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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 11-14-2013 APPROVED 3/6/2014 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEBANE CITY COUNCIL JOINT MEETING November 14, 2013 5:30pm The Orange County Board of Commissioners and the City of Mebane met in a joint meeting on Thursday, November 14, 2013 at the West Campus Office Building in Hillsborough, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Jacobs and Commissioners Mark Dorosin, Earl McKee, Bernadette Pelissier, Renee Price and Penny Rich COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Alice Gordon COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: Interim County Manager Michael Talbert, Assistant County Managers Clarence Grier, Cheryl Young and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) MEBANE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Glendel Stephenson, and Council Members, Mayor Pro-Tem Patty Philipps, Tim Bradley, Ed Hooks, Jill Auditori MEBANE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: Everette Greene MEBANE CITY COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: City Manager David Cheek and Assistant City Manager Chris Rollins (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) OCS SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Donna Coffey Chair and Geri Martin, Superintendent Welcome, Call To Order, and Opening Comments Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order. He said he is pleased to have these meetings, and he feels this has helped to build a good relationship between the city and County. Mayor Stephenson said the city and County have had a good relationship for many years, especially with the joint economic development projects. He said the industrial park is going to help this take off. He said the future of Mebane is tied to great extent to Orange County, and the city is going to grow in that direction. He said there will need to be a lot of cooperation and collaboration. Chair Jacobs said that Commissioner Gordon could not make it this evening due to a prior commitment, and Commissioner Price will need to leave early to attend a prior commitment. Introductions were made. 1. Economic Development & Infrastructure Update Orange County Economic Development Director Steve Brantley passed out Hi-chew candy from the Morinaga Company. He said County staff is having the opportunity to meet with land owners, realtors, and the Mebane City Manager, and he is seeing lots of new prospects in the pipeline for the Mebane area. He said this is encouraging, and it is happening in part as a result of the announcement of the Morinaga project. He said his office and the planning department have a good working relationship with the City of Mebane. Commissioner Dorosin arrived at 6:08. Steve Brantley said Morinaga made an announcement in September that outlined the purchase of the 21 acre site and the plan to eventually employ 90-120 people, invest up to $48 million, and produce Hi-chew. He thanked the Commissioners and the City of Mebane for the public hearings and the vote in favor of the zoning. He said the next step is for Morinaga to close on the property. He said the company executives had recently made a visit and met many city and County officials. He said a commemorative candy dish has been sent to Japan, with seals from Orange County and Mebane. Steve Brantley said he just received Hi-chew t-shirts and he would be distributing those to all. He said the Morinaga announcement has created more interest in Orange County since the infrastructure is coming together. He said other interested people are inquiring about co- location on adjacent parcels, and stronger interest is predicted moving forward. Craig Benedict spoke about the infrastructure of water and sewer in this area. He reviewed a map and said there is a $4 million project under construction at this time, and $2 million of large gravity sewer is going in close to the Morinaga site. He said this was put into the ground preemptively, and Morinaga will eventually be able to tie into this line. He said there is also a $1 million line going in near Buckhorn. He said there are dividends in the entire Mebane area from this infrastructure. He said this was one of their first large projects done with the quarter cents sales tax. He said potential clients are impressed to see work already happening in this corridor. 2. Water& Sewer Availability and Future Plans Craig Benedict said there is another system in design for Efland. He said this is for the sewer flow in Efland, and the design is to flip the flow to pour into another gravity system. He said this will allow for more development around the Mt. Willing Road interchange. He said it will take several years for the flow to be changed. He said part of the inter-local agreement will be the intent of Mebane to pick up these customers in Efland. He said the County has matched the rate for Efland customers to reflect the Mebane out of town rate in order to make a seamless transition. Craig Benedict said water demand also has to be considered. He said Mebane has a joint water system with Graham, and Orange County has certain allocations with Jordan Lake. He said the County is in the process of deciding how to get water from Jordan Lake to some of their future economic development projects. He said consideration is being given to what is most financially feasible for the County and Mebane in terms of water supply. Craig Benedict said the dialogue has improved with Orange/Alamance Water Systems. He said this partnership is still an unknown, and there is still work to be done. He said the areas south of Efland that are not serviced by Orange/Alamance would be serviced by the City of Mebane. Tim Bradley asked if it was feasible to take water from the Haw River instead of Jordan Lake. Craig Benedict said that hasn't been considered but it could be an option. He said it would have to go through multiple providers, but the County is paying a consultant to look at the alternatives for water supply. Jill Auditori asked what additional costs would be incurred by Mebane for the sewer project. Craig Benedict said the sewer project is all Orange County funding, and it is coming from the quarter cent sales tax. He said a good portion of this goes toward infrastructure. He said once these lines are completed, ownership will be turned over to Mebane. He said there will be a maintenance cost at this point, but with the quality construction and gravity flow, it will be minimal. He said this infrastructure will allow for future development. Commissioner Dorosin asked about the direction of the gravity flow. The engineer from Mebane said Efland is being pumped to Hillsborough, and the Gravelly Hill pump station is currently being pumped to Mebane. He said the purple area on the map is being pumped to Mebane. He said there are some gravity sections noted in green. Craig Benedict referred to the map and indicated the flow direction of much of the sewer. He said the attempt is to create as much gravity flow as possible. He said the corridor planning requires the flow be intercepted in certain areas where it is captured and sent west. He reviewed more flow and station information from the map. The engineer from Mebane said the water network will be good shape. He said there will be a need in the future to put a water network in the areas noted in green on the map. Craig Benedict said the sales tax in Orange County has its limitations. He said if more sales tax can be leveraged in the future, hopefully it can be reinvested into this infrastructure. Assistant City Manager Chris Rollins said more lines are also needed for fire flow. Mayor Stephenson asked how many acres would be readily usable. Craig Benedict said the main sewer system is about 9 months out from approval. He said there are two 400 acre parcels that are zoned. He said this area could be marketed now, as it would also take about 9 months for a project to come here. Mayor Stephenson asked how much of the green area is owed by Mr. Wilson. Craig Benedict said Mr. Wilson owns about 50 acres, and his sister owns about 50 acres. He said if the frontage road can be continued toward Mattress Factory Road, it would increase the ability to market that area. He said there are owners in that area who are interested in marketing their property. He said there are lands with existing sewer systems behind the Petro. He said Orange County has rezoned 80-100 acres behind Petro, and these acres are ready and available. Chris Rollins said the other thing to remember in that green area is that there are other small water and sewer extensions that will be needed as other projects are considered. He said there is land being considered for development adjacent to Morinaga, but this may require water and sewer to be extended a little bit. Mayor Stephenson asked if the residents living in the green area are amenable to selling. Craig Benedict said yes. He said contact was made with these residents to gauge this. Craig Benedict said some of the zoning districts are very structured, but businesses today often combine office, research, light manufacturing, applied research and warehousing all in the same building. He said some of Orange County's zoning codes are a little archaic, and the County is discussing how to have zoning districts that allow for today's business operation. He said if Orange County had not proceeded with the office/institutional pre-zoning, this may have delayed the zoning and the deal with Morinaga. Chris Rollins said it would be good if Orange County and Mebane's zoning were the same. Craig Benedict said the County will begin the conversation with their planning board and the Board of County Commissioners to look at new zoning. He said Mebane can be included in this conversation. Chair Jacobs said similar efforts have been made with Hillsborough. Chair Jacobs said the green area on the map came about as a result of a joint work group that included Mebane officials Everette Green and Council Member Philipps. He said this area used to be agriculture/residential, and this zoning was changed. Chair Jacobs said there is already a water line from Durham to Hillsborough. He said this means the water is already halfway there. He asked if the group looking at Jordan Lake is also looking at the possibility of Haw River to provide water east, as opposed to South. Craig Benedict said they are asking all groups requesting an allocation of water to justify why that is the best alternative, versus development of a reservoir. Commissioner Price left at 6:38. Craig Benedict said Orange County is not looking at the Haw River at this point, though many options are being considered. He said before all is said and done, there will need to be more specific inter-local agreements with Durham, Mebane and Hillsborough. He said the purpose of this will be to prove to the state that the allocations are reasonable and feasible. Chair Jacobs asked how People for Progress are doing. Craig Benedict said sewer is being provided for the northern Buckhorn area, and it is being operated by Mebane. He said there is paperwork to be done to formalize the transfer, but there is infrastructure already in place through some grants. Tim Bradley said the reason he had asked about Haw River was because he did not want to involve another treatment center. He felt it would be less expensive for the residents in the long run. Chair Jacobs said it is feasible to form an entity with Mebane and say that this entity would like to access water from Haw River. He does not know that anyone has pursued this yet. The engineer from Mebane said staff is waiting to hear the results of the feasibility study before moving forward. Craig Benedict said there have been delays with the Jordan Lake plan as they wait to see how much water is vied for by local governments. Orange County Schools Superintendent Geri Martin arrived at 6:43 pm. Chair Jacobs asked if the people on North Buckhorn Road have started hooking up yet. Craig Benedict said yes. He said there is a seamless way for this to happen. He said addresses have been earmarked so that connection fees are paid for that area. He said there are adjacent areas that have the potential for development. Chair Jacobs asked about the Perry Hills area. Craig Benedict noted this area on the map. He said this area is on well and septic and only 40-50% of it is developed due to soil restrictions for the small lot sizes. He said the area is difficult to service with sewer. Commissioner Dorosin asked if the Buckhorn residents were hooked up for free. Chair Jacobs said Mebane waived the fees. 3. Transportation a) Mattress Factory Road Study Craig Benedict showed the road crossing on a display map. He said Orange County is now a full member of the Burlington Graham MPO, and Chair Jacobs has a seat on that board. He said this board has studied this interchange as a basis for understanding that Mebane Oaks Road is in an overcapacity situation, partially due to Tanger Outlet Mall. He said there is even discussion that the Buckhorn Road interchange could be over capacity by 2016 or 2017.He said Orange County can now participate in these discussions. He said the state is looking for more highway projects. He said the game plan, given the new scoring system, is to go with the traffic flow, and put these projects where the County might get some impact. He said DOT will be extending a frontage road, and this type of master planning frontage road system will improve the criteria to move it up the DOT rating chart for an interchange in the future. He said the County should start thinking about planning around that interchange now to insure that a building doesn't get in the way of a future frontage road. Craig Benedict said larger development projects like Morinaga can cause these types of interchange improvements to accelerate. Ed Hooks said there is already a huge industrial presence off of Mattress Factory Road. He said future growth will generate pressure on the state. Chris Rollins said local funding will also help to move these projects up the chart. Patty Philipps asked if there were going to be improvements to Buckhorn Road. Craig Benedict said this has been added to the list of priority projects. He said it is more powerful for cities and Counties to compare lists and work together. Chair Jacobs said the County recently met with division DOT staff and lobbied for points. Craig Benedict said big employment, industrial zones, and interchanges are going to be focus areas under the new formula. Chair Jacobs said Buckhorn Road is also a priority under the Triangle Rural Planning Organization. b) Transit Plans - Fixed Route Bus Service Craig Benedict provided an overview of public transit. He said this is being funded by a half cent sales tax for public transit between Orange County and Durham. He said the modes will include a light rail system; a bus rapid transit system; an Amtrak system in Hillsborough that would use the heavy commuter rail; and a local bus service, which is the topic tonight. He said the monies are in the tax for an additional bus service in Chapel Hill to connect to the rail, Durham, and the Triangle, as well as bus service by Triangle Transit to connect Mebane, Efland, Hillsborough and Durham. Craig Benedict said there will be potential future stops in the economic development zones, such as the Buckhorn area. He said an east-west route from Mebane to Hillsborough to Chapel Hill and/or Durham is being developed. He noted that there is currently a Triangle Transit circulator bus in Hillsborough, and the plan is to tie into this. He said this is one aspect of cross County transportation. He said recent research has provided information on how many people work at Duke and UNC. He said there are over 750 residents in the Mebane zip code and almost 750 that work at UNC or the University. He said there are another 300 in the Efland zip code. He said if even 2 percent of these people used the transit system, it would fill up a good size bus. Craig Benedict said this is still in the planning stages, and this is new to the Mebane/ Efland area, so it is an educational process. He said a transit system could also attract businesses to this area. He said Mebane will be kept informed of the monies that are available. He said all money from the half cent sales tax that is allocated to the transportation system will be ratcheted up over the next 4 to 5 years. He said it is difficult to phase in bus systems, so the money may be held for a year until a robust system can be put in place. Commissioner McKee noted that there has been some discussion by Triangle Transit of running this express route down 1-85 rather than Highway 70. He said this would have an impact on the park and ride located in or near Mebane. He said he would like to keep the route on Highway 70 in order to facilitate the needs of those citizens. Craig Benedict said it was the intention of the Board of County Commissioners, by keeping it on Hwy 70, to capture residents in Efland and Cornelius Road. He said at some point, the bus could get on 1-85 as the last leg of the route. He said outreach has shown that it is something new for rural populations to have a bus service they can use for work or medical service. Commissioner Pelissier said Triangle Transit staff has been looking at this and they have found that over half of the riders come from Hillsborough; 1/3 of them come from Mebane; and only about 7 percent come from Efland. She said there are two routes that might have to be planned for. She said one of these would be regional routes planned in collaboration with the counties and Triangle Transit. She said the other option would be to have local routes within the county that run all day long and provide more stops than an express route. Chair Jacobs said the County has been meeting with Hillsborough for a long time, and the town is insistent on not creating more traffic through their downtown area from north to south. He said there would need to be a local route in addition to an express; otherwise people will funnel through Churton Street. He said this will have to be part of the balancing act; and it may require more participation by Orange Public Transit to make sure the local route happens in conjunction with the express. Chris Rollins said there is currently no public transit in Alamance County. He said there has been talk about getting this going. Commissioner Rich asked if there is any bus service available to the students at Elon. Chris Rollins said Elon has its own bus service that goes around the campus and to local shopping and the downtown area. He said this is funded by Elon. Jill Auditori noted that anyone can ride the Elon bus for free. Jill Auditori asked about the timeframe for this transportation plan. Craig Benedict said money is received each year from the half cent sales tax and vehicle registration fees. He said, based on this, Triangle Transit will tell them what funding is available for use in the upcoming fiscal year. He said some of the funding has already been used to expand existing routes in the Chapel Hill area. He said the County will be making proposals in January or February of next year, and implementation will probably be near June or July of 2014. Commissioner McKee asked where Piedmont Authority Rural Transportation (PART) terminates. Chris Rollins said PART does not have anything in Mebane. He said there is a park and ride in Graham that has the service down 54 to Chapel Hill. Commissioner McKee asked if there are any future plans to bring this to Mebane. Ed Hooks answered yes. Craig Benedict said there is a lot of infrastructure work that will take some time to complete. He said the County is being cautious not to roll something out before it is ready. c) Mebane Bike and Pedestrian Plan Chris Rollins said Mebane is working with the Burlington Graham MPO, and a consultant has been chosen to start this project moving forward. He said Mebane has done a good job of building sidewalks, but they have never had a comprehensive pedestrian plan. He said the goal is to start looking at greenways and pedestrian projects. d) Transportation Improvement Plans Craig Benedict said one of his staff members, Abigaile Pittman, works closely with the Burlington Graham MPO and has mentioned Orange County's projects to them. He said there has been a focus on discussing the Mattress Factory Road interchange, and there are attempts being made to get high rankings in that area. He said he hopes the Burlington Graham MPO will need to look further east as they fund projects toward Orange County. He agreed with Chair Jacob's opinion that it is better to have impact in a smaller MPO in terms of representative weight. Ed Hooks said the impact of their voting weight should be an advantage with projects like the Mattress Factory Road project. Chris Rollins said the Highway 119 project is supposed to stay on schedule and start construction in 2015. He said this will become the main entrance to the Mebane industrial park. Craig Benedict noted that Orange County and Mebane are both in NCDOT division 7, which is nestled with the Triad division 9. He said this requires them to look west when considering monies. 4. Parks and Recreation Master Plans Department of Environment, Agriculture and Parks and Recreation Director Dave Stancil said both Orange County and Mebane are doing master plans for parks and recreation. He said the County's plan is designed to look to the year 2030, which coincides with the comprehensive plan adopted in 2008. He referenced page 18 of the abstract, which contains a copy of the hand out given to attendees at the most recent public input session. He handed out copies of a map of the County parks. He said Orange County is nearly done, after 15 months of work to try and produce a vision for the future. He said much of the hand out contains the possible findings of the assessment, such as collaboration between the County and towns, and the idea of school parks. He said staff is finishing up their recommendations and service areas. He said the western part of Orange County is pretty well served. He also noted that the survey showed that people want more trails. Dean Ray, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Mebane, said the town is developing its very first master plan. He said a phone survey was recently completed, and citizens expressed a desire for open spaces; walking and biking trails; indoor facilities; picnic shelters and playgrounds. He noted that Lake Michael is a regional park in the master plan. He referenced the map handout and noted the red line that goes around Lake Michael Park. He said this goes 3.94 miles around the park, and the plan for phase two was to complete this trail. He would like to talk with Orange County staff about assistance with completing this trail on one side of the lake. Commissioner Rich asked about the layout of the trail on the lower part of the lake. Dean Ray said this side of the lake is on a hillside. Chair Jacobs said that the County survey showed that people want to connect County trails and greenways with town trails and greenways. He asked about the proximity of Orange County trails to Mebane and Lake Michael. Craig Benedict said the McGowan Creek corridor was part of the Efland Cheeks master plan, and there were two parts that included the McGowan Creek Preserve and the Efland Community Park. He said if this could be continued upstream, the headwaters of Lake Michael and McGowan Creek almost touch, so that would be the game plan. He said part of the other Mountains to Sea Trail (MTST) plan would have connected this. Dave Stancil said the Seven Mile Creek Preserve/Occoneechee Mountain/Riverwalk would the next closest network, and this is part of the MTST. Dean Ray said the N.C. State Foundation on the Hawfields side may have several acres coming available for lease to the City of Mebane. He said this is a possibility for an open space park that would be considered a district park in their system. Dave Stancil said it is important for a County parks plan to mesh with what is going on in the towns. 5. School Facility Plans Craig Benedict said there is a large portion of Mebane in Orange County that is growing residentially, and this is adding numbers to the school system. He said, because of this, the County would like to landbank property that has public water and sewer for use as a future school site to serve western Orange County and eastern Mebane. He said it would be better to do this now than to be left scrambling for limited sites later. He said the challenge is that schools can only be located where there is public water and sewer, so everything is nestled primarily around Hillsborough. He said it was suggested that three zones be looked at for potential land banking. He said the County actively looks at and projects for school populations each year. He said development projects can change those projections very quickly. Craig Benedict reviewed the three potential zones on the map. He said these zones are determined by populations. He said research of available sites showed zone 2 to have the best possibilities. He said there are not a lot of sites out there, as schools require 20-25 acres of useable land. He said the goal would be to find a site with flexibility for dual use in the future. He said a staff report will be provided in the next month or so, with approval from the new superintendent, and this will be brought to the elected officials in Mebane and Orange County. Orange County Schools Board Chair Donna Coffey said she appreciates being here to be part of the conversation. She said the district has seen slow growth in the last few years, but there was growth of over 200 students this year. She said the growth in the County indicates a need to plan for sites sooner rather than later. Craig Benedict said the economy has turned a little bit, and development is increasing. He said the impact of this growth could dramatically change the student projections. He said it takes 4-5 years to find land, create designs and get a school built. 6. Other a) White Furniture Update City Manager David Cheek said White Furniture is an old furniture store site established in Mebane in the 1800s. He said the 300,000 square foot space has been sitting empty for years, hoping for development. He said the current developer is out of Durham, and they have recently been invited to apply to HUD for market rate apartments. He said developer is working through the application process, and the town is hopeful this will come to fruition. He said this would be good for downtown and would create a lot more activity. He referenced the plans on the last page of the abstract. David Cheek said the downtown is already thriving and there are currently 4-5 renovations happening. David Cheek said the White Furniture Development would require HUD to guarantee the loans. He said the renovation plans are projected at $25-30 million. He said the fact that this is a historic property only allows it to be taxed at half that value, but this amount would still be a significant boon. b) Orange/Alamance Line Issues Craig Benedict said this line has been resolved to a large degree, but the Morrow Mill Road and Mill Creek areas could not be resolved with Alamance County. He said these two sites would be a different process, and they would be addressed in the 2015 legislative session. He said the County is figuring out how to engage the residents in those areas. He said there are 32 lots affected in that area. He said the school bus routing to these areas is problematic, as well as emergency services. Ed Hooks said the Mill Creek residents want to be in Alamance County. He said their representatives in Alamance County are interested in having this discussion with Orange County. Craig Benedict said the reason these areas were more problematic was because Alamance County was concerned about their western property line. Chair Jacobs said the Board did make an overture to the Alamance County Commissioners this year, but it was premature. c) Potential Bond Issuance Michael Talbert said the Board of County Commissioners has begun discussions about a bond referendum for November 2014 or May of 2015. He said the Board is considering a bond of around $100 million that would potentially include a new jail; middle school #5 for Chapel Hill; elementary school #8 for the County; improvements to older schools; and other County projects like Lands Legacy. He said this is in early discussions. He said the County has attained a triple-A bond rating, and they do not want to jeopardize this. He said the preliminary estimate on a $100 million issue would be about a 4 cent tax increase. Chair Jacobs said the last bond was in 2001, and this was for schools, recreation, senior centers, and affordable housing. He said the senior centers are up and expansions are already being requested. He said the schools have more need than even the $100 million could cover, so this is just a start. Chair Jacobs said there had been a suggestion from Tim Bradley in the past about working together on agricultural preservation. He said this might be part of the work in the Lands Legacy Program. He suggested a presentation to the Mebane City Council at a future meeting. He said a lot of state and federal money has been leveraged for this successful program and it has been a relatively low cost per acre for Orange County. Michael Talbert noted that the bond would be a 20 year bond. David Cheek said bids are currently being taken for a new fire station off of Mebane Oaks Road. He said this will improve fire protection in the economic development district. He said estimated completion of construction will be October of 2014. The meeting was adjourned at 8:02 pm. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna Baker, Clerk to the Board