The vehicle miles traveled will increase 144%. He said that there would have to be mass transit to deal with this problem. He said that there has to be more four-lane arterial roads to encourage cars to stay off I-40. He spoke about freeway improvements, surface streets, managed lanes, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and regional and local transit. He said that it would take 10 billion dollars mare than the 7.7 billion dollars to accomplish these goals, which will keep mobility at its current state in the Triangle. This amounts to about $8,300 per person in the Triangle aver the next 25 years. He said that the federal government could fund two billion dollars in mass transit. He stressed the importance of a multi-modal strategy. There will have to be cooperation from all levels of government. Each level of government should try to use local resources before going to the state for funding. He asked that the governing boards consider a resolution that can be presented to the legislature. Mayor Waldorf said that DCHC and CAMPO have officially endorsed this study. She made reference to the memo from three of the four mayors and said that it was very important to have the endorsement of the elected officials throughout the region. She spoke about possible funding options such as RTP, transportation impact fees, sales tax increases, and aone-percent real estate transfer tax. She asked that all elected officials endorse this study and consider supporting other measures to move this along. 2. SHAPING ORANGE COUNTY'S FUTURE REPORT Chair Halkiotis pointed out that items 2-6 were not public hearings, but a chance for all elected officials to get up to speed on the issues. Environment and Resource Conservation Director David Stancil introduced Jay Bryan, a member of the Shaping Orange County's Future steering committee, who led the conversation. He read the two questions on the agenda abstract to facilitate the discussion, as follows: 1. Which recommendation from the Task Force report do elected officials feel will improve the quality of life for County residents by the year 2030? 2. What are the mast important points to convey to the Task Force as they wrap up their work and issue their final report? Jackie Gist that she has heard over and over that the document needs to give equal weight to social issues as it does to other issues. Jim Ward said that we could continue forever to want to see the report done differently. He feels that the public advisory role has run its course. He feels we should value the document more or less as it is and give it the value that would make it part of the Assembly of Governments meetings and came to some resolution at this level. He encouraged the governmental agencies to start addressing this and making some decisions. He feels that this report needs to move ahead. Jay Bryan asked if the Chapel Hill Town Council had ever reached same critical response to the report and Jim Ward said no because it was not a priority and the document was so large. Diana McDuffee said that it is a wonderful document. When the Carrboro Board discussed it, they felt it was overly prescriptive in some places and general in other places. She said that this report and the report about transportation lay out some broad guidelines of how to come together on certain topics and move ahead. Joyce Brown said that this report does recommend cooperative attempts to reach solutions to some of the problems. One of the real fears of the group was that the document would be just another report that would sit on a shelf. Such a tremendous amount of work has gone into it and we really need to work out some way of using the report and of letting the task force know about some of the concerns. Jay Bryan asked if Hillsborough had looked at the report and Mayor Johnson said that there were some issues that the County and the Town would have to work an. One of the issues is providing jobs sa people will not have to drive so far. Affordable housing is another big issue. Mark Sheridan said that the trick was how to make this a living document that plays a real rate in the decision making. Chair Halkiotis talked about the time it sometimes takes to resolve some issues. He said that there is a point where the citizens have made their recommendations and now it is time for the elected officials to talk amongst themselves. He suggested that the County Commissioner direct the staff to take the top 10 priorities and diagram out what the County is doing. Jackie Gist made reference to the merger issues and felt that they could be deleted. She found this language offensive. Chair Halkiotis said that he would like to send the diagram of the top 10 to the respective boards. Commissioner Gordon said that this report should go back to each governing board. She feels it is a very valuable report. She suggested that the task force complete all the corrections in one or two meetings and get back to the boards by May 30tH Chair Halkiotis said that he would bring this report back to the County Commissioners as an agenda item to decide how to handle it. Allen Spalt said that there has been a lot of discussion and feedback. He said that there was not a lot of disagreement about the top 10 issues. The small paints that are made are very detailed and hard to discuss. He likes Chair Halkiotis' idea of the diagram. He does not think that a group of this size can polish this document. Alex Zaffron suggested that in putting together the process that the respective governing boards evaluate the comments, which have been made by each governing board. He feels that there should be same common process and Gammon format befinreen each governing board. Chair Halkiotis feels that the task force has finished its work. He is happy with the report as it is. He is ready to sit down and do his own assessment, diagram all the things the County is currently doing, pass the diagram to the other elected bodies, and then have a small group come together to figure out what to da next. He said that every elected official has contributed significantly to many of the top 10 issues. Jim Ward said that he just wants to be sure that we do not short-circuit the desires of the task farce to incorporate the comments that have been heard. Ellen Ironside, Ca-Chair of the SOCF task farce, said that the task farce was trying to envision the future, which meant that they were leaping over many steps to come up with a scenario about what really mattered in Orange County and how we could keep the best of that and move into the next 30 years with something close to what we value. A motion was made by Chair Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to direct the County staff to diagram all the things the County is doing in relation to the top 10 issues in the SOCF Task Farce report, pass the diagram to the elected bodies, and have a small group come together and discuss how to proceed. VOTE: UNANIMOUS 3. UPDATE ON DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN UNC AND CHAPEL HILL Kevin Foy made this presentation. He said that the Mayor and the Chancellor set up a negotiating committee, and that committee has met a couple of times. The University has told the Town that its concerns are that it will not be able to grow in the way it has to grow in order to fulfill what it considers its mandates and what it considers necessary in order to continue to be an excellent university. The University is afraid that the Tawn is going to get in the way. The University has a plan to spend about a billion dollars in construction efforts over the next 8-10 years. The Town has looked at the community concerns about the impact of this growth -the environment, fiscal impacts, traffic, etc. The Tawn has put forward a proposed approach to try to accommodate the University's concerns and the Town's community-wide concerns. This plan will permit the local government to review the development plan to look at all the building the University plans to do over the next decade. The Town and the University has agreed in principal to a zoning category. The details are being developed. The Town of Chapel Hill wants everybody to participate with them in working toward accommodating the University's growth. Chair Halkiatis said that the County Commissioners met with Jack Evans and received the presentation on the Horace Williams Tract. He said that Jack Evans kept using the term, "accessible housing." He said that we need to have more discussions and be supportive in any way we can. The County Commissioners want the University officials to know that they have concerns about affordable housing. The issue of children and schools was also brought up at the meeting. There will be an impact on schools from the proposed housing in this project. Commissioner Gordon said that she read reports in the newspaper about the public hearing in Chapel Hill on the Schools Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance. She asked Jonathan Howes about the University's position an the SAPFO. Jonathan Howes said that they have concerns about the SAPFO. Jaal Hall Broun reminded the University that one of the things that the University can use to attract professors and other faculty is how much it casts to live here. She said that if the current fiscal climate continues, it might be a problem. She said that it was a great concern in Carrboro because a lot of the teachers in the public schools cannot afford to live in Carrboro. Commissioner Jacobs said that he does not think that anyone is interested in having elected officials be antagonists with the University. He asked the Chapel Hill Tawn Council to let the County Commissioners knave how they can help. He said that we should make sure that this plan does not go to the Board of Trustees before the elected officials have had more of an opportunity to work with the plan. Mayor Nelson said that they have had a fairly positive relationship with the University so far. He said that he appreciates the way the County Commissioners have related to the University in this process. Mayor Waldorf said that the Town Council has been focusing on the University campus. In terms of what the Board of County Commissioners can do to be supportive, it is not so much what they can da but what they can say. Bill Strom said that it is interesting how housing has floated to the surface here. The Chapel Hill Town Council immediately focused an affordable housing. After they received the presentation on the Horace Williams plan, they placed this on an agenda for further discussion and a response stating their concerns. Diana McDuffee said that the main campus would have an impact on the bus system and the park and ride lots. She said that the University is volunteering to pick up a lot of the costs that they would not be required to pick up for the bus service and park and ride lots. She said that we really need to think about how the bus service is funded and how we share that cast. Kevin Foy asked about the general sense of the group as to what they can or cannot do. He feels that, as local elected officials, we have a different legal responsibility than the University. The University has a mandate and a mission that does not have to da with local land use planning. Jonathan Howes said that he appreciates the tone of the discussion and appreciates the interest in the University and its role in the community. With reference to the housing concerns, he said that the students who live out in the community are of concern to the University and it is responding. There are 1,000 new undergraduate beds under construction at the corner of Manning Drive and Ridge Road. The University is also seeking ways to house more of its graduate students and married students. With respect to the Horace Williams tract, the plan does call for a great deal of housing. He spoke about the various upcoming public meetings on the plan. He said that he looks forward to a continued cooperative relationship with all of the jurisdictions in the County. As the University continues to progress, it is going to add students, faculty and staff. He said that it was in the University's interest that it continues to produce a sustainable community. Flicka Bateman asked if a saturation point had been set for the plan and Jonathan Howes said no. Enrollment figures have been set. Allen Spalt made reference to the University's attitude toward the adequate public facilities ordinance and said that it was more ambiguous than reported. He said that the County faces an urgent problem with the schools and their responsibility to provide capital facilities for the schools. He said that the Carrboro Board has been told that if exceptions were made for affordable housing or any other specific group, the legal defensibility of the ordinance would fall. He hopes the University considers that, should they ask far some kind of exemption for University housing. Jonathan Howes said that the University does have concerns about the adequate public facilities ordinance, but will continue to look at it with the elected officials. Chair Halkiotis said that we have to advocate for things we believe in, specifically affordable housing. 4. ADEQUATE PUBLIC FACILITIES ORDINANCE Craig Benedict made this presentation. He said that the purpose of the adequate public facilities ordinance is to try to regulate the most important thing in the County -education. He said that the purpose of the APFO was to balance and regulate where the money goes over time. He said that now was a good time to implement this because the County is not yet behind with providing school facilities. He believes that there does need to be more dialogue with the University concerning their new projects. He would like to put together an implementation team for the APFO. He is available to answer questions. Jackie Gist said that it was unconscionable, with the cast of schools, that we are not looking at year-round schools and that we do not give them serious consideration. Year-round schools get much more for their money than the County now gets. She said that we could not afford to go on with the myth that our children have to have 10 weeks off in the summer. She will not support the APFO without serious consideration of year-round schools. Diana McDuffee said that she feels it is unfair to say that the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board has not considered year-round schools. She does not feel it is as much a savings as one thinks. Alex Zaffron made reference to the comment from Craig Benedict about little policy questions and conflicts that could arise prior to implementation. He asked to what extent could an APFO, which sets a constant rate of acceleration, create a problem for land use plans and ordinances. Craig Benedict answered his questions. Alex Zaffron would like to hear from bankers, real estate professionals, and developers - people who are intimately involved in the financial issues of development. Mayor Waldorf agrees that it is unwise for our community to not look at year-round schools. She asked how you ensure under the APFO that the kinds of housing that we have for public purposes (affordable housing) does not get crowded out because other types of housing gets in first. Craig Benedict said that there are a few methods that can be used to accommodate affordable housing. Land can be purchased by an entity and reserved far affordable housing. Pat Evans said that the Town of Cary has an adequate public facilities ordinance and Durham County has a draft, which takes into account the projected school population for the existing zoning. Durham County has a different implementation of the APFO than what is being proposed for Orange County. She thinks the County Commissioners need to look at this information. Commissioner Gordon added that Cary does not know whether the SAPFO is working or not because they have water limitations that restrict development. Commissioner Jacobs made comments about the year-round schools. He said that the issue of year-round schools was brought up at the Capital Needs Advisory Committee meeting. Commissioner Gordon urged everyone to think about the trade-offs of accepting the APFO. She said that the question for the community is how important is it to have schools built in a timely manner. She said that the ordinance would not stop growth, but it is a way to accommodate growth in an orderly manner. She reiterated that this is atime-sensitive matter. Chair Halkiotis said that the County Manager will take a lead role in getting with the managers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro to reactivate the discussions. 5. AFFORDABLE HOUSING TASK FORCE UPDATE Commissioner Jacobs made reference to the Affordable Housing Task Force report and said that there was a recommendation about purchasing land for affordable housing purposes. There will be one more meeting of the task force and then actions will be taken on its recommendations. 6. SOLID WASTE UPDATES a. Greene Tract b. C&D c. SWAB NOTE: These three topics were not discussed for lack of time. ADJOURNMENT With nothing more to discuss, Chair Halkiotis adjourned the meeting at 10:20 p.m. The next regular meeting will be held on April 25, 2001 at 7:30 p.m. in the boardroom of the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Stephen H. Halkiotis, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, CMC