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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20070920APPROVED 10!23!2007 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS September 20, 2007 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session for an Assembly of Governments meeting on Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Commissioners Valerie P. Foushee, Alice M. Gordon, Barry Jacobs, and Mike Nelson COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Brian Ferrell COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt {All other staff members will be identified appropriately below} CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Kevin C. Foy and Council Members Sally Greene, Jim Ward, Bill Strom, Bill Thorpe, Cam Hill, and Laurin Easthom CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Mark Kleinschmidt and Ed Harrison CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayar Mark Chilton and Aldermen Dan Coleman, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, Jacquelyn Gist and John Herrera CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEMBERS ABSENT: Joal Hall Broun and Alex Zaffron HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Brian Lowen and Michael Gering HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMM1551ONERS ABSENT: Mayar Tam Stevens and Council Members Frances Dancey, Evelyn Lloyd, and Eric Hallman NOTE: All other participants are listed in the text as appropriate NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. Call to OrderllntroductionslOoenina Comments Chair Carey called the meeting to order at 7:42. Introductions were made. Chair Carey said that it came to his attention that a group of people would like to select a representative to speak to the Assembly of Governments for up to five minutes. He said that, in the past, the AOG has not accommodated public input of any kind other than the dialogue among the members. This will be the first time that public input has been allowed in this setting. He asked the members for permission to allow this public comment. A motion was made by Mayor Chilton, seconded by Mayar Fay to accept public comment on the transfer station. VOTE: UNANIMOUS Ms. Neloa Jones read a prepared statement, entitled "The Rogers-Eubanks `Coalition to End Environmental Racism' (CEER)". Background For nearly one hundred and fifty years, African-American families have lived in what is now known as the Rogers-Eubanks Community. In the late 1800'x, Rogers Road was awagon- track through black-owned family farmland and sawmills that stretched from Homestead to Eubanks and Millhouse Roads. There was once a school on Eubanks Road, founded by a farmer slave, for black children not allowed to attend school elsewhere. As decades passed, black-owned family farmland was passed down to children and grandchildren. Other land was lost to debt or simply sold. However, African-Americans continued migrating to this community; they continued to purchase land and establish homes. Today, a predominantly low-income neighborhood, the Rogers and Eubanks Community nevertheless remains socially cohesive and culturally rich. In 1972, when the Town of Chapel Hill decided to use 120 acres of land on Eubanks Road as a landfill -this was a thriving community; it was a community strongly apposed to having a landfill near them. However, Howard Lee, Mayor of Chapel Hill, convinced the community to accept the landfill for ten years, promising that afterwards no other landfills would be opened near them and a park and other basic amenities would be provided when the landfill closed. That was 35 years ago. Promises Broken And in spite of the fact that Orange County prides itself on being aggressively opposed to social and environmental injustice, it has refused to honor decades of broken promises made to the Rogers-Eubanks Community. This community still awaits the park and basic amenities it was promised. Local governments continue to expand solid waste facilities on Eubanks Road: since 1972, two municipal solid waste landfills have been opened; two industrial waste landfills have been opened. There are yard and hazardous waste collection sites, recycling and garbage drop-off centers, a Materials Recovery landfill {MRF), and let's not forget about that huge, toxic, smelly leachate pond right next to Mrs. Gertrude Nunn's property. The newest proposed addition to these ever-expanding waste facilities is a solid waste transfer station. Law-income communities always the mast vulnerable In its March 2000 report, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council concluded that "WTS are sited disproportionately in areas adjacent to poor communities and communities of color." On September 2, 2007, The lVew York Trmes reported that "low-income communities...shelter most of America's polluting facilities" and that African-Americans are "79 percent more likely than whites to live in areas where air pollution levels pose health risks." Professor Robert Bullard of Clark Atlanta University, a pioneer and expert in environmental justice issues since 1978, says that "the people who live closest" to "a lot of different waste facilities" are the people "who have the fewest resources," those who are "most vulnerable." This "doesn't mean that [they] should be dumped on." On March 3, 2006, the Solid Waste Advisory Board {SWAB} passed a resolution recommending that the solid waste transfer station be located an Eubanks Raad. Why? Because Eubanks Road was convenient, because the County could put the transfer station here cheaply and would be saved the hassle of having to search for another site. And there was a good chance the community would not object too loudly. On March 27, 2007, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to accept this recommendation from SWAB to locate the transfer station an Eubanks Raad. What we are asking for tonight The Rogers-Eubanks Road Community wants Orange County to stop dumping garbage and toxic waste in their backyard -and that's exactly why we're here tonight. The Rogers-Eubanks "Coalition to End Environmental Racism" (CEEB) supports the Ragers- Eubanks Community in its demands for environmental justice. These demands include: - Immediately eliminating the Rogers-Eubanks Road Community as a site for the proposed solid waste transfer station and halting all solid waste activities in the Rogers-Eubanks Community no later than November 2009. - Honoring the promises made to the Rogers-Eubanks Road Community aver the past 35 years for having endured the negative impacts of solid waste activities. - Immediately addressing quality of life issues by providing this community with municipal water and sewer services and other community enhancements to ensure the health and safety of the residents. All of us here tonight have a lot of work to do, and we are certain that having heard this information, you will do what's right and bring environmental justice back to the Ragers- Eubanks community. Thank you. Chair Carey said that this is a matter for the Orange Caunty Board of Commissioners to decide, and if the County Commissioners decide to put this an a future agenda, this group and the rest of the public will be notified. Mayor Chilton said that Alderman Jaal Hall-Braun sends her regrets far not being able to attend because her two children were sick. He said that he did not expect to get into a discussion about solid waste facility issues now, but he posted some comments on orangepolitics.org earlier today about this topic. Regional Water Resources Use and Preservation a. Potential Joint Use of OWASA-Owned Jordan Lake Intake Site by Chatham Caunty and OWASA Executive Director of OWASA Ed Kerwin made this presentation. He said that OWASA's stated goals as the highest and best use of the local water resources are the Cane Creek, University Lake, and Quarry Reservoir systems. There has been some uncertainty that even if OWASA does its best job at maximizing local water resources in Orange County, there might not be enough water for the future needs in the service area. Beginning in 1988, OWASA partnered with Orange County, Hillsborough, and other entities to request a future allocation from Jordan Lake. These efforts were successful and OWASA obtained an allocation of 10 million gallons a day of future supply if and when it would be needed. Several years ago, OWASA determined that it did not need as much as 10 mgd in the future, and it voluntarily requested to reduce the future allocation to its current level of 5 mgd. Also, in 1989, OWASA purchased 125 acres in Chatham County adjacent to the Corps of Engineers properly along the lake in an area determined to be an ideal location far an intake far raw water on the west side of the lake. There is currently only one intake from Jordan Lake, which is an the east side, and it is owned and controlled by the Town of Cary. The Corps of Engineers in the State of North Carolina have let it be known that it expects only one additional intake for a public supply to be installed in the lake, and that would be on the west side. This year, he received a letter from Chatham County Manager Charlie Horne expressing an interest on behalf of the Chatham County Commissioners that they might be interested in a regional approach to access Jordan Lake. On August 14t", Orange County hosted a joint meeting with Chatham County and other governments to discuss this issue. At this meeting, Chair Carey requested that OWASA provide some information at this meeting for everyone's benefit. Mayor Foy said that Chapel Hill is interested in efforts of joint land use planning and not just about water. He wants to make sure that OWASA and the Assembly of Governments are all on the same page. Chair Carey said that one of the issues that came up at the joint meeting was the brand new park on the southern end of Orange County. This park will be in demand by people in Chatham County, so there needs to be a partnership. Bill Strom said that he would like the meetings to be publicly noticed if there are multi- jurisdictional meetings with UNC, Chatham County, etc., even though it does not meet the public meetings law. He said that when that many elected and public officials are meeting, then it is a public meeting. He said that land use planning with Chatham County is a great idea, but he is not sure that Jordan Lake water has to be the dominant discussion point in that. He said that when he served on the OWASA Board, he was adamant in his belief that the service area ought not get in a position that it has to pump water from Jordan Lake to serve its needs. He does not think that this is a sustainable option. He said that the uncertainty of the supply in the future has to guide the land use decisions and the pacing of growth. He is uncomfortable telling OWASA to ga ahead and make a deal on the Jordan Lake allocation. Jacquelyn Gist said that the community has made incredible sacrifices to have pure water. She said that she thought the quarry was so that the area would not have to tap into Jordan Lake. She said that there was a time when some people in charge did not do very good zoning, and she would hate to see this area give up the good water supply and all that has been done and get into Jordan because some neighbors were not totally responsible. Commissioner Jacobs said that OWASA was invited so that Chatham County would have the opportunity to talk about getting access to the intake site. He said that there was discussion about haw there needed to be a regional approach to the lake, how Chatham feels somewhat held hostage by Cary because Cary has the only operating intake site, and haw OWASA had the opportunity to get some return on its investment on 125 acres. He said that since there has been such a change in the political climate with the elected officials in Chatham County, the Orange County Commissioners wanted to enter into this with the attitude that if there were ways to work together, then water is something that should be put on the table. He said that OWASA using some of the Jordan Lake water was not in the discussion at all, but it is feasible if that is a choice. Commissioner Gordon said that this started out as a couple of meetings with the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Orange County and Chatham counties, and it has been broadened to include representatives from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Pittsboro, OWASA and UNC. She thinks that as the meetings go forward, that there should be a more regularized format so that there is a formal charge, membership, schedule, etc. She noted that the set of jurisdictions assembled at these meetings is very similar to that of the Chatham-Orange Work Group. She asked everyone if they would like a more regularized format. Jim Ward said that he wants to make sure that in the conversation that there is a recognition that OWASA and the communities it serves are in good shape with water issues because of decisions that have been made. He said that he does not want the interconnections with other jurisdictions and the good work of OWASA to serve and satisfy the poor decisions that have been made by neighbors. Mayor Foy said that Chatham County is not dependent on Orange County to get water out of Jordan Lake. He is interested in seeing Chapel Hill and Carrboro come to the same kind of agreement with Chatham County that they have with Orange County, where the joint interests are acknowledged in how the land develops in the area. If part of that conversation is facilitated by bringing OWASA into the mix, he thinks this is worth discussing. Chair Carey said that Chatham County is moving down an independent road, and he thinks that the current Chatham County Commissioners realize that they have an impact on Orange County regardless of what Orange County does. He thinks that Chatham County wants to work with Orange County. He said that this is an opportunity to increase awareness and there are no decisions to be made at this time. Bill Strom said that all boards should receive information and be able to ask questions. It is really difficult to come into this format and hear the leaders are not exactly aligned. He said that the information is third hand and he would like to have alignment of leaders. Mayor Foy said that there should be open meetings and everyone should be invited. At this point, the attendees are trying to articulate the impressions of the meeting. Chair Carey said that the information is not third hand because it is directly from OWASA. Dan Coleman said that at the meeting with Chatham County, the Chatham County Commissioners were clear that they saw the intake as advantageous. Mayor Chilton said that it is important to have some mutual assurances between Chatham and Orange Counties about the planning for the future. Whatever the relationships are, they should be two-way relationships, and they should be binding in a way that the results of a particular election could not undo. There should be a legally binding aspect for a substantial period of time. Randee Haven-O'Donnell said that a regional approach is critical. She would also like to see how a regional approach can address the Jordan Lake rules. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Chatham County Commissioners have expressed just as much concern about what was done before they took office as Orange County has expressed for the last 20 years. He said that having a mutual understanding of the interests across the boundaries is going to help Orange County. He further clarified how the meeting with Chatham County came about. It was decided to have one more organizational meeting In October before opening it up to all of the boards so everyone would be invited to the meetings. Jim Ward said that UNC is doing a study with OWASA, Cary, and Durham, and this needs to be part of the discussion. b. OWASA Presentation on City of Durham's Request for OWASA to Provide Wastewater Collection Service for 57 Residential Lots in the Blenheim Woods Subdivision OWASA Board Chair Mac Clarke made this presentation. This is a request to consider that OWASA should provide wastewater collection services for 50 residential lots in the Blenheim Woods Subdivision. Durham approached OWASA with this request, because for Durham to handle the wastewater from this new development will require the installation of a pump station. OWASA does not like pump stations, so gravity removal of the wastewater is highly desirable. The topography in this area does support the removal of the wastewater from this new development to the OWASA plant. The OWASA Board discussed this in some detail, and one of the concerns was that this would be a precursor to a larger request in the area because there are other areas of undeveloped land in this immediate vicinity. Durham has assured OWASA that this is a one-time proposal and it is not anticipated that there would be a similar request in the future. He said that OWASA is in the process of upgrading the interconnection between Durham and Chapel Hill to allow for greater volume transfers of water to or from Chapel Hill and Carrboro. He emphasized that this is for emergency use and not a precursor to same regular arrangement to move water in either direction. The upgrade will increase the capability here from 3.5 mgd to 7 mgd. The OWASA Board strongly supports this request and asks the local governments to approve this request because it goes outside of the service area agreement. Chair Carey said that OWASA will be formally asking each jurisdiction to act on this matter at a later time. Mayor Chilton said that this is a proposed new development of 57 homes. However, compared to a neighborhood in Orange County that was already populated that had been developed many years ago and where existing septic systems failed, it is considerably different. Mac Clarke said that there is a similarity in that, in both cases, there is no legal obligation on either party to facilitate the operations of the other. Durham could have refused to help OWASA, but agreed to help. This is what Durham is asking OWASA to do in this request. Jacquelyn Gist asked if these would be large homes on large lots and it was answered that there would be large homes. She said that she is concerned with the large amount of water used for green lawns and the stuff that is put on the lawns to keep them green, which would be entering into Orange County's wastewater system. She would propose that maybe OWASA could come up with a deal that it would be landscaped in such a way that water would not be wasted, using xeri-scaping or somehow recycling gray water. Mac Clarke said that OWASA has no control over the nature of this development and how it might be landscaped. He said that this would not affect the question of water going into the sewer system. OWASA will be charging on the same basis that it would charge any OWASA customer, which is that the charge will be related to the total volume of water used each month by each particular resident with the appropriate sewer rate fee charged on that volume. Commissioner Gordon asked if this system would be configured so that other people could tap an if they were allowed. Mac Clarke said that an agreement could be drawn up to ensure that, so far as the 57 homes are concerned, they will be the only ones that will connect to OWASA. Commissioner Gordon said that if the line is configured so that someone else can tap on, someone might be able to sue and force OWASA to allow it. Donald F. Greeley, a representative from Durham, said that this development is literally a small pocket of land on the top of the hill. Mayor Chilton asked if there were policies in place or an agreement with the City of Durham that would prevent the City of Durham from entering into Orange County with its sewer service without this being approved by the County Commissioners. Donald F. Greeley said that there is a service area agreement with OWASA that extends from Cornwallis Road in the north to the Durham County line in the south. Mayor Chilton said that the financial savings should not accrue to the developer because he bought this property understanding this situation. If the developer did not buy this property understanding this situation, that is his problem or his fault. He said that it seems that the money that is being saved on the pump station ought to accrue to the benefit of OWASA ar its customers. Mac Clarke said that each of these 57 dwellings will pay an accessibility fee to OWASA based on the scale of fees that is charged for anyone in the system. Mayor Chilton said that if in the end the developer is going to make more money because OWASA agrees to this change, he feels like OWASA ought to have a conversation with the developer about recouping some of the savings. Cam Hill said that if all OWASA is about is selling services and making money, then this makes sense, but some of the land use planning in that area is not good. This does not appeal to him. Randee Haven-O'Donnell said that she sees this as the beginning of more requests to come. Review of Revenue Options Available to County to Replace Sales Tax and Other County Revenues to be Taken by the State (including Lost and New Revenue Sources and Amounts and Options Available to Orange County by Referendum) Budget Director Donna Coffey made this presentation. She went over two decisions made by the General Assembly this summer. First of all, the General Assembly approved athree- year phase-in plan that will relieve counties of their Medicaid expenditures by the year 2009- 2010. This year, the State is projecting that Orange County's cast for Medicaid will be about $4.5 million. Beginning in 2009-2010, the State will be paying these Medicaid expenditures. However, the Medicaid will not result in any large windfall of revenues, because as a way to pay for these expenditures, the State took the Article 44, or the last half-cent sales tax. In addition, far the first year of the three-year plan, the State plans to keep a portion of the Public School Building Fund monies of $457,000. The bottom line sales tax budgets of the cities and towns should not be negatively impacted because the County is mandated by the legislation to hold the cities and towns harmless. This detailed information is included in Attachment 2-a. Secondly, the General Assembly also granted counties the authority to enact one of two new local revenue options - either a 0.4-percent land transfer tax or a %4-cent sales tax. At the last Board of County Commissioners' meeting, the County Commissioners agreed to include the new local revenue options question on the May 6t" ballot. The County Commissioners have not yet made the decision on which revenue source that they will be asking the voters to decide on. The County Commissioners could put bath questions on the ballot, and if they were both approved, the County Commissioners would have to decide which one to enact. There is a very extensive public education component to this, very similar to past bond referenda. Chair Carey said that the Board would be deciding an October 9t" to appoint an education advisory committee. All of the stakeholders will be represented on this committee -including the towns, school boards, etc. Mayor Foy said that the League of Municipalities and the Association of County Commissioners worked together and put a lot of money to persuading the legislature, and the Association of County Commissioners abandoned the League of Municipalities and took it. He objects to this and he asked the County Commissioners to object to the association because he does not think that this was the right way to behave. He said that he was affronted by this. Chair Carey said that the County Commissioners were surprised with the outcome. Mayor Foy said that he would like the County Commissioners to register an objection to the way that the association walked off from a partnership and did not do anything on behalf of the coalition. He does not think that this is right and he thinks that it created a potentially longstanding rupture. Chair Carey said that the Board would consider this. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Manager has a proposal, but it has not been discussed by the Board. Laura Blackmon said that it is important to look at the best way to utilize these funds because they are not guaranteed funds. She would like to be very careful about dedicating the funds to some type of projector expenditure and then being further in the hole. One of the suggestions that she has is dedicating the funds to paying off debt service. She suggests looking at the long-term impact. Land Trust Affordable Housing Task Force Chair Carey said that this item was an a previous AOG agenda. He was not at this meeting, but he understands that some agreement was reached about the need to address this long-term affordability issue. When he discussed this with the Mayors, it was decided to come forward with a proposal to try to move this item forward with a set of recammendationsthot could be considered by the governmental bodies. This is addressed on Attachment 3-a. Jacquelyn Gist said that Carrboro has been talking about using some of the payment-in- lieu money to go towards maintenance and long-term affordability. She supports that, and she likes the idea of this task force. However, she would like to remind everyone that the Ten-Year Plan To End Homelessness is coming forward very soon. In Carrboro, payment-in-lieu is an option for affordable housing units, and she would like to use some of that money to go towards providing housing for people at the very bottom. She would like to ask the other boards to look at payment-in-lieu for long-term maintenance. Sally Greene said that she thinks that this is a community effort and all of the resources should be made available to end chronic homelessness. Mayor Chilton asked if there should be an element of trying to plan for the capital needs associated with the ten-year plan and it was answered yes. Review of Homestead Tax Exemptions Enacted by 2007 Legislature Tax Assessor John Smith made this presentation. He said that the General Assembly has made two new changes to the Homestead Tax Exemption, effective 2008. Instead of the qualifications being based on adjusted gross income, it will now be based on gross income. Instead of a maximum income of $20,000 to qualify, it will be raised to $25,000. There will probably be more people that will qualify that did not before. In addition, effective in 2009, there is a change where thane that qualify for Homestead Exemption will be given an option to potentially have an additional benefit. Bill Strom asked how many Homestead Exemptions were in place and John Smith said approximately 1,000. Randee Haven-O'Donnell verified that there would be an education component. Potential Regional Transportation Initiatives between ChathamlOrangelAlamance Counties, Chapel Hill Transit and Town of Pittsboro Chair Carey said that this item grew out of discussions with Chatham County in the recent multi-jurisdictional meetings. Mayor Foy said that he was at this multi-jurisdictional meeting with Chatham County and one of the Chatham County Commissioners said that when they are looking at developments, they do not know what they should ask for. He said that this is a problem because Chatham County does not have the resources of information that Orange County has. Jacquelyn Gist asked if Triangle J or the Institute of Government could help. Mayor Foy said that there was discussion of Chatham using TTA, but if Chapel Hill Transit were used, Chatham County would have to pay for it. Cam Hill said that Chatham County has received some help in the Commercial Corridors Task Force and Triangle J is a presence there. Commissioner Gordon noted that the multi-jurisdictional meeting did not include anyone invited to represent the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) or the regional transportation planning organization for the western part of the Triangle (DCHC-MPO), two key organizations for any discussion of regional transportation initiatives in this area. She said that if she had been invited to these multi-jurisdictional meetings with Chatham County, she could have provided some relevant information from her perspective as the Chair of the TTA Board of Trustees and Chair of the DCHC-MPO. Commissioner Gordon said that the mast important current action in terms of regional transit provision is the work being done by the Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAG), which was appointed by the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrbara Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO} and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO}. This group is taking a fresh look at transit in the Triangle with the goal of providing recommendations for the major transit investments to be included in the 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs} of the two MPOs. This group has been meeting for several months and is planning to wrap up at the end of this calendar year. This is where the regional transit planning is being done right now. The LTRPs will guide regional transportation initiatives, including transit and other modes of transportation. Mayor Chilton said that this is similar to the first item on the agenda in that there was a very high-level, but informal discussion about same of these issues with Chatham County. He said that TTA needs to be a central part of the discussion. Commissioner Jacobs said that the majority of the Chatham Commissioners have been there less than a year, so they are trying to catch up and are feeling their way. Another part of the discussion was that fewer and fewer of UNC's employees live in Orange County, and Carolina North will impact the surrounding areas. He said that this is a birthing process and there is a lot of opportunity. 6~, Written Updates Commissioner Gordon called attention to Attachment 6-a, which was Agricultural Support Enterprises Update, and specifically noted the Potential Issues section. a. Agricultural Support Enterprises Develapment b. Land Use Planning ^ County Comprehensive Plan Update Phase I ^ Efland Area ^ Town of Hillsborough/Orange County Strategic Growth Plan Phase II ^ Transfer of Develapment Rights {TDR) or Strategic Growth and Rural Conservation {SGRC) c. Jordan Lake Nutrient Rules Update d. Daniel Boone Property Redevelopment Update 7~ Adjournment With no further items to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 9:34 p.m. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair David Hunt Deputy Clerk to the Board