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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 06-24-2008-6gORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: June 24, 2008 Action Agenda Item No. ~ ~ .9 SUBJECT• Initial Review of Proposed Chatham/Orange Task Forces DEPARTMENT: ,County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No County Commissioners, Planning, ERCD ATTACHMENT(S): . INFORMATION CONTACT: 1. Proposed Task Force Processes Laura Blackmon, 245-2300 (Charge and Composition) Barry Jacobs, Chair 2. Minutes of Orange-Chatham Craig Benedict, 245-2575 Meetings David Stancil, 245-2590 3. Draft 3/31 /08 Assembly of Governments Meeting Minutes PURPOSE: To review potential processes, including proposed charge and composition, to establish three new Chatham/Orange Task Forces and, following any revisions, authorize staff to forward the task force proposals to the other jurisdictions for approval and respective appointments. BACKGROUND: During the last year, representatives from Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro met on several occasions with colleagues from Chatham County to discuss shared interests and concerns. The issues discussed generally fall into three categories: watershed protection, transportation planning/public transportation, and joint planning. Information from these discussions was shared at the March 31, 2008 Assembly of Governments meeting. Based on that meeting, staff was asked to develop a proposed process with a charge and composition for three task forces to address the topical areas identified above. These task force processes are attached, and the Board is asked to review the charge and composition for each, and provide any comments or revisions. The Board is also asked to authorize staff to 1) examine the potential County staff resources needed to participate in these efforts, and 2) forward the proposed task force summaries to the other jurisdictions for approval and respective appointments. Following action by the other jurisdictions, the Board will be asked to consider final approval of the three task force processes, as well as make Orange County's appointments to the groups. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with review of the proposed charges and compositions for three Chatham/Orange Task Forces and authorizing staff to forward the task forces' proposed charges and compositions to the other jurisdictions for approval and respective appointments. Eventual adoption of the task forces will require staff resources from the County departments of Planning and ERCD. a RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board review the proposed joint Chatham/Orange, task force proposals, make any needed revisions, and authorize staff to forward these materials to the other jurisdictions for approval and respective appointments. Once these appointments have been made, the proposals would come back to the Board for County appointments and final approval. Attachment 1~ Chatham/Orange Joint Planning Task Force Proposed Committee Charge 1) To review and assess current regional and individual jurisdictions' planning efforts in northern Chatham County and southern Orange County; including topics such as; • Land Use Plans • Zoning Regulation • Joint Parks/Open Space/Environmental Acquisition • Land Use GIS analysis • Demographics • Interolocal Joint Planning Agreements 2) Discuss and strategize on possible opportunities and structure for participating jurisdictions to jointly develop and pursue regional planning initiatives; 3) Provide a report to all the participating jurisdictions' governing boards by November 18, 2008 on the regional and individual jurisdictions' planning efforts and possible opportunities and structure for participating jurisdictions to jointly develop and pursue regional planning initiatives through a joint and/or regional approach. Proposed Committee Membership Chatham/Orange Regional Planning Task Member Name Force Chatham Coun Elected Official Oran e Coun Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Cha el Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Lar e Member -Chatham Task Force Staff: Orange County Planning Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Orange County Parks & Recreation Chatham County Planning Attachment 1~ Chatham/Orange Regional Transportation Planning and Public Transportation Task Force Proposed Committee Charge 1) To review and assess current regional and individual jurisdictions' transportation planning and public transportation efforts in northern Chatham County and southern Orange County, including the integration of OPT, Chapel Hill Area Transit, and regional MPO and RPO agencies; 2) Discuss and strategize on possible opportunities and structure for participating jurisdictions to jointly develop and pursue regional transportation planning initiatives; 3) Discuss and strategize on possible opportunities and structure for participating jurisdictions to jointly develop and pursue regional public transportation initiatives; and 4) Provide a report to all the participating jurisdictions' governing boards by November 18, 2008 on the regional and individual jurisdictions' transportation planning and public transportation efforts and possible opportunities and structure for participating jurisdictions to jointly develop and pursue regional public transportation and public transportation initiatives through joint and/or regional approaches. Proposed Committee Membership Chatham/Orange Regional Transportation Member Name Issues Task Force Chatham Coun Elected Official Oran e Coun Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Cha el Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Lar e Member -Chatham UNC Task Force Staff: Orange County Planning Orange Public Transportation Chatham County Planning Attachment 1 Chatham/Orange Regional Watershed Protection Issues Task Force Proposal Proposed Committee Charge 1) To review and assess current watershed protection efforts in northern Chatham County and southern Orange County for both individual and regional watersheds, including, but not limited to, watershed zoning overlays, stream buffers, impervious requirements, stormwater controls, and land uses; 2) To monitor and discuss ongoing Jordan Lake regional water allocation and access initiatives, and strategize opportunities for participating jurisdictions to jointly improve watershed protection efforts that link water allocations, watershed protection, water conservation, and smart growth through ajoint/regional approach, and Haw River topics; and 3) To monitor and discuss the impending Jordan Lake nutrient management rules and consider potential collaboration opportunities, and 4) To provide a report to all participating jurisdiction governing boards on these matters by January 1, 2009. Proposed Committee Membership Chatham/Orange Regional Watershed Protection Issues Task Force Member Name Chatham Coun Elected Official Oran e Count Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Cha el Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Lar e Member -Chatham OWASA Board of Directors member Task Force Staff: Orange County Environment & Resource Conservation (administrative lead) Orange County Planning Department Chatham County Public Works Department Chatham County Planning Department OWASA 0 MINUTES Orange County Board of Commissioners Joint Meeting Of Orange County/Chatham County/Chapel Hill /Carrboro/OWASA/UNC August 14, 2007 6:00 p.m. Southern Human Services Center The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Joint Meeting with the Chair/Vice Chair from the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chapel Hill Town Mayor and Town Manager, ChairNice Chair/Executive Director of OWASA, and a UNC representative on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at the Southem Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Vice-Chair Barry Jacobs COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Vice-Chair George Lucier CHATHAM COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Charlie Horne and Public Works Director David Hughes TOWN OF PITfSBORO MAYOR: Randolph Voller TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Mayor Kevin Foy and Town Manager Roger Stancil TOWN OF CARRBORO REPRESENTATIVES: Dan Coleman, Board of Aldermen OWASA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: OWASA Board Chair Mac Clarke, Vice-Chair Randy Kabrick, and Executive Director Ed Kennrin UNC REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Carolyn Efland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services 1. DinnerNVelcome and Introductions Chair Carey said that this meeting grew out of a joint meeting of the Chatham and Orange County Commissioners in which it was decided to ask the stakeholders to meet and to find out if there is interest to move forward to meet as functional work groups to address specific issues that are of mutual concern. Introductions were made. Chair Carey said that staff was available to answer any questions but no formal presentations would be made. 2. Regional Water/Vllatershed Protection Issues • Shared Use of OWASA Jordan Lake Intake site Chatham County Public Works Director David Hughes said that Chatham County is expanding its water plant. Presently, the allocation is six million gallons per day from Jordan Lake, and there have been discussions with the Division of Water Resources to expand this allocation for Chatham County. To do this, it has to be opened to surrounding jurisdictions that also need allocations from Jordan Lake. He said that this is a long process and there will have to be cooperation from a lot of the stakeholders in order to get more of an allocation from Jordan 2 0 Lake. There are also some issues with the intake with Cary. All of Chatham County's water supply comes from Jordan Lake. Chair Carey asked how long the agreement was with Cary to access water through its intake and David Hughes said 50 years. Chatham County Commissioner Vice-Chair George Lucier said that Chatham County is interested in a western intake. It is his understanding that there will only be two intakes allowed in the lake, and there is already one from Cary. He said that a strong justification to get an increase would require a regional approach. Mac Clarke made reference to the statement from OWASA, which was distributed to all. Commissioner Jacobs asked Mac Clarke to talk about the study that is underway that involves UNC, OWASA, Durham, and Cary. Mac Clarke said that this is a low-level study in that funding has been limited and it is proceeding slowly. It is basically a discussion of utility bodies in the area to see if there can be cooperation. Ed Holland, OWASA Planning Director, said that OWASA is participating along with Cary and Durham in the study looking at optimizing the interconnected water supplies around Jordan Lake. The work right now is focused on the feasibility of moving enough water around to meet needs and manage risks through existing and enhanced facilities. This is the second year of the study, which is costing $40,000 a year total, and which is being split between the three utilities. Commissioner Jacobs asked why it was decided not to include Chatham County and Ed Holland said that his understanding was that Chatham County was contacted. George Lucier said that he is a new Commissioner, but he has no recollection of this. Chair Carey asked if was too late to involve Chatham County since the study began two years ago and Ed Holland said no, not in his opinion. George Lucier said that he is interested, but he cannot speak for the other four County Commissioners. George Lucier and Ed Holland will try to facilitate the involvement of Chatham County in the study. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the work between OWASA and Chatham County. County Manager Charlie Horne said that there have been discussions over the years about the potential for a regional water system or an intake on the western side of the lake with a regional partnership. Ed Kerwin said that from OWASA's point of view, they are working hard not to have to use Jordan Lake, but to use its own local resources (University Lake, Cane Creek reservoir, etc.). He said that it is still prudent for them to hold onto the present allocation. The goal is to have a collaborative process with all jurisdictions involved. Discussion ensued on the use of chloromine for disinfection of water. Ed Kerwin said that it is a must for OWASA for disinfection purposes. Chair Carey said that he hopes there will be regional collaboration from this meeting with the interested entities. George Lucier said that he is hearing that as Chatham County tries to move forward on their water supply issue, that all would be willing to work in an regional format to help them address this issue: Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like a summary of what Chatham County and OWASA have been discussing over the past eight years on this topic so that there is some framework of what has been on the table. He said that if Chatham County is interested in regional cooperation and the others are too, then this type of information would be helpful to all. He said that Orange County has a 1 million gallon per day allocation that could be used as some kind of leverage maybe with Durham. There is an EDD that needs servicing, and maybe there could be a discounted rate on the water that is supplied. 0 Charlie Horne said that this information could be put together. Ed Kerwin said to start with the letter from Chatham County (David Hughes) to the State. He said that he thinks it is smart that Chatham County wants to have its own allocation. Randy Kabrick said that OWASA is one of the most forward thinking and Chatham County is ten years behind OWASA in planning. Commissioner Jacobs pointed out the letter from Orange County regarding the rules for the water supply nutrients. Chair Carey said that he had hoped this meeting would go in the direction it is going and this is just a start. Randy Voller said that he thinks they need to move quicker because the private sector will force the hand. Dan Coleman said that this needs to go back to the respective boards. Randy Voller said that it is important that they are consistent with the message and cooperative; and the sooner, the better. He said that failure to plan is planning to fail. 2. Joint Parks/Open Space Acquisition/Development • Chapel Hill Southern Park shared use options Chair Carey said that all entities are already working together on other things besides Southern Park. Southem Park is imminent. Mayor Foy made reference to the data sheet on Southern Park. The work has just begun on this 72-acre park. The park will be 60% open space and it is very close to Chatham County. Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Orange County have collaborated on this park. He made reference to #8 for future phases, which is Future Facility Not Designated, and said that the plan is for this to be a community center. This part would be pretty far into the future. He said that there has been some discussion about whether Chatham County is interested in being a partner with the development of this park, and how this would play out. The Chapel Hill Town Board is interested, but there was a question about what the cooperative effort would look like, given the fact that there is so much pressure with soccer fields. He said that his recommendation is to talk about this, and if Chatham County wants to move it along, then everyone can decide on the points to address in the cooperation. George Lucier said that Chatham County is in the process of acquiring land for a northeast park as well as in the north central part of the county for another park. He said that it might be helpful to work toward some joint agreement for use of these parks cross-county. Chair Carey said that it would be good to have the interested parties to have further discussions about this. George Lucier said that it will take the Recreation and Parks Departments getting involved together. Commissioner Jacobs said that Southern Park would probably be on line 3-4 years ahead of the Chatham County parks. He encouraged the creation of partnerships that can start now. There are three soccer fields at Southern Park that will not have lights, and if there were lights, then the usage could be extended. Mayor Foy said that these things should be identified and put on the table to discuss. Mayor Foy and George Lucier agreed to move forward on this collaboration together. Chair Carey said to make sure that all are involved, including Pittsboro. Mayor Voller said that Pittsboro has land on the other end of the town, and there could be two large parks on this land. He said that the plans for this could be sent to the other parties. This land is on 501. George Lucier said that, in relation to parks, there is a lot of impetus to create greenways along the Haw River. He would like to help make this happen. 4 Commissioner Jacobs said that Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil was working on something regarding Haw River. Dave Stancil said that Orange County is a member of the Haw River Trail Partnership. Haw River is the southwestern corner of Orange County. Laura Blackmon asked Dave Stancil to speak to the purchase of property as a watershed site in this area. Dave Stancil said that this relates to the Jordan Lake Macro Site. This includes part of Chapel Hill, Orange County, and Chatham County. There are opportunities for collaboration on conservation. George Lucier said that his Board of County Commissioners would be very supportive of this. Mayor Foy asked Dave Stancil who he shared information with in Chapel Hill about this and Dave Stancil said staff and the Mayor. It has been awhile. Laura Blackmon asked Dave Stancil to forward this information to the Managers again and Chair Carey asked the Managers to revive the issue on this corridor. Commissioner Jacobs asked Planning Director Craig Benedict about the density of the part of Orange County in the Haw River watershed and Craig Benedict said that the density is one unit per acre. He pointed this out on a map. George Lucier asked about the buffer along the river and Craig Benedict said 60-80 feet on either side of the stream and 80 feet along the floodplain. George Lucier said that Chatham County is having a public hearing next week on updating the stream buffer requirements, especially those that will flow into Jordan Lake. When this process is completed in the next couple of months, the information will be transmitted to Orange County. 3. Transportation Planning/Public Transportation • OPT/CTN/Chapel Hill Transit Coordination Chair Carey said there has been some talk about public transportation collaboration between Pittsboro, Chapel Hill, Chatham County, and UNC. Dan Coleman said that at some point TTA should be in this mix and Commissioner Jacobs said that he has talked with David King of T"i'A and he wants to come to the next meeting. Commissioner Jacobs said that one of things also is that Chatham County and others need to be brought into the discussions about how Carolina North is going to be served by public transportation. George Lucier said that this should be pursued sooner rather than later. He said that at the last MPO meeting, it was reported that the eastern part of Chatham County will grow by 83,000 people by 2035 and it will only get 15,000 jobs. He said that, if these projections are correct, most everyone living in Chatham County will be going north into Chapel Hill to work. The projections may turn out not to be correct because the current Board of County Commissioners was elected on a slow growth platform. However, there are currently 16,000 houses that have been approved but not yet built. He thinks that it has to be assumed that something like this will happen. Mayor Foy said that the Chapel Hill Town Council started talking about this with the Chatham County Commissioners five years ago, and since then, UNC has built one park and ride lot on 501. He said that it is important that a transportation system start and TTA has to be part of this. He said that Chapel Hill Transit needs to decide if it wants to get involved outside its service boundary. Charlie Horne said that it is one thing to provide a service, but another to get people to utilize public transportation. 0 5 Mayor Foy said that is the issue Chapel Hill confronted when it went to fare-free. This was the incentive for more people to ride and it doubled ridership in three or four years. He said that society tends to widen roads in response to growth instead of looking at alternatives. Carolyn Efland said that from a UNC perspective, it only has parking for half the employees and about 10% of the students, most of which are graduate students. She said that UNC is losing population in the Chapel Hill Transit service area. One of the original plans when the current development plan was put forward to the Town, there were targets for transit use from home and targets for transit from park-and-ride. She said that people are moving out of Orange County and into other counties (Chatham and Alamance). She said that TfA's service area does not include Pittsboro proper or Alamance and that it would be good to cooperate with Chatham County. She said that she is not sure that TTA is the solution to the problem. George [_ucier said that he would envision apark-and-ride at Brier Chapel, 64, 501, and downtown Pittsboro. He said that his question is what they can do as these developments are being planned out as part of the application process. Chair Carey said that this is one reason to put joint planning on this agenda. There must be joint planning in this region. Mayor Foy said that when Chapel Hill looks at a development proposal, they ask Chapel Hill Transit haw that looks for bus service. He said that other jurisdictions do not have this luxury.. He said that the issue that this raises is how to get access to this kind of information. Dan Coleman asked about Chatham County's public transit and George Lucier said that it is more of a public service. Charlie Horne said that there are 16-18 passenger vans that take the public for a fee, but primarily it is for Medicaid patients, etc., and it is a scheduled service. Commissioner Jacobs said that UNC can help drive this discussion. He said that Hillsborough will more likely be the most immediately impacted by Carolina North. Hillsborough has changed its land use plan to anticipate a lot of residential development in the southernmost corridor. There will be apark-and-ride lot at the community college in southern Hillsborough. He would like to try and get ahead of the curve instead of playing "catch up°. Chair Carey asked if UNC could be the focal point to have the next meeting to talk about transportation within the context of the process on the planning issue with the Planning Directors and Managers. Roger Stancil said that the Chapel Hill Town Council authorized him to work with Chatham County with transit issues. The first thing he did was to talk with TTA and there is a partnership now because T'fA cannot currently serve Chatham County with the present contract. The plan is to meet with the Chatham County staff to talk about doing some market studies to understand the need. Mayor Voller asked if everyone agreed that there is a need to do this and all agreed. He said that he has talked with TTA also to find out how to get Pittsboro involved. At the RPO level, Pittsboro sent a resolution back with Pat Strong to Chair Kinley and the board to look at to say that Pittsboro wants public transportation to be part of the planning. He is now waiting for an answer. He would like to get this done, especially with UNC, because most of the people moving into Pittsboro are working at UNC or are going there for medical services. Roger Stancil said that Chapel Hill could work with Chatham County and Commissioner Jacobs asked that OPT be included also. 4. Joint Planning Mayor Foy said that he would like to continue discussions on joint planning and flesh this out. . Chair Carey suggested asking the Planning Directors and Managers to talk and to bring some possibilities back to the boards to benefit from expertise on joint planning. Io 6 Mayor Voller asked about the TDR issue and if there is any headway. Chair Carey said that the Planning Director can incorporate that discussion with the joint planning information. Commissioner Jacobs said that it was suggested to set up a work group before they go back to a joint meeting of the full boards since they are still creating visions and relationships. He asked if there should be this type of meeting again or the full boards. George Lucier said that he does not think they are quite there yet with the full boards. Chair Carey suggested having another meeting like this and keeping the full boards informed. He suggested meeting in October. Commissioner Jacobs said that, in the meantime, the boards could be brought up to speed and OWASA could make a presentation on September 20'r' at the Assembly of Governments meeting. 6. Other 6. Next Steps 7. Adjournment With no further items to address, the meeting was adjourned at 8:17:41 PM. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair it Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board is MINUTES Orange County Board of Commissioners Joint Meeting Of Orange County/Chatham County/Pittsboro/Chapel Hill /Carrboro/OWASA/UNC October 30, 2007 6:00 p.m. Southern Human Services Center The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Joint Meeting with the Chair/Vice-Chair from the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro Mayor and Town Manager, Chair/Vice-Chair/Executive Director of OWASA, and a UNC representative on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 6:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Moses Carey, Jr., and Vice-Chair Barry Jacobs COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant Managers Gwen Harvey and Willie Best and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Carl Thompson, Vice-Chair George Lucier and Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck CHATHAM COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Charlie Horne TOWN OF PITI'SBORO STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Bill Teny TOWN OF PITI'SBORO REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Mayor Randy Voller, TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Roger Stancil TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Mayor Kevin Foy TOWN OF CARRBORO REPRESENTATIVES: Mayor Mark Chilton TOWN OF CARRBORO STAFF ABSENT: Town Manager Steve Stewart OWASA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: OWASA Board Vice-Chair Gordon Merklein and Executive Director Ed Kerwin UNC REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Carolyn Efland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services The meeting began at 6:23 p.m. 1. Dinner/Welcome and Introductions Introductions were made. Chair Carey said~that at the last meeting they discussed the items below and this is a follow-up meeting. After the previous planning meeting, there was sentiment that jurisdictions would like to meet as full boards in the near future. He said that he would like to leave this follow-up meeting with a direction of where to go from here. Commissioner Jacobs said that some people thought that this meeting was under the radar, but Chair Carey and Mayor Foy assured them at the Assembly of Governments meeting that this was not the case. 2. Value Added Agricultural Products Processing Center Update and Discussion Orange County Agricultural Economic Development Coordinator Noah Rannells said that this study began back in 2005 when the Orange County Commissioners requested a citizen board to examine the need for aValue-Added Agricultural Products Processing Center. This spring, after talking with other jurisdictions about participating in this center along with private z 13 sector entities, Orange County acted as the fiscal agent for the contract and contracted with Smithson Mills, who used to work for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and has worked with almost every single value-added facility in the State. The feasibility study is underway and there should be a report in November. The survey accomplishes several things: 1. A survey of potential users for types of products at this facility; 2. Organizational structure of this entity -Orange, Chatham, Alamance, and Durham Counties; Weaver Street Market; and Whole Foods. The consultant will come forward with some ideas of how this facility might be run. 3. Site selection options. George Lucier asked about the two counties that did not respond and Noah Rannells said that Caswell and Person Counties declined to participate, but they are interested in this idea. Tom Vanderbeck asked about the value of the.study and it was answered $15,000: He asked how this consultant was chosen and if all entities were involved. Noah Rannells said that input was solicited from the other counties and he spoke with the Chatham Ag Advisory Board. There were then surveys mailed to all participants of the advisory group as well as the representatives from Chatham County. The survey was also distributed among local listservs and was available on Orange County's website. Commissioner Jacobs asked about the respondents - 64 from four counties -and why this is an indicator. Noah Rannells said that he talked with Smithson Mills today, who said that the response rate was very good and very diverse. The response to the survey indicates a strong demand for this type of facility. George t_ucier asked about the next steps and Chair Carey said that once they get the final report and the recommendations, it would be a good time for the collective group to meet again. Mayor Chilton asked about the extent of the relationships with community colleges. Noah Rannells said that the last meeting was hosted by Alamance Community College Culinary Program. There has been an effort to invite Durham Tech, but the participation has been nil to this point. Alamance Community College is a strong partner. Chair Carey asked Noah Rannells what the jurisdictions should do between now and when the report is submitted, and Noah Rannells said that there is opportunity now for informal discussion and thought and not to allow this to lose steam. He said that he understands that Senator Ellie Kinnaird is looking at pulling together a meeting to examine the bill she. put in and what it might change to in the next session. There is also an interest in having a representative from each of the County Commissioner bodies to get together in a smaller group to talk about the results of the study. Commissioner Jacobs said that it would be good to have one Commissioner from each jurisdiction to be engaged in this process. He said that Orange County put in its legislative goals last year $1.5 million for avalue-added agriculture center. He said that there is an opportunity to get 3-4 congressmen involved in this to get this written into the federal budget. It would be a lot more effective if multiple Commissioners from multiple counties were involved. George I_ucier volunteered Tom Vanderbeck to be part of this advisory board for the Value Added Agricultural Products Processing Center. Chair Carey volunteered Commissioner Jacobs. Dan Engals was volunteered from Alamance County. 3. Regional Water/VNatershed Protection Issues IQ- • Review of documents requested and provided by Chatham County and OWASA George Lucier said that his understanding is that the Chatham County staff is working with OWASA and other entities to see what needs to be done to facilitate a regional water supply out of Jordan Lake for the westem intake. Ed Kerwin said that there has not been recent activity on the intake issue, but there has been some work on the other study that was discussed about connections. OWASA Director of Planning Ed Holland said that at the August 14th meeting, there was information about a small study that OWASA was participating in with the City of Durham and the Town of Cary. This study is about how the interconnections between OWASA, Cary, and Durham might be optimized or upgraded for these three jurisdictions. Chatham County expressed an interest in possibly participating. There has been some work on this. The discussions were left that Chatham County would not be a formal participant in this study, because some of the information does not exist yet, but they would approach how Chatham County could be served with this interconnection. The work is moving forward. George Lucierleft at 6:54 p.m. Ed Kerwin said that this is a very important topic with the drought. Last week's rain only increased OWASA's water supply by less than one percent. It is important to discuss water issues all the time and not just when there is a drought. Charlie Horne said that, in his mind, what Chatham County is faced with is riparian rights and issues surrounding that. He said that Jordan Lake is seen as full and all are going to look at it as the answer to their water problems. Commissioner Jacobs asked what sense of urgency OWASA was getting from the State for regional planning for Jordan Lake. Ed Kerwin said that the Governor's Office is taking the strategy seriously, and the Policy Advisor facilitated a meeting last week that he attended along with others to discuss the water crisis and the need for a more unified message about conservation. He said that utilities do not have a simple answer for this.. The other issue is funding for regional water systems. Carolyn Efland said that UNC was asked to send copies of its water bills to the State immediately. Today the responsibility was put under Crime Control and Public Safety that the State's emergency response group is now managing the drought. She thinks the message is that the State takes it seriously. She said that right now the reservoir is way lower than it was before the 2002 drought, so by next summer, the State could be in dire straits. She is worried that the citizenry does not realize this. She said that there was so much discussion about reclaimed water use, and 2~fter the 2002 drought, there was a lot of serious work on it. This is just now under construction and will not be ready until 2009. She said that this is seven years from when they really got serious about reclaimed water use. Mayor Chilton said that seven years is good for developing anything of this magnitude. Mayor Chilton made reference to the western intake issue and asked, if they were able to work on this together, what kind of timetable would Chatham County need. Charlie Horne said that Chatham's need for water will be quicker than Durham and OWASA's need, and the timeframe at this point is that Chatham will need it within the next 10- 15years. There is an effort now to increase the allocation from Jordan Lake. Mayor Chilton said that Chatham County, OWASA, Orange County, and the City of Durham have an allocation from Jordan Lake. Ed Kerwin said that OWASA is working hard to not ever need water from Jordan Lake, but it wants to keep the allocation. Based on the current planning, there is a greater risk of shortage before the quarry reservoir comes online in the 2030's. OWASA's interest is preserving some future flexibility and minimizing any expense for that. 4 Chair Carey asked if there has been any facilitation of discussion at the State level about decisions on the intake and Charlie Horne said that he is not aware of anything at this point. Chatham County is in active discussions with the State about increasing the allocation. Mayor Chilton said that it seems that all want to work with Chatham County to make something happen and that there ought to be an interconnection. The question is how to move toward addressing details. He asked about the Army Corps' interest in having only one large intake. Ed Kerwin said that he thinks it was for good resource management. Mayor Chilton said that the bottom-line goal of this process should be that the actions of the local governments would increase the quality of water in Jordan Lake and Haw River. He said that eventually it would be good if Pittsboro's drinking water supply came from Jordan Lake rather than directly from Haw River. This would allow a larger section of 'Haw River to become free-flowing. Tom Vanderbeck said that this drought has highlighted the preciousness of drinking water and he would like to highlight the need for better reuse of water. He thinks that UNC and OWASA have set the bar high as far as reuse water. Chair Carey asked about the collective action and next steps. Mayor Chilton said that it might be helpful to have a conversation with elected officials in Chatham County about the land use plans for northeast Chatham County. Charlie Horne said that Chatham County is hard at work revising land use plans to get a better standard. He said that there should be more information in about 3-4 months. Commissioner Jacobs said that it might be worth asking that Chatham County and OWASA staff give a few immediate requests that Orange County could make to the State government that might move some of the decision-making forward. He suggested putting together a letter from the elected officials to the Governor. He said that the drought situation could be thought of as the state of affairs as opposed to a crisis just this year. Carl Thompson arrived at 7:28 p.m. Chair Carey said that it seems that some of the watershed protection issues are premature and there are some processes that are working their way through the pipeline. When these have been put in place, there can be more discussion. 4. Joint Parks/Open Space Acquisition/Development ® Update on Chapel Hill Southern Park/Chatham shared use discussions yet. Roger Stancil said that Mayor Foy and George Lucier have not had time to work on this 5. Transportation Planning/Public Transportation • Update on OPT/CTN/Chapel Hill Transit Coordination discussions AI Terry said that in May 2007, Steve Spade, Chapel Hill Transit Director, and he met with a consulting firm to discuss the opportunity to be included in the Regional Triangle Development Plan, which is the Durham-Wake-Orange County consolidation/coordination effort between the community transportation systems. The goal is to include Chapel Hill Transit's EZ- Riderservice in an effort to coordinate or consolidate Orange Public Transportation and EZ- Riderinto one service for one county. Wake and Durham Counties have one community transportation system. Orange County has two because of the rural and urban sectors. He said that there was a very successful discussion, and it will be included in the recommendations that NCDOT look at this and pass it down to the governing bodies of each area. Since then, the 15 5 Triangle Regional Development Plan process has been watered down due to the fact that the Assistant Director of DOT retired, and the two consultants changed firms. Three weeks ago, he met with Steve Spade and decided to continue this conversation to see how Orange Public Transportation could coordinate its efforts with EZ-Rider since OPT is encroaching into the urban area every day. At this time, the costs of the two services are being compared. There is a lot of difference in the costs because of the overhead. He has not had any discussions with Chatham Transit Network representatives because there have not been any requests from Orange Public Transportation to encroach into Chatham County. Tom Vanderbeck said that Chatham Transit Network is in Orange County on a daily basis. He suggested that there might be some economies of scale and coordination. AI Terry said that one of the first things to look at is the computer software package for the transportation system. The different systems must be compatible if this is going to work. Carl Thompson asked if the entities wanted to work together on the door-to-door service. Charlie Horne said that he and Steve Spade have met and the discussion up to now has been centered on UNC employees. There is some initial groundwork. AI Terry distributed abrochure - TTA 420 -and said that the coordinated efforts between two different transit agencies can be handled through a process. He said that T"fA funds Orange County 75% of this route. The route is operated by Orange County because the overhead is so low. Mayor Chilton said that Chapel Hill's EZ-Rider program is so well run and he would hope that this would not result in a decrease in the quality of service provided to the Chapel Hill clients. AI Terry said that there is a big difference in fixed route service and community transportation. Community transportation is very personal, and urban transit systems are not. He said that this effort could do nothing but widen the mobility of the same clients and not reduce the service level. AI Terry said that another issue is that there is a certification process that all transit agencies have to have for DSS clients, elderly clients, or disabled clients. None of the certification processes are the same for the agencies. He said that he and Steve Spade are going to formulate a very similar process between Chapel Hill Transit and Orange Public Transportation. Tom Vanderbeck asked if Chatham County was part of the feasibility study that fell apart and AI Teny said no, that it was the elected officials of Durham, Wake, and Orange Counties that made the decision to have the study and DOT is funding the study 100%. He said that DOT is looking to regionalize many transit agencies within the State. There will be some funding incentives for agencies that have regionalization efforts in transportation. Commissioner Jacobs said that one of the possibilities would be to have all three agencies combined to be under TfA. Durham and Wake seem really different from the way Orange County does things. Mayor Chilton said that one of the issues is that Chatham County is not part of TTA's service area. Also, UNC has spark-and-ride lot just in Chatham County. He asked about this service and Carolyn Efland said that they did run their own buses until this year, and now Chapel Hill runs the buses. Roger Stancil said that Chapel Hill Transit is talking with Chatham County about a fixed route service between Chapel Hill and Pittsboro. This is being coordinated with TTA. Chair Carey asked about the next steps. Carl Thompson said that his Chatham board needs to look at the options to become more involved, and task the Transit Director and Manager to make a recommendation to the Chatham County board. The ball is in Chatham County's court. ~ fo 6 1~ Charlie Horne said that there are a lot of things to consider in setting up public transit, such as land use management. There are some fundamental questions to answer as Chatham County is growing. 6. Joint Planning Planning Director Craig Benedict said that the Managers and Planning Directors have met a few times since the last joint meeting to discuss who could be involved in joint planning, the topics of interest, etc. He reviewed the handout, as shown below: Joint Planning 1. Who are. the potential partners? Orange County Chatham County County County Chapel Hill Pittsboro Carrboro Siler City Hillsborough Cary Goldston Other UNC OWASA Durham City/County Planning 2. Who should work on this? Orange and Chatham County Planners can take the lead to initiate the program. 3. Methods of Sharing Information among Governments Bi-Monthly Staff Meetings- Planners meet and/or conference call on a Bi-monthly basis. Discussions include primarily two areas; • sharing of planning concepts and possible coordinated government efforts • discussion of developments, projects and the respective impacts. Other department staff may also attend depending on the topic. Shared Website- Orange County Planning will be asking County Information Tech Department if there is a host website that can house updates from multiple jurisdictions. Reports will be posted regarding meeting topics. Development Updates- Development activity and proposals will be posted in a timelier manner and adjacent GIS can forward my email to everyone for comment Special Work Groups- If government staff is meeting or directed to meet on a particular topic (i.e. UNC transportation-park and ride, Jordan Lake Intake, parks). A briefing of the meeting and participants will be included on the website. Tiered Priorities/Vlfhat Topics? At this time planners are not proposing thresholds of review/impact or specificareas of information exchange but a pilot program to share growth management information. 7 Collaborative Planning Topics 1) Transportation 2) Utilities 3) Land Use Planning 4) Water Resources 5) Parks and Environment 6) Mapping/GIS 7) Housing Commissioner Jacobs said that at TJCOG meetings, there have been discussions of developments of regional impact. He said that it would be nice to be able to discuss issues at a more formal level. Developments at county lines are perfect examples. Chair Carey said that the suggestion of a phased approach is good. Craig Benedict said that a representative from OWASA and UNC also came to one of the regional planning meetings: The intent is to keep these important players involved. Carl Thompson agreed that there should be discussions between the jurisdictions, because growth in western Chatham County is coming fast. Mayor Chilton said that this issue is woven into the previous issues of water supply and transit. He said that there should be a shared vision for what the 15-501 corridor will be like and what kind of transportation should be here. He said that public transportation would be affected by what, type of developments will be built along this corridor route. Tom Vanderbeck said that Chatham County is working on a corridor ordinance and 15- 501 is one of the corridors. Development along there got ahead of the current County Commissioners, so they are playing catch up. Commissioner Jacobs said that years ago there was a meeting with elected officials from Chatham and Orange Counties and some of the people from Orange County were basically saying that they would not help Chatham County grow irresponsibly and that they would not help Chatham County with water. He said that Orange County realizes that the current Chatham County Board of Commissioners is a different group and there is a change. He said that both Chapel Hill and Carrboro Boards want to facilitate communication with Chatham County also. He said that he has confidence that the Chatham County Board of Commissioners is working to get someplace good. All other elected officials need to know that Orange County and Chatham County are partners in spirit as well as geography. Tom Vanderbeck said that the next meeting with Chatham County and Ti"A is November -1St Carl Thompson said that the current land conservation and development plan has been a guiding light, and the board is intent on following that plan because this plan does outline areas in their county where there should be conservation, etc. Mayor Chilton said that he represents Carrboro on the MPO-TAC, and one of the items Chatham County has put forward to the TAC for federal funding is the Northeast Chatham Roadway/Bicycle Plan. He would like to learn more about this plan. Charlie Horne said that when DOT does road widening or other modifications, as part of the expansion, it would widen the roadway to accommodate bicyclists. Mayor Chilton said that it would be good for the two counties to bring a more systematic approach to bicycle facilities between the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area and Pittsboro, and to identify a specific corridor between the two areas targeting for widening projects, but not along 15-501. He would suggest Jones Ferry Road. Mayor Chilton said that another issue is the Haw River as a recreational resource. It is a State natural area now and it might become a State park. He has observed that there have been some significant improvements for public access to the river along the bridges in Chatham 18 s Iq and Alamance Counties. He would like to work on improving the access point that is in Orange County. Chair Carey said that both of those projects could be topics that staff can informally discuss. Tom Vanderbeck said that Alamance County is also looking at this and there have been a lot of improvements on the access points. He said that this is worth looking into. 4. TDR Update -Strategic Growth and Rural Conservation (Orange County will be responsible for update) Chair Carey said that Mayor Voller from Pittsboro said at the last meeting that he was interested in TDR. He distributed and reviewed a brochure about this entitled, "Strategic Growth & Rural Conservation Plan." This has .been discussed in Orange County for some time, but small steps are being taken in order to do this in a manner that uses what the State can give (i.e., density bonuses). The goal is not to slow growth, but to direct it to the appropriate areas. Charlie Horne asked if there was a formula for the swap and Craig Benedict said that there are ratios that have been developed. It is an elaborate program and the entire math has not been calculated yet. Tom Vanderbeck said that this would have been useful in Chatham County years ago. He sees Chatham County going with purchase of development rights. 7. Next Organizational Steps Chair Carey said that at the last meeting, there was discussion of having certain joint meetings of full boards. He thinks that this may be appropriate at some point. He asked how to approach this. Mayor Chilton said that some items are short-term and some are not. Chair Carey said that there is a need to keep appropriate groups informed as to what is happening. He asked if it would be appropriate to have the staffs meet, the Chairs and Vice- Chairs to meet informally, or to have the Chairs, Mayors, and Managers meet. Carl Thompson said that if the Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and Mayors continue to meet on a regular basis, there will be a decision at some point that the full boards could meet. He does. not think that a meeting of the full boards is needed yet. Commissioner Jacobs suggested considering a steering committee. There is an Assembly of Governments meeting in April, and maybe Chatham County could join this to focus on a mechanism such as sub-committees, etc. Mayor Chilton suggested going with a shorter list of topics to be covered in mare depth. All agreed. 8. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m. Moses Carey, Jr., Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board ao 1 DRAFT MINUTES 2 3 Joint Meeting 4 Of 5 Carrboro/Chapel Hi11lChatham County/Orange County/OWASA/Pittsboro/UNC 6 February 21, 2008 7 7:00-9:00 p.m. 8 Southern Human Services Center 9 10 11 This meeting is a follow-up to our October 30, 2007 joint meeting, in preparation for a 12 presentation to the Orange County Assembly of Governments. That meeting will 13 occur on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 7:30pm in the Southern Human Services Center 14 in Chapel Hill. 15 16 17 The Chair and Vice-Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Joint 18 Meeting with the ChairMce-Chair from the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chapel 19 Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro Mayor and Town Manager, Chair/Vice-Chair/Executive Director of 20 OWASA, and a UNC representative on Thursday, February. 21, 2008 at 7:OOpm at the Southern 21 Human Services Center in Chapel Hill. N.C. 22 23 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Vice-Chair Valerie Foushee 24 COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant Managers Gwen 25 Harvey and Willie Best, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be 26 identified appropriately below) 27 CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair George Lucier, Vice-Chair Mike 28 Cross, and Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck 29 CHATHAM COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Charlie Horne 30 TOWN OF PITTSBORO STAFF PRESENT: TOWN OF PITfSBORO REPRESENTATIVES 31 ABSENT: Mayor Randy Voller and Town Manager Bill Terry 32 33 TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Roger Stancil 34 TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Mayor Kevin Foy 35 TOWN OF CARRBORO REPRESENTATIVES: Mayor Mark Chilton 36 TOWN OF CARRBORO STAFF ABSENT: Town Manager Steve Stewart 37 OWASA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Executive Director Ed Kerwin 38 UNC REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Carolyn Efland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus 39 Services 40 41 1. Welcome and Introductions 42 Chair Jacobs said that one of the purposes is to have an agenda at the next Assembly of 43 Governments meeting on March 31St. He said that there was some talk of forming asub-group 44 of elected officials in the future. This may come up at the AOG meeting. 45 46 47 48 2. Regional Water/VNatershed Protection Issues 49 a. Drought - OWASA 50 Chair Jacobs said that the Orange County Commissioners do not know what has 51 transpired since the last meeting. ~1 1 OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin said that the OWASA Chair had a family 2 emergency and sends his regrets. He said that one of the outcomes of the earlier meeting of 3 this group was the request for Orange County and Chatham County staff to meet to see if there 4 was something that could be done in Raleigh about Jordan Lake. This meeting happened in 5 early February, and the outcome of that meeting; which included officials from Chatham County, 6 Orange County, Town of Cary, OWASA, City of Durham, and State staff; was that the City of 7 Durham expressed strong desire to develop Jordan Lake as its next major increment of supply. 8 The Deputy City Manager of Durham said that Durham wanted to move quickly and was 9 planning to present this recommendation to the City Council, which happened today. There is a 10 draft resolution, which was well received by the City Council, and it will act on the resolution at 11 the March 3`~ meeting. The resolution states support of Durham asking for additional allocations 12 from Jordan Lake and directs the City Manager to work with potential partners in Orange 13 County, OWASA, and Chatham County in looking at developing an intake on the western side 14 of Jordan Lake. Also, since one of Durham's water treatment plants is nearing the end of its 15 useful life, Durham may be interested in having the water treatment facility at this site also. If 16 the resolution is passed, it will be sent to potential partners. He said that the OWASA board 17 next week would discuss this. He said that it is worth noting now that Jordan Lake is full. 18 George Lucier said that he thinks this is great and Chatham County has been interested 19 in getting a western intake. With this regional approach, he is supportive of this proposal. 20 Mark Chilton said that he does not share in this enthusiasm because he is concerned 21 about what will be done with the water from a joint intake. He said that Chatham County has 22 shown a wise usage of water that may come from this lake and he does not get the same 23 feeling from local governments in Durham and Wake Counties. He said that there needs to be 24 a connection between the notion of a shared intake at Jordan Lake and a good land use plan 25 that emphasizes sustainable growth. He said that Orange and Chatham Counties are moving 26 toward this type of growth, but he is not sure about Durham and Wake Counties. He is excited 27 about collaboration with Chatham County on water sharing, but he has a lot of reservations with 28 the City of Durham getting involved. Until he sees the governments in Durham committing to a 29 pattern of growth that is more oriented towards pedestrians, bicycles, public transportation, etc., 30 then he will not be comfortable. He said that to provide water to those entities with no vision for 31 sustainable growth would be a mistake. He said that if this is going to move forward with an 32 intake on Jordan Lake, it is not just a decision of the OWASA board, but one that should be 33 made by all boards - OWASA, Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro. He said that a 34 resolution is needed from each board supporting this before it should happen. 35 Chair Jacobs said that he wants to start making a list of things the entities would want to 36 accomplish by entering into a partnership like this. It is in Orange County's and Triangle J's 37 legislative goals that if the State is going to give money toward water and sewer infrastructure, 38 that it should require that those who use the State monies enact permanent conservation for 39 water supplies. He said that Durham has already started to lower its restrictions because the 40 water level has come up a little bit. He would like to have some constructive conversation about 41 this. It will be an issue in the Durham County Commissioners' race. He said that he knows that 42 Chatham County Commissioners are conscious of the growth. 43 George Lucier said that he agreed with Mark Chilton's comments, and sustainable land 44 use plans are important in a project of this magnitude. 45 Ed Kerwin said that he is not in a rush to see the OWASA system drawing water out of 46 Jordan Lake, but it is good to know that if they need it, it will be there. 47 Mark Chilton said that these conversations have been going on for about a year with 48 Orange and Chatham, and if Durham is added, it does open up a lot of additional questions. He 49 is not comfortable with the proposed resolution at this time. He sees that the overall philosophy 50 and approach is that environmental protection and smart growth are a complete afterthought for 51 many colleagues to the east. ~a 1 Mayor Foy said that, from Chapel Hill's point of view, it has a very strong interest in land 2 use planning collaboration. He said that Briar Chapel will have an impact on Chapel Hill, but 3 Chapel Hill has no say-so in that development. To the east of Chapel Hill is prime, developable 4 land, and Chapel Hill has a very strong interest in getting Durham to listen because it has a 5 huge impact on NC 54, 1-40, etc. He said that if water is the catalyst for the ability to have 6 influence, then it is fine with him. He thinks that regional planning takes place on a theoretical 7 level and not a practical level. He does not want to miss an opportunity with this possible 8 collaboration. 9 Mark Chilton said that he is not saying to not have the conversation with Durham, but the 10 timeline may be a long one. He said that this intake could very well happen without Durham. 11 George Lucier said that he does not believe that is the case, and there needs to be a 12 regional approach with Durham. 13 It was said that any intake would be managed by DENR and it will not be owned by one 14 entity. 15 Ed Kerwin said that is consistent with his understanding, but it could be owned and 16 operated by a single entity with agreements in place that assures equal and fair access. He 17 said that, with or without OWASA, he believes that this is going to happen and Durham is going 18 to do this. This is why it is important to work hard with the elected officials. He does not want to 19 be left behind. 20 Chair Jacobs agreed with Mark Chilton's views of the way Durham grows. He said that 21 he has always seen this discussion as an opportunity for OWASA to have another source of 22 water. He also sees it the way Mayor Foy does regarding collaboration and leverage with 23 Durham. 24 Mayor Foy said that if OWASA runs out of water, then it would pull water out of Haw 25 River, which is Jordan Lake. He said that Ed Kerwin mentioned that it would cost $8 million to 26 get them to a place where they would have water in an emergency. 27 Ed Kerwin said that there would be very little infrastructure needed for OWASA because 28 it is already interconnected with the City of Durham's water system. The worst-case scenario is, 29 if rainfall remains extremely low this year, that when the reservoirs reach a 15% level, OWASA 30 would put a temporary above-ground system to pump water from the Haw River to Cane Creek 31 Reservoir. The upfront costs to install that would be over $2 million. He said that the OWASA 32 board is fully committed to making the best use of the local resources. 33 In answer to a question from Chair Jacobs about adding Pittsboro to the partnership as 34 they move forward, George Lacier said yes. 35 Mark Chilton said that the goal of this process should be to eliminate Pittsboro's intake 36 on the Haw River, which is one of the things that causes the need to keep in place the dam at 37 Bynum, which is not an environmental benefit to the Haw River. George Lucier agreed. 38 Chair Jacobs said that this is another thing to add to the list of negotiating factors. 39 Mark Chilton said that he worries that certain State entities in Orange County that are 40 only modestly under the regulations of the local governments will see this as a justification for 41 more growth in their activities. There will be a consequential result on school systems, road 42 infrastructure, etc. 43 Chair Jacobs asked about the next steps staff is envisioning for this process. He asked 44 if everyone would be asked to endorse this resolution. 45 Ed Kerwin said that when and if the Durham City Council approves this at the March 3`~ 46 meeting, then it will be communicated to the elected boards involved. He needs the OWASA 47 board to authorize him to engage in these discussions with local entities. 48 Chair Jacobs said that he would like to add this to the agenda of the AOG on March 31St 49 He said that OWASA should be at the AOG meeting. ~3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Mark Chilton said that local governments outside of the region are also looking at Jordan Lake for their water supply and this concerns him. An example is the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority. Chair Jacobs said that the News and Observer had an editorial last week about how Raleigh better go and get some water out of Jordan Lake. Charlie Horne said that when this allocation process opens up, those entities downstream on the Cape Fearwill also have a chance to be involved. George Lucier said that Chatham County would be meeting with its legislative delegation and will discuss this draft, and he will also discuss this with his board. He said that this could also be discussed with the Town of Pittsboro and its Council. b. Jordan Lake -Coordinated Water Allocation and Planning c. Jordan Lake Rules Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stancil said that he would speak to these rules, but as of today they got word from the Division of Water Quality that there is a plan to take the Jordan Lake rules to the May 8th meeting of the Environmental Management Commission. He anticipates that those revised rules will be available in early April. Chair Jacobs said that Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Chatham County have spoken against these revised rules. Orange County also had some specific concerns about how it might affect some of the open space. Some of the requirements imposed might make it more difficult to pursue agriculture, especially in the rural buffer. Chair Jacobs suggested that staff compile the similarities and differences of the comments from these boards about the Jordan Lake rules, so that the differences could be discussed, in the spirit of building partnerships. d. Regional Water/Watershed Protection Issues Craig Benedict showed a map of the County with the Cape Fear basin. With these new rules coming forward, it is likely that Orange County will have to have additional land use regulations. He said that it will be difficult to achieve the 35% reduction level that is being proposed. Chair Jacobs said that at the AOG, there will be a presentation on the process and there will be discussion and direction for OWASA. Mayor Foy verified that the list of comments from each board on the Jordan Lake rules would be written. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Manager could get together with Ed Kerwin. Mayor Foy asked George Lucier about anything written from Cary and George Lucier said yes. Mayor Foy said that this would be good background information to have. Mark Chilton said that it would be helpful to summarize each local government's water conservation measures. 3. Value Added Agricultural Products Processing Center Update and Discussion a. February 19, 2008 Board of County Commissioners Resolution-Support for a Piedmont Regional Share Use, Value-Added Food and Agricultural Processing Center Chair Jacobs said that four counties, Whole Foods, and Weaver Street contributed to doing a feasibility study regarding this facility. The consultant did a nice job and made some recommendations. A Commissioner from each of the four counties met to discuss the recommendations. Alamance County passed a resolution indicating its support to continue. Orange County's was on the blue sheet. The consultant identified the old Orange Enterprise building in Hillsborough as the best location for this facility. The Board agreed to set aside this building for the facility. Orange County is waiting to hear back from Chatham and Durham Counties. There could possibly be a meeting between Orange County representatives, Senator 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 Kinnaird, and Representative Faison, who have introduced separate bills in the legislature to fund this center. Orange County has also approached Congressman Price. Noah Rannells said that that some assistance has been received from the American Farm Trust Southeast Representative Jerry Cohn in helping to build a strategy. He pointed out the backside of the resolution, which has 13 points provided by the consultant to help move the process forward. The target dates were put in by Orange County staff. From a producer perspective, the plan is to have 501(c)3 status and begin trying to get some commitment from a project manager to help steer this forward. George Lucier said that Tom Vanderbeck has been attending these meetings and he will be reporting to the Chatham County Commissioners on this. Noah Ranells said that Durham is trying to get this issue on one of the upcoming agendas. Chair Jacobs pointed out that Orange County has been working on this for nine years. Mark Chilton said that there is a UNC student organization that is interested in this. The resolution is shown below: RESOLUTION Support for a Piedmont Regional Shared Use, Vale Added, Food and Agricultural Processing Center WHEREAS, the recent tobacco buyout program has left many farmers seeking economically profitable alternative enterprises to allow them to remain farming; and, WHEREAS, the proximity of Alamance, Chatham, Durham, and Orange Counties to markets for value added products is significant given existence of local farmers' markets, grocers, restaurateurs, and food service managers that buy local farm products; and, WHEREAS, added value products provide a means to retain economically viable, thriving farms in Alamance, Chatham, Durham, and Orange Counties, benefiting our rural character and agricultural heritage, and contributing to the health and high quality of life; and, WHEREAS, shared use value added processing centers require careful planning and strong collaborations to be successful; and,. WHEREAS, a feasibility study funded by Alamance, Chatham, Durham, and Orange Counties, as well as Weaver Street Market and Whole Foods, was completed in November 2007, and, WHEREAS, the survey respondents included 36 percent fruit and vegetable growers, 27 percent livestock producers, and 28 percent specialty food producers, caterers, or restaurateurs, who together currently produce 74 food items, and in the future desire to produce 112 distinct products; and, WHEREAS, the feasibility study indicates client use at the facility can reach 142 production hours per week in one year and would generate more than $150,000 in fees in years 2 and 3 of operation, and gross income generated by clients using the facility would be between $800,000 and $1.2 million per year; and, WHEREAS, the feasibility report detailed 13 action items that will ensure that the center can open in 2009; NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners: as 1 2 1) Agree to participate in a regional,, multi-county, value-added shared-use food and 3 agricultural processing center; 4 2) Formally allocate the former Orange Enterprise Building on Valley Forge Road in 5 Hillsborough for development of a regional value-added shared-use food and agricultural 6 processing center, 7 3) Recommend that the governing board of the Center become a 501(c)3; and 8 4) Agree that the shared monetary compensation for the Valley Forge Road property (item 9 2 above) will be determined later and request that equitable fiscal support among 10 partners be pursued that recognizes the allocation of the Orange Enterprise building 11 owned by Orange County. 12 13 This the 19~' day of February 2008. 14 15 4. Joint Parks/Open Space Acquisition/Development 16 a. Southern Park 17 Mayor Foy said that it is almost finished, but there is a hold up on the fields because of 18 the watering issue. 19 Roger Stancil said that the staff is looking at drilling a well, artificial turf, or trucking water 20 in. 21 Mayor Foy said that he and George Lucier were supposed to talk and George Lucier 22 said that the respective Recreation and Parks Departments were supposed to get together and 23 discuss this. 24 Chair Jacobs suggested having a report by March 31 St for the AOG meeting and Mayor. 25 Foy agreed. Chair Jacobs said there is a U. S. Communities entity that counties can use to get 26 a group rate for different products, and the newest product is artificial turf. Orange County has 27 been talking about putting artificial turf at Smith Middle School fields, and it is about $1.5 million. 28 29 b. Potential Greenway between Chatham and UNC 30 Dave Stancil said that Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft had told him that there 31 had been some conversation about a pedestrian corridor/greenway tying into the Southern 32 Village area of Chapel Hill. He did not know anything further about this. 33 34 c. Jordan Lake Natural Area (macrosite) 35 Dave Stancil said that staff is continuing to work with some property owners. This would 36 build on existing open space. This natural area extends into Chatham and Durham. There is 37 slow but sure progress. 38 39 5. Transportation Planning/Public Transportation 40 -Regional Planning Organization 41 -Special Transportation Advisory Committee 42 43 Roger Stancil distributed a memo from Steve Spade, Transit Director, to him about an 44 update on staff activities related to Chatham County Transit Service. Several service options 45 are considering medications to the current Chatham County Express to serve the University, 46 operation of an express route reaching further into Chatham County from Chapel Hill, and the 47 introduction of vanpool service. There should be a more complete report in late March. 48 Chair Jacobs asked when Orange County and Hillsborough would be engaged regarding 49 Carolina North. Roger Stancil said that he is having conversations with OPT about cooperative 50 arrangements between Chapel Hill Transit and OPT. a~ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 AI Terry said that there have been several meetings with Steve Spade, and one of the options is using some new Freedom Funds from the Metropolitan Planning Organization that would give an inner-city senior route that would get the seniors to more populated areas and ease up on the EZ-Rider service that normally carries the senior adults. There is no discussion with OPT and Chatham County at the moment. Chair Jacobs said that, as far as Carolina North, this would be non-senior. Mayor Foy said that Chapel Hill is just about finished with its long-range transit plan, and it has implications for the broader region. Carolyn Efland said that there are some modeling issues with Carolina North and it may be April before there is any more information on the transit issue. Mayor Foy said that it turns out that the regional model numbers are bad because it says that no one is riding the bus on Martin Luther King Boulevard, and this is wrong. The next step will be engaging Orange and Chatham Counties. Chair Jacobs said to make sure and engage Hillsborough. Craig Benedict said that Orange County put together an Orange Unified Transportation Advisory Board last year, and some of these topics could be broached at these meetings. There are representatives from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. Mayor Foy said that UNC is very interested in Alamance County because it has a lot of employees there. AI Terry said that Alamance County Transit Authority accesses Chapel Hill through US 70 and NC 86. There is another transit agency that goes into Chapel Hill called Piedmont Area Regional Transit, which is an express route for commuters. This is an option of looking at another agency coming into our area. 6. Joint Planning Method of sharing information among governments ^ Bi-monthly meetings ^ Shared website ^ Special word groups ^ Tiered Priorities o Collaborative Planning Topics o Transportation/Utilities land Use Planning ^ Water resources ^ Housing ^ Parks and environment ^ Mapping/GIS Chair Jacobs asked where this was left off last time and Roger Stancil said that Planning Directors have been meeting. Craig Benedict said that they have been working on a shared website for joint planning. There have been discussions with the Information Technology departments. The Planning Directors are meeting on a regular basis to talk about these topics in general. Chair Jacobs asked how to move forward with making something happen. Craig Benedict said that there could be a resolution at the AOG meeting. Mayor Foy said that he is interested in Cary and Chatham and what they are doing, and their joint planning. There is also a work group with Durham. He would like to know what could be done in this regard. George Lucier said that the work with Cary came out of the annexation issue. He said that at one time Cary was more environmentally conscious about planning than Chatham and now it is the other way around. He thinks there are some river protection issues with the Haw River. There are some areas that the governmental entities need to work on together. ~1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Craig Benedict said that he would try and have a scope by the AOG meeting. Mayor Foy said that there are elected people in both counties that view their obligations similarly and there are mutual interests. He said that Chapel Hill's agreement with Orange County makes them stick to their borders and there should be something like this with Chatham County. George Lucier said to identify specific areas and have a Memorandum of Understanding, which establishes a precedent. Mayor Foy agreed. 7. Next Organizational Steps ' Chair Jacobs said that this information will be brought to the Assembly of Governments meeting. He asked if the boards wanted to set up a group to talk about issues, or create something like this that is ongoing without the Mayors/Chairs/Managers. Commissioner Foushee said that it was discussed to create something that did not have to be the Mayors/Chairs/Managers. Chair Jacobs said that it would be other elected officials on the respective boards. It was suggested to leave it to the AOG to discuss. Everyone agreed. 8. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:55:10 PM. Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board ~~ i DRAFT 2 ~ MINUTES 3 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 4 ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS 5 March 31, 2008 6 7 8 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in regular session for an Assembly of 9 Governments meeting on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human 1o Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 11 12 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Moses 13 Carey, Jr., Valerie P. Foushee, and Alice M. Gordon 14 COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Mike Nelson 15 COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill 16 COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Assistant County 17 Managers Gwen Harvey and Willie Best and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other 18 staff members will be identified appropriately below) 19 CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Kevin C. Foy and 20 Cauncil Members Sally Greene, Mark Kleinschmidt, Jim Ward, Bill Strom, Bill Thorpe, and 21 Ed Harrison and Laurin Easthom, Matt Czajkowski 22 CHAPEL HILL TOWN COUNCIL MEMBERS ABSENT: 23 CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Mark Chilton and . 24 Aldermen Joal Hall Broun, Dan Coleman, Randee Haven-O'Donnell, and Jacquelyn Gist, 25 Lydia Lavelle and John Herrera 26 CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEMBERS ABSENT: 27 HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens and 28 Council Members Frances Dancey, Brian Lowen, Michael Gering, and Eric Hallman 29. HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Evelyn Lloyd 3o CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair George Lucier and Vice Chair 31 Mike Cross 32 OWASA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Chair Randy Kabrick and Executive Director 33 Ed Kerwin 34 MEBANE CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE: Everette Green 35 DURHAM CITY REPRESENTATIVE: Mayor Bill Bell 36 37 NOTE: All other participants are listed in the text as appropriate. 38 39 NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE 4o PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 41 42 43 Call to Order/Introductions/Opening Comments 44 Introductions were made. 45 The pink sheets were meeting agendas from three joint meetings of Orange County and 46 Chatham County/OWASA/UNC/Chapel Hill/Carrboro. There was also a map envisioning 47 cooperative planning between Chatham and Orange Counties, as well as a simple Buckhorn 48 Village map. 49 50 1 Z Orange/Chatham County Regional Planning Collaboration Report 2 1 Chair Jacobs said that the topic of Orange/Chatham regional planning was raised at the 2 last AOG meeting and what was discussed at the joint meetings, and it was promised that a 3 more full report would be brought back at the next AOG meeting. Staff will make initial 4 presentations and then the elected officials present at the joint meetings could speak on these 5 items, if they wish. 6 Planning Director Craig Benedict said that, based on some previous meetings, staffs 7 were asked to meet and discuss regional planning with Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, s UNC, OWASA, Chatham County, and Pittsboro. During the discussions, it was realized that in 9 this regional perspective includes such entities as the City of Durham, Durham County, and 1o Cary. The areas of interest include land use planning, transportation, parks, open space, 11 environment, and GIS information and mapping. Some of the areas of joint interest include 12 Jordan Lake Watershed, Haw River Watershed, 15-501 Transportation Corridor, development 13 of regional impact, and the regional value-added shared-use food and agricultural processing 14 center. There was discussion about how best to share this information among staffs, elected is officials, etc., as new information becomes available. He made reference to Attachment 1-a. 16 Chair Jacobs said that the three main topics were regional watershed protection issues, 17 transportation planning and public transportation issues, and joint planning. He said that part of 1s that discussion will include joint use of Jordan Lake water supply. There were also discussions 19 about trying to get a compilation of the similarities and differences between the comments made 20 on the Jordan Lake rules proposed. 21 George Lucier said that the group talked about selecting specific projects rather than 22 going too global in terms of the joint planning exercise. These could include the Haw River 23 Watershed, Jordan Lake Watershed, 15-501 corridor, and planning for local parks -Southern 24 Park would be an example. 25 Chair Jacobs said that there was discussion about the interest of working together on 26 some of these issues, and Chatham's Board was interested in the same things as Chapel Hill 27 and Orange County, and this has not been the case in the past. Some of the discussions 2s involved Carolyn Elfland from UNC, and public transportation was a major topic. 29 George Lucier said that there are 12,000 houses that have been approved but not yet 3o built in Chatham County, and many of them would use the 15-501 corridor. 31 Jim Ward asked if there was interest in talking about a possible bypass around Chapel 32 Hill coming from the south. He said that 15-501 is already a parking lot at times and there 33 needs to be relief, and public transit cannot take all of these trips. 34 George Lucier said that there is not enough financial capital, and this would have to get 35 on the Transportation Improvement Plan with DOT. He said that DOT is deeply over committed 36 and it is starting to delay projects. 37 Jim Ward said to try and at least get it on the DOT's agenda. 38 Commissioner Gordon said that she attended the meeting of the Durham-Chapel Hill- 39 Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization, and in the next two meetings, the results of the 4o transportation study will be available,, which will address some of this area. She said that it 41 would be timely to bring up the issue of a bypass when this study comes out. 42 George Lucier said to bring it up at the next meeting of this group and Commissioner 43 Gordon said that it would probably be in May. 44 Bill Strom asked about an interlocal agreement. Craig Benedict said that in 1989 there 45 was a proposed courtesy review agreement and he said with the boards' approvals, they could 46 implement something like this and he said they could work towards a joint planning agreement. 47 BiII Strom said that there should really be a joint planning agreement discussion on the 4s table because there are joint interests. 49 George Lucier suggested working towards a Memorandum of Understanding, or several so MOAs. There could be one overarching agreement that would identify specific areas and then 51 have subheadings. ~q 30 i Chair Jacobs said that the AOG could direct staff to do this, but the subgroup did not feel 2 that it was within its purview to do this. 3 Dan Coleman said that the first step is to flush out the details. 4 Jacqueline Gist said that the horse is out of the barn and Carrboro's issue is how it is 5 going to deal with the water and transportation issues. She is concerned about the commercial 6 development along the 15-501 corridor, because it will impact Carrboro in many ways. 7 George Lucier said that the Triangle J Council of Governments did a study that estimates 8 that eastern Chatham County's population will grow by three to four fold over the next 25 years. 9 There is a building moratorium right now on large residential developments that is scheduled to to be lifted in June. During the year of moratorium, Chatham County has established a Major 11 Corridor Ordinance, zoned all major corridors, completed four lanes on some highways, 12 modified some subdivision ordinances and watershed ordinances, etc. 13 Commissioner Gordon urged the AOG to do something more formal than has been done 14 in the past. She would like to see the meetings among the various jurisdictions formalized more 15 so that people can come and participate. 16 Bill Strom said that if transportation is being discussed, then Triangle Transit should be 17 brought to the table. 18 Commissioner Gordon said that the Special Transit Advisory Commission is coming out 19 with a new report about additional routes. Regarding the joint meetings, she suggested having 20 different elected officials attend, based on the topics that will be discussed. 21 Chair Jacobs said that when staff comes back with a proposed Memorandum of 22 Understanding, then it could include how to involve elected officials. 23 24 21 Potential Joint Use of the Jordan Lake Water Supply 25 Executive Director of OWASA Ed Kerwin said that Jordan Lake has been in OWASA's 26 contingency planning efforts for about 20 years. In 2005, the OWASA Board adopted a goal, 27 which said that it would work hard to maximize the local water resources. Key elements of that 2s would be more proactive conservation and alternative supplies such as reclaimed water, which 29 is a system that is now under construction and being funded by UNC. He said that they have 3o also learned with the droughts that maximizing the existing resources will be a challenge. He 31 said that the drought has continued since this group met last fall. Another key element is that 32 the City of Durham on March 3~' passed a resolution, which is incorporated in the package, 33 authorizing the staff to proceed with discussions with Orange County, Chatham County, and 34 OWASA staff to explore the possible costs and benefits of a regional approach to Jordan Lake. 35 Chair Jacobs said that this issue was raised originally at the first joint meeting to see if 36 Chatham wanted to access water at Jordan .Lake as opposed to going through Cary. Over the 37 course of the conversations, at the last meeting it was learned that there was a discussion about 3s Durham and Chatham working with OWASA to try and develop a regional intake because it is 39 the best way for planning. 40 Mark Chilton arrived at 8:06 pm. 41 Dan Coleman asked to hear from former OWASA Chair, Mark Marcoplos, on the strategic 42 plan that was adopted in 2005 when he was chair. 43 Joal Hall Broun said that she understood that the state had begun a procedure of 44 reallocation of water in Jordan Lake, and she asked if this allocation process has been 45 completed. 46 Ed Kerwin said that there is not an open allocation process at this time, but there may be 47 in the near future. 48 George Lucier said that there are about 38 million gallons per day that have not been 49 allocated out of Jordan Lake. He thinks that the allocation from Jordan Lake will only happen if 5o it is a regional intake with agreement among the major parties. 4 1 Mayor Foy asked what happens if Greensboro gets an allocation. Ed Kerwin said that he 2 does not believe that Jordan Lake is in Greensboro's plans. The key players are the City of 3 Durham, Chatham County, and OWASA or Orange County. 4 Kevin Foy said that he keeps hearing of conflicting verbiage about Greensboro and s Raleigh wanting the water, but there are only two sites. He does not know how this will work. 6 George Lucier said that having an intake and plan on the west side of the lake would 7 simplify things for Chatham County. There will have to be decisions about this soon. s Chair Jacobs said that some concerns were raised about Durham's participation and 9 Mayor Bill Bell was in attendance for that reason. io Bill Strom said that he has heard different scenarios with OWASA's allocation. He asked if 11 OWASA does not use its 5 million gallon allocation, would it lose the allocation. Ed Kerwin said 12 that he does not know. He said that the State was clear that there will only be one west intake 13 on the lake and it needs to be through joint arrangement. He said that he does not believe that 14 OWASA needs Jordan Lake for daily demands, but more as a backup supply. 15 Bill Strom said that it is ironic and disturbing that, as good conservers, it puts OWASA at 16 risk of losing its 5 million gallon allocation. He said that something is wrong if their conservation 17 and land use planning is causing them to lose their "insurance policy" of the 5 million gallon is allocation. 19 Chair Jacobs said that when this issue was first raised, he understood that as long as 20 Orange County was a part of this facilitation, it was perceived that they would have access to 21 this allocation. The idea is that there is a continuum of possibilities. He agreed with Bill Strom 22 that there should be some type of strategy so that Orange County is not totally excluded from 23 yet another water supply and it is protecting for the benefit of others. 24 Mayor Chilton said that his concern about all of this is that OWASA has taken a good look 25 at its future water usage. He asked if anyone knew how long Jordan Lake would sustain the 26 demands of the Triangle municipal governments in meeting the water supply demands in the 27 future. He said that it does not seem likely to him that the additional water supply in Jordan 2s Lake will sustain the Triangle's demand for water for anything like the length of time for which 29 OWASA has planned for water in the future. He, said that once local governments have tapped 3o into Jordan Lake and drawing water out daily, there will not be any additional options for more 31 water in the future. He does not want to mistake Jordan Lake in the region for along-term 32 solution to the water supply. He thinks that there is a water consumption problem and not a 33 water supply problem. He said that, in looking at OWASA's own projections, there will not be a 34 serious water problem for about 20 years, and this only depends on how fast the service area 35 grows. If the area grows less rapidly and conserves more, then OWASA might not have to tap 36 into Jordan Lake at all. He wants to commit to avoid having to go to Jordan Lake except for an 37 extreme emergency. 3s Dan Coleman said that he is hearing that Jordan Lake should not be a permanent part of 39 the regular water diet. He said that he would like to suggest the possibility to be clearer in the 4o intentions to not have even the emergency access to the lake. He said that the middle of a 41 drought might be a really good time to do growth planning. 42 Jim Ward asked Ed Kerwin about OWASA's confidence level and Ed Kerwin said that a lot 43 of experts believe that the climate change in the southeast is that there will be more 44 precipitation, but there have been two record droughts in the last five years. He said that he is a 45 bit uneasy about these predictions and OWASA will be revisiting its water planning and will align 46 its tools with the government entity tools. 47 Jacqueline Gist said that Mayor Chilton's comments were very well thought out and on 4s target. She wants to know how these comments interFace with what OWASA is doing. 49 Ed Kerwin said that a key theme was conservation and management and this will remain a so key element in OWASA's plans. 31 3a i Chair Jacobs said that there was discussion at the school collaboration meeting that both 2 school districts are looking at zeroscaping and reexamining the policy on watering lawns at 3 schools. 4 Bill Strom said that he wants to hear from Mark Marcoplos. He said that OWASA's plans 5 are in response to Chapel Hill's land use plans. He said that if they want to take these steps to 6 close that period of time where they are vulnerable to having a water shortage, etc., then they 7 need to look at their land use plans, growth patterns, and ordinances and see how to adjust s them in a sustainable way. 9 Joal Hall Broun suggested that if boards want to participate, then each should go back and to discuss this issue as to what they would or would not agree to and then determine whether or i i not they would like to come back and discuss it as a group. She does not have an opposition 12 for staff to continue to talk about this, but she does not think that the issue of the positions of all 13 five jurisdictions will be solved in this discussion. 14 Chair Jacobs said that there seems to be general agreement that no one is proposing 15 changing any policies within Orange County governments in relation to how supply is used. 16 What has been raised is looking at use. He made reference to Resolution 9532 in the packet 17 that deposits the idea that there continue to be work on some kind of intake on the west side, 18 and whether or not OWASA is a party to the discussion. 19 George Lucier said that the water conservation issue is essential, but in Chatham County 20 there is an immediate issue of water use. Chatham County has to put out $15 million to 21 upgrade the plant to use the current allocation out of Jordan Lake and then up to another $15 22 million to upgrade the distribution lines so that it can deliver the water. This will increase 23 Chatham's water supply by about 2'/2 fold. This decision has to be made this summer and 24 cannot be made any later than this. 25 Mayor Bell said that he understands Mark Chilton's concerns. He said that Durham has 26 no interest in using Jordan Lake except on an extreme emergency basis. He said that each 27 entity needs to start planning, and the proposed resolution addresses this. He said that he 28 would hope that the boards would agree to allow the discussions to continue. 29 Randy Kabrick, Chair of OWASA Board, said that the board approved unanimously to 3o cooperate with Chatham and Durham to look at a regional intake from Jordan Lake strictly as 31 part of the water planning. There is no intention by the board to take allocations as part of a 32 base load. He said that this is a long-term process. He encouraged all participants to support 33 long-range planning, even if it involves a portion of.Jordan Lake for emergency purposes. 34 Mark Marcoplos said that he was on the OWASA board from 1999 to 2006 and went 35 through the first drought and helped to craft the new conservation measures. He said that, after 36 the drought of 2001-2002, he looked around astounded that OWASA was the only utility that 37 was treating this as a very serious, highly changing event. As soon as possible after the 38 drought, OWASA instituted year-round conservation and no other jurisdiction did this and it also 39 began the discussions that led to tiered rates to encourage conservation. He said that the 4o entities need to get the conservation and sustainability issues out there. He firmly believes that 41 OWASA has the know-how to get through to when the quarry is available in 2030 with 42 conservation, efficiency, use of storm water, sealing leaks in the system, etc. He does not think 43 that Jordan Lake will be needed from OWASA's standpoint. 44 Mark Kleinschmidt said that it is not in the AOG's interest to not participate in these 45 discussions. He said that he would like to see them at the table discussing what efforts are 46 being made in the neighboring counties and cities for water conservation and efforts. He would 47 like to hear more about the water reuse plans and other plans. 4s Bill Strom said that all understand that this conversation is going to take awhile to sift 49 through and the Chapel Hill Town Council needs the opportunity to put its thoughts in a 5o resolution. There should be no action tonight. He wants to be able to give OWASA clear 51 direction. 33 1 Mayor Foy said that there should be acknowledgement and everything should be written 2 down so that OWASA has a clear understanding of each entity's intentions. 3 Mark Chilton said that if you read through all of the resolution there is only a passing 4 mention of land usage and conservation. He said that he does not see the local government 5 entities passing a resolution that speaks to the question of water supply without addressing 6 conservation and efficiency as a simple part of the water supply plan. 7 Chair Jacobs listed the elements that he has heard: whatever direction that is given to 8 OWASA be written; address the issue of emergency access to Jordan Lake; 9 compilation/discussion of current conservation efforts; and Chatham County would like some 1o kind of answer this summer in order to move fonivard. He said that, in listening to the last part of i i the conversation, it might be useful for the boards in Orange County to draft an alternative 12 resolution that addresses the same partnership, but in terms that make people feel more 13 comfortable about a partnership. 14 Ted Voorhees, Deputy City Manager of Durham, said that he was the author of the is resolution. He said that it was Durham's intention to call out the fact that responsible land use 16 planning will be an integral part. He apologized for not saying this well. He thinks that the City 17 Council fully understood the relationship between land use planning and water demand. He 18 said that Durham has been doing water conservation for a long time. 19 Clarifying questions of various board members were answered by Ted Voorhees. 20 21 3Z Buckhorn Village 22 Craig Benedict said that Buckhorn Village is a planned development zoning proposal that 23 was submitted to Orange County fora 130-acre parcel located on I-85/I-40. He showed this 24 area on a map. It is located within a land use designation of an Economic Development District. 25 There is a public information process tomorrow night. 26 Dan Coleman asked when action would be taken and Chair Jacobs said not tomorrow 27 night. There is no deadline yet because neither the County Commissioners nor the Planning 28 Board has had a chance to ask questions or make comments. 29 Dan Coleman asked if transportation improvements had been identified yet and if the 3o developer would pay for those and Chair Jacobs said that this has not been discussed yet. 31 32 Chair Jacobs said that on April 29~' the JPA public hearing is scheduled, and there is 33 almost always no item for this, and he would like to talk about the Greene Tract within the AOG. 34 He suggested scheduling an AOG meeting on this date. All must bring forward some funding to 35 the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund if they are going to access this property. 36 Commissioner Carey suggested that staff make a list of issues that need to be discussed 37 at this next meeting so that there is a clear focus of discussion. 38 Commissioner Gordon suggested that each jurisdiction may want to discuss the Greene 39 Tract ahead of time. 4o The next meeting will be hosted by the Town of Hillsborough. 41 42 ~ Greene Tract Update 43 44 DEFERRED 45 46 5j Update on the 2035 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) 47 48 DEFERRED 49 50 ~ Written Updates (No Staff Presentations) 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 7 a. County Comprehensive Plan b. Solid Waste Transfer Station Siting Process c. Land Trust Affordable Housing Maintenance Task Farce. d. County Capital Projects Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:33 pm. Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board Barry Jacobs, Chair 34-