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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCPB minutes 110415Approved 12/2/15 1 MINUTES 1 PLANNING BOARD 2 NOVEMBER 4, 2015 3 REGULAR MEETING 4 5 MEMBERS PRESENT: Peter Hallenbeck (Chair), Cheeks Township Representative; Lydia Wegman (Vice Chair), At-6 Large Chapel Hill Township; Lisa Stuckey, Chapel Hill Township Representative; James Lea, Cedar Grove 7 Township Representative; Tony Blake, Bingham Township Representative; Paul Guthrie, At-Large Chapel Hill 8 Township; Andrea Rohrbacher, At-Large Chapel Hill Township; Maxecine Mitchell, At-Large Bingham Township; 9 Buddy Hartley, Little River Township Representative; 10 11 MEMBERS ABSENT: Laura Nicholson, Eno Township Representative; Herman Staats, At-Large; 12 13 STAFF PRESENT: Craig Benedict, Planning Director; Michael Harvey, Current Planning Supervisor, Perdita Holtz, 14 Special Projects Coordinator, Ashley Moncado, Special Projects Planner, Meredith Pucci, Administrative Assistant II 15 16 17 AGENDA ITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER 18 19 AGENDA ITEM 2: INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 20 a) Planning Calendar for November and December 21 • Quarterly Public Hearing on Monday, November 23 22 23 AGENDA ITEM 3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES 24 October 7, 2015 Regular Meeting 25 26 MOTION by Peter Hallenbeck to approve the minutes. Seconded by Lydia Wegman. 27 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 28 29 AGENDA ITEM 4: CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA 30 31 No changes to the agenda. 32 33 AGENDA ITEM 5: PUBLIC CHARGE 34 35 Introduction to the Public Charge 36 The Board of County Commissioners, under the authority of North Carolina General 37 Statute, appoints the Orange County Planning Board (OCPB) to uphold the written land 38 development laws of the County. The general purpose of OCPB is to guide and 39 accomplish coordinated and harmonious development. OCPB shall do so in a manner 40 which considers the present and future needs of its residents and business through 41 efficient and responsive process that contributes to and promotes the health, safety, and 42 welfare of the overall County. The OCPB will make every effort to uphold a vision of 43 responsive governance and quality public services during our deliberations, decision, and 44 recommendations. 45 46 Public Charge 47 The Planning Board pledges to the residents of Orange County its respect. The Board 48 asks its residents to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the 49 Board and with fellow residents. At any time, should any member of the Board or any 50 resident fail to observe this public charge, the Chair will ask the offending member to 51 leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should decorum rail to be 52 Approved 12/2/15 2 restored, the Chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment to 53 this public charge is observed. 54 55 AGENDA ITEM 6: CHAIR COMMENTS 56 57 Peter Hallenbeck: I will be leaving after the first item because I need to attend the Fire Chief meeting. 58 59 AGENDA ITEM 7: UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE (UDO) TEXT AMENDMENT - To make a recommendation 60 to the BOCC on government-initiated amendments to the text of the UDO regarding 61 recreational land uses, including shooting ranges. This item was heard at the September 62 8, 2015 quarterly public hearing and was discusses at the October 7, 2015 Planning 63 Board Meeting 64 Presenter: Michael Harvey, Current Planning Supervisor 65 66 Michael Harvey reviewed the abstract and mentioned that the attorney’s office may decide to take some of the 67 shooting range language out of the UDO and put it in the general code of ordinances. 68 69 Lydia Wegman: What would be the process for putting it somewhere else? 70 71 Michael Harvey: The County Attorney’s office would have to draft the ordinance and take it to the County 72 Commissioners and they would have to approve it but it would be in the general county code of ordinances. It 73 wouldn’t be a land use ordinance. So you all as an example wouldn’t get to see it or comment on it because it’s not a 74 land use ordinance. 75 76 Lydia Wegman: Who would get to comment on it? 77 78 Perdita Holtz: Anybody can show up at the BOCC meeting and sign up to speak. 79 80 Paul Guthrie: One issue that might keep you slightly in the process would be that the applicant had to be able to 81 police all the brass and residue of shots off the property. It’s changing the character of the land use. 82 83 Michael Harvey: That was discussed and quite honestly the thought was that its ancillary component of the shooting 84 activity and while it may be an important one the issue is the safety with respect to the discharge of the firearm. 85 There are probably going to be regulations that will be enforced by other departments and agencies. 86 87 Paul Guthrie: Have you begun to think through how you can link all of these organizations together for discussion of 88 these issues? 89 90 Michael Harvey: All the agencies we talked about have completed peer review of these regulations and have said 91 that they have no concerns or comments. 92 93 Lisa Stuckey: Do they care what we think? It seems to me that the enforcement of shooting regulations should be 94 done by the Sheriff’s Office. 95 96 Michael Harvey: The County Commissioners care because they asked you to comment on it. 97 98 Buddy Hartley: The Sheriff Deputies are going to come out to any call. If you call and say my neighbor is shooting 99 they have got to come out. One thing that I don’t want to see happen out of this is the Sheriff Department having 100 more problems with frivolous things. 101 102 Michael Harvey: At the October 7th meeting you were provided with a memorandum from the Sheriff’s Office that 103 basically said here is our SOP when it comes to discharge of guns and that’s exactly what they do. 104 105 Approved 12/2/15 3 Buddy Hartley: Do we need to wait and see what the Attorney decides? 106 107 Michael Harvey: You have a couple of options. In my mind your options are that you can ask that this be delayed until 108 you hear what the County Attorney wants to do, you can all make the statement that you concur with the county 109 attorney and if that’s the decision you will support it. 110 111 Paul Guthrie: It seems to me that the Sheriff’s Department is not going to be enforcing the land use that is disturbing 112 a neighbor or potential harm to the neighbor. It’s going to be a question of noise and stuff like that so what you’re 113 saying to me is that there will be absolutely no regulations except the discharge of a firearm regulations. 114 115 Michael Harvey: The Sheriff’s Office is not being asked to enforce a land use component. 116 117 Lydia Wegman: Won’t the minimum back stop be ignored? 118 119 Michael Harvey: I don’t know if they are going to exist or not because the County Attorney will be doing the 120 recommendation. 121 122 Peter Hallenbeck: I suggest that in regard to the item on page 34 at some point we go around the room and people 123 just address what they think otherwise we will be here talking back and forth. If two and three go away then the 124 Sheriff Deputies have to decide is it safe. 125 126 Michael Harvey: Well in conclusion let me just say everything else about the ordinance is going to stay the same 127 including the non-residential activity. Please note, on page 40 we added language in consultation with the County 128 Attorney’s office. So if you’re going to be active with this tonight I ask that replacement page 40 become a part of 129 your official action. 130 131 Paul Guthrie: You have no standard in the rest of the material if you’re giving it all to the Sheriff. 132 133 Michael Harvey: We are not giving it all to the Sheriff because recreational facilities are the non-residential activity 134 and the shooting standards will remain in that section for recreational facilities. The only thing coming out is for 135 private shooting. 136 137 Peter Hallenbeck: We have to remember where this came from. We had definitions based on profit and non-profit. 138 139 Tony Blake: So there is no distinction between profit and non-profit? 140 141 Michael Harvey: Well the problem is from a language standpoint the impacts are the same. 142 143 Tony Blake: Right, so there is no leniency with one or the other. 144 145 Michael Harvey: I know it’s a lot for you all to take in. I certainly don’t want to try to tell you how you should respond 146 to what could potentially happen to the regulations with respect to shooting on private property but again I feel you 147 need to know it’s certainly within your purview to say you want to see what the County Attorney does before we make 148 a recommendation. 149 150 Peter Hallenbeck: I would like to go around the room and let everyone comment and then we can have some general 151 discussion. 152 153 Buddy Hartley: I would like to see what the attorney decides. 154 155 Paul Guthrie: I don’t think we should be making a formal presentation until we have seen how it’s being fitted out 156 through the rest of the county. 157 158 Approved 12/2/15 4 James Lea: I too would like to hear what the attorney has to say. 159 160 Maxecine Mitchell: We should just sit and wait to see what the attorney says. 161 162 Lisa Stuckey: I agree with everybody else. 163 164 Andrea Rohrbacher: I agree with everybody else. 165 166 Tony Blake: Overall I agree with everybody else but I think what really needs to happen is they need to consider the 167 source of the complaint but let’s hear what the attorney has to say first. 168 169 Lydia Wegman: I agree with waiting for the attorney but I would like to have these set back requirements enforced in 170 some way. 171 172 Peter Hallenbeck: I am a little concerned about the two incidents a month; I think that’s too low for rural areas. I think 173 I would be more concerned that target practice happens during daylight hours than I would how many times it 174 happens. I like the simplification on page 34 that just says that the set-up is designed to keep the projectiles on the 175 property. I think that’s something that gives the Sheriff some discretion. I would not be opposed to some setbacks in 176 regard to safety. I like the change on page 40, I think it strikes to the reason we are doing this. Meaning getting away 177 from the profit and non-profit and simply saying is this going on for compensation. We need a big picture with respect 178 to other agencies and how they work together because we keep running into this with planning ordinances. I would 179 now like to open up the floor for any more comment. 180 181 Michael Harvey: It sounds to me like the board would rather not make a decision until it gets something definitive 182 from the County Attorney so my recommendation is that your motion be that this be continued to the December 183 regular meeting and that you ask the county commissioners to extend the public hearing to the first meeting in 184 January. 185 186 MOTION made by Paul Guthrie to move continue item to December meeting and request the public hearing be the 187 first meeting in January. Buddy Hartley seconded. 188 VOTE: Unanimous 189 190 Michael Harvey: Just as a heads up we are due to go before the Board of County Commissioners tomorrow night and 191 extend the public hearing so originally we asked it to be extended to the December 7th meeting, we will ask that it be 192 adjourned until the first meeting in January. 193 194 Peter Hallenbeck: Are there any opposed? 195 196 Peter Hallenbeck: Okay so it is a unanimous decision to wait and not deal with this statement of consistency tonight. 197 198 AGENDA ITEM 8: JOINT PLANNING AGREEMENT AMENDMENT: To make a recommendation to the BOCC on 199 amendments to the text of the Joint Planning Agreement initiated by the Town of Chapel 200 Hill regarding membership of Transition Area residents on the Town’s Planning 201 Commission and Board of Adjustment. This item was heard at the October 15, 2015 Joint 202 Planning Public Hearing. 203 204 PRESENTER: Perdita Holtz, Planning Systems Coordinator 205 206 Note: Peter Hallenbeck (Chair) left the meeting for a prior engagement and turned the meeting over to Lydia 207 Wegman (Vice Chair) 208 209 Perdita Holtz reviewed the abstract. 210 211 Approved 12/2/15 5 Paul Guthrie: A number of years ago the County Board of Commissioners sent my name to the Town of Chapel Hill 212 to represent the ETJ and rather than appoint me the Town of Chapel Hill’s Planning Department redistributed the 213 seats and eliminated the position that I would have been in without any consultation with the County. I like option B 214 but one thing that should be done is to make sure they can’t play games with that procedure. 215 216 Tony Blake: I think it’s very important that people from the neighborhoods be represented well on these boards. 217 Chapel Hill has been doing away with affordable housing and they seem to be pushing that responsibility more and 218 more on the county. 219 220 Lisa Stuckey: So by state law the ETJ areas have to be represented by at least one person and that person is 221 appointed by the county commissioners, so we are talking about 200 acres and whether or not there should be an 222 appointed person to represent the two purple areas? 223 224 Perdita Holtz: Yes, although it would be ETJ or Transition Area resident. 225 226 Tony Blake: It’s just to give them a bigger pool of people to choose from. 227 228 Lisa Stuckey: ETJ is still under 7% of the population and has 2/9 of the representation, I kind of get why it’s a 229 problem. I don’t think they need one person for the two purple areas. 230 231 Tony Blake: I’m interested in the additional representation because I think there are some very critical decisions 232 coming up in those areas. 233 234 Andrea Rohrbacher: I am tending towards what Lisa said. I don’t think we need the two seats. I think the one seat 235 would be adequate. 236 237 Lydia Wegman: Paul wanted to speak so after he speaks we will go around and hear from everybody. 238 239 Paul Guthrie: I personally don’t think that one or two makes a lot of difference. I have lived in the ETJ for eleven 240 years and I have never had any communication on anything they are doing in that district. They do not communicate 241 at all so it seems to me that one of the issues is going well beyond what we are talking about. 242 243 Lydia Wegman: So that sounds like something we will want to convey potentially to the Town of Chapel Hill. 244 245 Perdita Holtz: It will be a part of the minutes and the BOCC reads those minutes and they might want to bring it up at 246 one of the joint meetings they have. 247 248 Lydia Wegman: Okay so let’s go around, Buddy you can start. 249 250 Buddy Hartley: I’m okay with option B. 251 252 Paul Guthrie: I think I’ve said about all I need to say. When it comes time to vote I’ll support option B. I do think it’s a 253 bigger issue than just this issue. 254 255 James Lea: Are we up for a vote on this tonight? 256 257 Lydia Wegman: I think we are supposed to make a recommendation to the BOCC in time for their December 258 meeting. 259 260 James Lea: Based on what I have heard I think option B is a great option. 261 262 Approved 12/2/15 6 Maxecine Mitchell: I had a personal experience when a decision was being made in my area and we left feeling that 263 we were not represented. We went to Carrboro and Chapel Hill and it seemed like they didn’t really care. I can 264 understand where Paul is coming from. I would support option B. 265 266 Lisa Stuckey: I am sticking with option A. I think one person for 6.7% is sufficient. 267 268 Andrea Rohrbacher: I am going to stick with option A for the same reason. I would like to also ask that both the Board 269 of County Commissioners and the Town of Chapel Hill be more proactive in recruiting in these areas. 270 271 Tony Blake: I’m going to go with option B from the same reasons I stated and exactly for the reasons Paul and 272 Maxecine said. 273 274 Lydia Wegman: I can see the virtues of option B and I would support option B for the reasons that have been 275 previously stated. 276 277 MOTION made by Tony Blake to recommend Option B to the County Commissioners. James Lea seconded. 278 VOTE: 6 – 2 (Lisa Stuckey and Andrea Rohrbacher opposed) 279 280 AGENDA ITEM 9: PLANNING BOARD ANNUAL REPORT AND WORK PLAN FOR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS’ ANNUAL 281 PLANNING RETREAT: To discuss the input form for the annual BOCC planning retreat in 282 early 2016. The annual report informs the BOCC of the past year’s activities of advisory 283 boards/commissions and assists in overall County work planning. 284 285 Presenter: Craig Benedict, Planning and Inspections Director 286 287 Craig Benedict reviewed the abstract. 288 289 Lydia Wegman: Will the Planning Board be working on the population projections or will the Planning Department 290 work on it and bring it to the Board for comments? 291 292 Craig Benedict: The Planning Department will be the ones doing it and will then bring it to the Planning Board; this is 293 more of a comprehensive plan. 294 295 Tony Blake: It’s foundational to the number of schools, roads, mass transit, and all of the other decisions that are 296 being made. 297 298 Craig Benedict: Exactly and it’s the service provisions. 299 300 Tony Blake: In Wake County they have like 120 miles of bike paths that link their parks together. Is that possible in 301 Orange County? 302 303 Craig Benedict: We have a bikeway map now. We have had difficulty creating greenway dedication requirements in 304 the rural part of Orange County. 305 306 Tony Blake: Is there any focus on alternative septic arrangements? That’s the key to the whole thing. 307 308 Craig Benedict: We had a work session where Environmental Health and Planning looked at these and they didn’t 309 give the go-ahead so I do think we need to bring it back up again. 310 311 Paul Guthrie: In terms of long term planning I think we need to develop a strategy to get ahead. 312 313 Andrea Rohrbacher: Are the County Commissioners going to need to address the co-housing issue? 314 315 Approved 12/2/15 7 Craig Benedict: Yes, when we are modifying to allow five people living in a house that’s co-housing. 316 317 Tony Blake: I’d love to see wireless and broadband access mentioned in communications with Jim Northrup. 318 319 Michael Harvey: Yes, we are engaging in that already. 320 321 Lydia Wegman: You mentioned on page 75 that there is a position on the Board of Adjustments for a Planning Board 322 member but the positon is currently unfilled. 323 324 Craig Benedict: Yes, we are looking for a volunteer. 325 326 Perdita Holtz: If you’re interested you should apply online 327 328 Craig Benedict: I think there were very good comments, there has been some great work done here. 329 330 331 MOTION made by Lydia Wegman to move approval of the work plan as amended. Tony Blake seconded. 332 VOTE: Unanimous 333 334 335 AGENDA ITEM 11: COMMITTEE/ADVISORY BOARD REPORTS 336 A. Board of Adjustment 337 None 338 339 B. Orange County Transportation 340 None 341 342 AGENDA ITEM 12: ADJOURNMENT 343 344 Motion to adjourn made by Lydia Wegman. 345 ___________________________________________ Pete Hallenbeck, Chair