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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20040223APPROVED 5/4/2004 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION February 23, 2004 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met far a Work Session on Monday, February 23, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret W. Brawn, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice Gordan, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant Manager Gwen Harvey, and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (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. 1. Agricultural Business OptionslRural Enterprises Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m. Planning Director Craig Benedict said that in 1999, a rezoning came forward for agricultural service in the northern part of the County. Agricultural services may be a new industry for the farm community and Planning staff looked at comprehensive planning locations. Staff also looked at Reba and Roses and found that there are new industries that tie in farm-type operations by bringing products to central locations. Since then, they have engaged the agricultural community with a task force (Economic Development, Planning, Soil and Water, Ag Preservation Board, and others} to try to categorize the different uses. A brief presentation of this was also brought forward at the Agricultural Summit today. Planner II Tina Moon said that in May 2002, Planning staff presented a proposal to provide more agricultural business options for local farmers. She made reference to attachment 1. She read from the attachment - "to focus on uses that offered farmers supplemental revenue from agricultural products, businesses that are logical extensions to farm uses, and to allow more farm-related services in rural areas." The proposal also included provisions to link the permitting process to the intensity, size, and scale of the use. Since the information session, the interdepartmental work group has continued to work on the project and get input from local farmers. The work group has assembled a more detailed list of agriculturally based uses along with recommended permitting processes. This is attachment 2. The group also came up with definitions to clarify the new use categories, which is attachment 3. She asked for input from the Board on the overall concept or specifics of the proposal. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to the winery and six tours per year and asked why the magic number was six. Tina Moan said that they were trying to get a sense of thresholds and this seemed reasonable. She said that far people who are not looking to include the public as the main part of the operation, they were named a Farm Lot Winery. For groups who were interested in having more activity, they named it a Farm Winery with Minor and Major Events. Commissioner Gordon asked why the definitions do not line up with the land uses. Tina Moon said that they had to do some tweaking at the last minute to acknowledge some input from the farmers. There may be some inconsistencies, and these will be resolved. Commissioner Gordon said that she was interested in getting definitions for organic farming and horse farming. Commissioner Carey asked about bona fide farms and bona fide farm accessory uses and what permits are required. Tina Moon said that the brochure suggests that the interested farmer meet with their local farm agency and see if there is a need for what they were proposing. If so, they would work with the agency to develop a plan. Once the plan is developed and researched for applicable regulations (state, federal health}, they would take it to the Planning staff. Planning staff files the information and if a neighbor comes with a complaint, then Planning can look up the file to see that the activity is valid. She said that this would resolve the questions and complaints that Zoning gets with operations that are really fine. John Link said that a general question from the Summit today was "Would the farmers today find this method easier to accomplish the specialty farming ventures?" Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was not able to get to the Summit. He asked about Mr. Baldwin and if he had a slaughtering operation on his land. It was answered that he takes them to the USDA slaughterhouse to be slaughtered and then brings them back to his operation in Caswell County and sells it frozen. He asked if there were any impediments for someone doing this in Orange County. Geof Gledhill said that the one area where this operation would require permitting in Orange County is the structural facilities, but not the land use. The facility that houses the freezer would have to have a permit. The operation would be a bona fide farm. Chair Jacobs made reference to #b2 on page 8, and that the most intensive agricultural services are grindinglcomposting. He asked why there could not be composting without grinding and put it at the other end of the categories. He said that this was one of the problems they were trying to address with people trying to clear land as an adjunct to their farm income. He said that there could be something relatively simple without the grinding. Tina Moon said that this was discussed at the agricultural summit today and they will look at this in more detail. Commissioner Halkiotis said that there has been a very successful landscape mixed business going on at Calvander for a long time and there is no grinding. The school system buys mulch from the owner and no one has complained about what he does. He said that linking composting with grinding is opening up a big issue. Commissioner Gordon said that there may be some differentiation within a category and some of the definitions may need to be changed. She gave an example of greenhouses and how they can be two stories tall and lights may be on late in the night. Geof Gledhill said that greenhouse farming has been recognized by the courts as being exempt from zoning. This is why it is in that category. It cannot be regulated. Commissioner Gordan asked if someone wanted to put in a greenhouse anywhere in the County would it be a bona fide farm. She asked staff to research this. Geof Gledhill said that a bona fide farm could be as little as 3/-0 of an acre. There is no size limit. There are size and income limits with respect to tax use value. Commissioner Gordon asked Geof Gledhill to review the statute and see what it says regarding someone who just wants to have a greenhouse and if that would be a farm. Geof Gledhill said that if someone has a greenhouse that they use for their own collection, this does not have anything to do with a bona fide farm. It would be part of a residential use of their property. Commissioner Gordon asked how it would be regulated if it is not a farm. Craig Benedict said that he will research this. Commissioner Gordon made reference to "being identified by local farm agency personnel." She would like to have an elevated level of defining what this is. She thinks there needs to be some kind of process. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the rural buffer and how to handle this. She said that it seems there is some urgency in getting something "passed" so that it will not be so difficult to do some of these things in agricultural situations. She would like to separate out the rural buffer and have a conversation with Chapel Hill and Carrbaro before it is sent around about farming and operations in the rural buffer. She would like to get a group together to talk about it. Commissioner Brown made reference to the permit being subject to review and comments from animal control and said that she does not think that animal control would have anything to do with something like this. Tina Moon said that this is standard now with kennels and riding stables/academies. This can be taken out. Commissioner Brown would like to see what they use for commenting and reviewing. She said that there is a lot of expertise involved and animal control is not trained to comment on this. Commissioner Brown asked if there was another section that would include things besides animals, like home occupation. Tina Moan answered that there was not yet, but they could explore this. Commissioner Brown said that she just came back from a Chatham County exhibition and there were artists that create art on their farms. This is an opportunity far a rural enterprise. Commissioner Brawn said that she wanders if the enforcement of not having any retail would limit some things in rural areas. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page 9 of the use schedule (agricultural research facilities being subject to review and comment by animal control). He said that there was a case a few years ago where asmall-scale animal research facility was located in Cedar Grave. The local animal control had nothing to do with the facility going in there and there were a lot of state agencies. The place was very secretive and there was a lot of security. He agrees that animal control should probably not be involved in this kind of activity. Commissioner Carey made reference to number 10 and the "other" category. He thinks there needs to be this category under the bona fide farm category because they cannot anticipate every use that is going to come up. He thinks the County Commissioners should trust the Planning and farm agency staff to allow farmers to move their projects along without having to come back to the Board to add more definitions. Chair Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Carey. He suggested going through the definitions to see if there are some things that could fit in the "other" category and would leave more flexibility. Chair Jacobs spoke against singling out the rural buffer as a different kind of agriculture than the rest of the County. He has no problem with sending it to the two towns for a courtesy review, but he sees no point in unduly burdening the people who live in the rural buffer who may want to do something. There are other places in the County that are just as densely populated as the rural buffer. Commissioner Brown agreed. Geoffrey Gledhill said that there is a process in the joint planning agreement for amendments to protect the rural buffer, and this process would be followed. Chair Jacobs suggested putting this on the JPA agenda. Commissioner Gordon made reference to number 10 and said that she meant that there aught to be mare of a process than just "identified by local farm agency." She is not sure what it should be. Chair Jacobs suggested asking for a report semi-annually or annually on what other uses have been identified. Commissioner Gordan said that one of the classic things that happen is nuisance complaints. She would like to err on the side of caution and have a process, or there could be a backlash. Commissioner Gordon made reference to number 52 and said that separating the composting from grinding is reasonable, but she would caution that there would not be a de facto landfill. She said that someone could throw a lot of "stuff" in there and say that it is going to compost. Chair Jacobs said that the point of this exercise is to simplify things for farmers. 2. Land Use Element - Oranae County Comprehensive Plan Craig Benedict distributed a handout on the progress of the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Element outreach. Last Friday they had an opportunity to do another presentation of the outreach program. The Planning Board had a special meeting to try and organize and reformat the presentation. The first part of the outreach program will be direct mailings to interested parties and boards and committees related to this process. There will also be announcements at various televised meetings as well as the newspapers. There will be a press release to the newspapers to talk about the upcoming process. They have also spoken with the people in the community to come up with suitable dates for the presentations. The presentation has changed a lot over the last year. Atone point, there was a large PowerPoint portion, and now it is more of an open house with different stations that talk about the different issues. There are also videotapes and audiotapes of the presentation. Over the next few months, they will visit the townships and compile all the written comments from the public. There will be public hearings in August and November. Commissioner Gordon asked what they had decided to do about advertising for the meetings. Craig Benedict said that there would be notices in the newspaper explaining the land use plan and advertising the meetings. Commissioner Gordon said that if there is just a notice in the newspaper then she wonders if anyone will show up. She asked what else would be done. Craig Benedict said that they have invited some community leaders from different parts of the County and they have all expressed interest in the meetings. He said that this interest from the leaders would create word of mouth. They will also advertise to different clubs, social groups, and homeowners associations. Commissioner Gordon asked if there was a budget for the mailings and Craig Benedict said yes. Next year there will be a need for a large mailing budget as they move towards implementation. Chair Jacobs suggested putting up signs in local stores at the different townships. He suggested looking at the mailing list for the Agricultural Summit. Commissioner Gordon suggested mailing to the members of the Boards and Commissions representing the different townships. John Link said that the staff has done a good job of eliminating acronyms. However, on page 14, TDR is still in there as opposed to spelling it out. He asked about the term "rural character." He asked if it was rural characteristics. He said that this term means different things to different people. Chair Jacobs said that the Rural Character Study spent a lot of time coming up with a definition. Craig Benedict agreed with John Link about the issue of rural character. Chair Jacobs asked that at the beginning of the month that Craig Benedict let the Board know about the community meetings for the month. Commissioner Brown asked if there was any reference to sustainability. Craig Benedict said that they mentioned sustainable planning areas and they could elaborate on how they are analyzing by watersheds versus just townships. Commissioner Brown said that there was a definition that was adopted several years ago. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to page 8 and the picture of Cane Creek. He said that it would be a good idea to put a date an this photo because it is a good example of sustainability. Chair Jacobs said that on page 4 - "Reasons for Updating the Land Use Element" - would be a good place to mention sustainability. Commissioner Brawn made reference to the Planning Board comments and said that if was clear that the Planning Board members do not know what is already in place. She said that it would be good to show what has already been done in the water and sewer boundaries, etc. Craig Benedict said that it would be an interesting project to not overwhelm people with what has been done over the last few years. 3. New Initiatives a) Environmental Responsibility Goal for County Government Chair Jacobs said that this is something that the Commission for the Environment is interested in looking at. He would like to ask an advisory board and the staff to came up with a goal that represents what Orange County is about. He wrote down a few things that have come up over time -air quality, forestry practices, water quality, wastewater and groundwater, accepting food service from vendors, water fixtures, light fixtures, vehicles and alternate fuels, tree for tree replacement program, grounds maintenance, types of cleaners used, and deconstruction and green building principles. Same of these issues have come up. Chair Jacobs said that the Commission for the Environment could discuss these items and bring new items and try and articulate what it thinks would be the best management practices from an environmental point for a government of Orange County's size. The Board agreed with having the Commission for the Environment discuss this goal. b} Social Justice Goal for County Government Chair Jacobs made reference to the list of items that have been mentioned aver time. He thinks the Human Rights and Relations Commission might be interested in doing something similar with this item as the one above far the Commission for the Environment. He thinks the list of what Orange County does for people is impressive. He would like, whenever the County addresses something that has to da with an issue that relates to helping people, to have a social justice goal so that the action reflects a County Commissioner goal. Commissioner Carey said that this list is a good start and he would like to come up with a way to expand the list as issues arise. He asked if equal funding for each child in the County for educational purposes is included among these items. He raises this as a social justice issue and he knows the Board does not agree with him. He asked haw to come up with a list and haw to add to it. Chair Jacobs said that one way is to refer it to the Human Rights and Relations Commission and ask them to consider equal funding for education for this list. Commissioner Carey said that the County should pursue social justice for all persons in the County, regardless of whether they can vote or not. Commissioner Gordon said that, to her, social justice is an overarching principle. She said that the human services safety net should also be a goal. She said that it seems that the hallmark of Orange County government over the past few years has been environmental responsibility and social justice. Commissioner Brown agreed with putting in schools and equality of education for this list. Commissioner Brown asked how this was to be interpreted because it is not clear what is already in place. Chair Jacobs said that the Board would ask the commission to look at the existing goals In some places, the goals overlap. Some of the things are not in any specific goal (i.e., social safety net, living wage). This would be an overarching goal that would capture things that the County does or would like to see happening. Commissioner Brown said that it was not fair giving this to the commission without annotating what this Board and County does for these specific things. John Link said that on page 3 there are indicators of social justice action on the part of the County Commissioners or benchmarks. He suggested sending this also to the Human Services Advisory Commission. He sees this list as extra effort on the part of the County to address racial justice. Commissioner Brown argued the point to start the conversation an an educated level and talk about what is already being done. Commissioner Carey agreed and said that the goal is designed to communicate what action is needed to achieve it. Chair Jacobs said to start as simple as saying that the County is willing to and forced to go above and beyond what it might ordinarily do and what that means. The list could be examples of what the County does. Commissioner Brown said that was fine as long as it is a list of what the County does already and then others can be filled in. Commissioner Gordon agreed with Commissioner Brawn that there should be a list of what of the County already does, including the goals that are already adopted, in the domain being discussed. Commissioner Carey would like to include something in this list related to education because it is so fundamental. Commissioner Halkiotis suggested taking number 15, bringing it up to number 1, explaining to people what the County is doing, and dating it. c) Creation of Orange Unified Transportation Advisory Board Craig Benedict said that he and Karen Lincoln have taken comments aver the last few years and have realized that there are competing issues related to transportation. The suggestion is to try and tie this together with an overarching board to address specific issues as they come up. The members could come from existing boards {County Commissioners, Commission for the Environment, Economic Development Commission, Transportation Services Board, and Planning Board). The issues include air quality, mass transportation, etc. Commissioner Gordon said that she thinks this would be a goad idea. She would like to change the name to the Orange County Unified Transportation Advisory Board. Also, on the membership on page 2, she changed the language as follows: "comprised of two members of the following boards, to be nominated by the boards and appointed by the Commissioners." She also suggested saying, "the board will meet bi-monthly or as needed" to be more flexible. Chair Jacobs agreed and said that this was more like a charge without the specifics. He suggested that if the Board agrees that this is a useful tool, then the Board could ask staff to come back with some immediate, specific goals for the first year of this board. For example, he does not think it needs to have two County Commissioners on it forever. Commissioner Brown asked who would be staffing this and Craig Benedict said Karen Lincoln primarily and he would assist on some projects. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he does not want to endorse this tonight. He is dumbfounded that there is an additional group to put County Commissioners on when several groups were just sunset. He does not want to vote on this tonight. Commissioner Carey asked if any of this was covered by any of the other committees that are already established. Chair Jacobs said that no one is looking at the bike plan, Karen Lincoln works on the TIP, the RPO exists in a vacuum, and no one works on the issue of sidewalks. There used to be a subcommittee of the Planning Board that worked on transportation issues. The Board agreed to defer this issue for now and not put it with the other boards and commissions. A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis, seconded by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting at 9:28 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Barry Jacobs, Chair David Hunt Deputy Clerk to the Board