HomeMy WebLinkAboutOCPB minutes 120716Approved 1/4/2017
1
MINUTES 1 ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD 2 DECEMBER 7, 2016 3
REGULAR MEETING 4 5 6 MEMBERS PRESENT: Lydia Wegman (Chair), At-Large Chapel Hill Township Representative; Tony Blake (Vice-Chair), 7
Bingham Township Representative; Maxecine Mitchell, At-Large Bingham Township; Patricia Roberts, Cheeks 8
Township Representative; Paul Guthrie, At-Large Chapel Hill Township; Buddy Hartley, Little River Township 9
Representative; Kim Piracci, At-Large; Laura Nicholson, Eno Township Representative; 10 11 12 MEMBERS ABSENT: Lisa Stuckey, Chapel Hill Township Representative; Andrea Rohrbacher, At-Large Chapel Hill 13
Township; 14
15 STAFF PRESENT: Michael Harvey, Current Planning Supervisor; Perdita Holtz; Planning Systems Coordinator; Patrick 16
Mallett, Planner II, Michael Rettie, Chief Building Official; Alan Clapp, Environmental Health Director; Meredith Kern, 17
Administrative Assistant II 18
19 AGENDA ITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 20
21
Lydia Wegman called the meeting to order. 22
23
24 AGENDA ITEM 2: INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 25
a) Planning Calendar for December and January 26
27
28 AGENDA ITEM 3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES 29 NOVEMBER 2, 2016 ORC NOTES 30 NOVEMBER 2, 2016 MEETING MINUTES 31 32 MOTION by Paul Guthrie to approve the November 2, 2016 Planning Board minutes. Seconded by Maxecine Mitchell. 33 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 34
35 36
AGENDA ITEM 4. CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA 37 38
No additions to Agenda 39 40 AGENDA ITEM 5: PUBLIC CHARGE 41 42 Introduction to the Public Charge 43
The Board of County Commissioners, under the authority of North Carolina General Statute, 44
appoints the Orange County Planning Board (OCPB) to uphold the written land development 45
laws of the County. The general purpose of OCPB is to guide and accomplish coordinated and 46
harmonious development. OCPB shall do so in a manner, which considers the present and 47
future needs of its citizens and businesses through efficient and responsive process that 48
contributes to and promotes the health, safety, and welfare of the overall County. The OCPB 49
will make every effort to uphold a vision of responsive governance and quality public services 50
during our deliberations, decisions, and recommendations. 51
52
53
Approved 1/4/2017
2
PUBLIC CHARGE 54
The Planning Board pledges to the citizens of Orange County its respect. The Board asks its 55
citizens to conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the Board and with 56
fellow citizens. At any time, should any member of the Board or any citizen fail to observe this 57
public charge, the Chair will ask the offending member to leave the meeting until that individual 58
regains personal control. Should decorum fail to be restored, the Chair will recess the meeting 59
until such time that a genuine commitment to this public charge is observed. 60
61
62
AGENDA ITEM 6: CHAIR COMMENTS 63
64
No comments 65
66 Agenda Item 7: Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) Text Amendment - To make a recommendation 67
to the BOCC on government initiated amendments to the UDO to modify the Mobile Home 68
Park Conditional Zoning District (MHP-CZ) to a Home Park Conditional Zoning District (HP-69
CZ). The reclassified district would allow for both [permanent mobile homes and recreational 70
vehicles (RVs) on a temporary basis. This item is scheduled for the February 13, 2017 71
quarterly public hearing. 72
73
Presenter: Patrick Mallett, Planner II 74
75
Patrick Mallett reviewed the abstract 76
77
Tony Blake: Some of those mobile home parks are within the water and sewer boundary area, does that mean they 78
could have water and sewer if they wanted to? Or do they have water and sewer? 79
80
Patrick Mallett: Theoretically. I would guess that the mast majority of these are operating on well and septic. 81
82
Alan Clapp: We’ve got about 70 that are only the well or septic. 83
84
Lydia Wegman: How big are some of the larger parks? 85
86
Michael Harvey: You have some parks in the County that have a couple hundred units. And remember that an 87
individual unit is on a space approximately 5,000 square feet, at least according to current code. 88
89
Patrick Mallett continued presentation. 90
91
Tony Blake: What do you mean by “could help solidify addressing”? 92
93
Patrick Mallett: So part of that exhaustive research is that… A mobile home park is much like a condo. You don’t 94
have individual lots. You have one track that is theoretically owned by one owner or one corporation or entity and 95
they have spaces like an apartment or a condo with stalls and hookups and then you pay a rent to the owner. My 96
understanding is in some cases you could buy a deeded reference to the space. So what’s happening is the 97
addressing, not all of these are addressed in our database or are they clearly labeled to be able to drive into a mobile 98
home park and be able to locate a specific unit. I don’t know that your average person, either tenant or owner, would 99
necessarily make the connection that that’s the address. 100
101
Michael Harvey: To expand upon that, that current ordinance says that it’s up to the park owner as part of the 102
development process to establish a system 1a, 1b, 1c. The revised ordinance requires a mobile home park to be 103
addressed consistent with the County addressing ordinance. So each individual stall will be addressed with a number 104
consistent with the County’s ordinance so there can be no dispute over what’s 101, 103, 110. And they all will have to 105
display address numbers consistent with that address ordinance. That’s the big link we’re doing here. 106
Approved 1/4/2017
3
107
Patrick Mallett: Some of these with the travel around park don’t necessarily have a clearly posted sign. And then on 108
the EMS end, I think that they’re continuing to make an extraordinary effort to have their database so that they know 109
if somebody’s in need of service that they know how to get there. 110
111
Paul Guthrie: It’s my impression that a lot of the older parks really got their push at the end of World War II, and you 112
can see units that have been there since WWII. How do we watch that to see if it’s still maintained and we try to save 113
it as quality standards, or not? 114
115
Patrick Mallett: Well, maybe what we’ll do is go through the power point and then come back to that part of it. But 116
Mobile homes are a little bit different in the sense that it is build to a HUD standard, it actually has a metal placard 117
that has a serial number kind of like a VIN number and you can change the mount. So theoretically you could have a 118
40-year old unit, singlewide, you yank out the skirting, the underpinning and then replace it with a new one as long as 119
it fits within the space. 120
121
Paul Guthrie: The other question; you mentioned the enforcement of federal protection. Given the turmoil in 122
Washington right now, what do you do if standards get eliminated? 123
124
Michael Harvey: You never say never, but the definitional constitutes a certified manufactured house will never 125
change from this notion of it is a self contained engineered structure that can withstand X capacity. And that’s infinite. 126
That’s never going to change. And that ultimately is what we’re looking for in terms of this is a manufactured home by 127
HUD’s definition. 128
129
Paul Guthrie: And on a curveball, environmental standards in today’s announcement from the EPA and as a couple 130
of us here are ex EPA employees there are standards in EPA relative to water and to wastewater. Who would 131
enforce them if they were withdrawn? 132
133
Michael Harvey: There still have to be permitting for water/wastewater. 134
135
Paul Guthrie: So you would re-permit on existing units? 136
137
Alan Clapp: So this covers the land use zoning comp plan parts of this that our intent is to make it coincide with other 138
regulations at the State and Federal level and not get in the way. Those are going to change over time, as they 139
always have, but this deals with your permits, your zoning and compliance permits, your planning approvals. You still 140
have to go through and meet inspections, building permits, electrical permits, you have to go through Environmental 141
Health to get your water and septic hooks up and so on and so forth. So this is one part in all of the myriad of 142
requirements that you have to meet. So I would say that they’re most closely aligned with the Federal… 143
144
Paul Guthrie: I’ll let you get back to your discussion, I’m just throwing it out because I think there’s going to be a 145
period of time where it’s going to be difficult to mesh some of the Federal standards that have been changed with 146
what we have done as normal business for a long time. And since we’re in the process I just wanted to raise the 147
issue. We should carefully see that we can still continue to do the maximum, especially on sanitary issues, on our 148
own with or without the Federal government. 149
150
Alan Clapp: Currently Environmental Health, for all the mobile home parks that are on well, septic, or one or the other 151
we angle inspection of the park. So that inspection involves walking the entire park, making sure all the systems are 152
functioning, and taking a water sample. Even under the current administration just this year there was a change in 153
that a total coliform hit on a water sample is now not necessarily a stop the presses, put boil water notices up. It used 154
to be that that was the case, even under current administration that’s changed. So there’s no telling what’s going to 155
happen under the next administration. But if it’s a fecal coliform on the water then the boil water notices come up. Of 156
the 90 some parks we inspect about 70 of them the others are all water and sewer. And then to your second 157
question; we do the annual park inspection and then if a model is moved off and another goes on we do a space 158
Approved 1/4/2017
4
inspection to make sure that that space will fit in the given slot and not be over the well or septic system, and that the 159
system is functioning. So we do a park and a space inspection. 160
161
Lydia Wegman: Alan, is there one septic system for the whole park? 162
163
Alan Clapp: Usually in most cases there are individual systems or 2 units per septic system. 164
165
Paul Guthrie: Are there any of these parks that have discharge permits? 166
167
Alan Clapp: Yes. Now, we do not do those but of the other 20 half of them are either spray or discharge or ATU. And 168
several of those are on public water supply with 25 or more connections. 169
170
Patrick Mallett continued presentation. 171
172
Michael Rettie: The tiny homes themselves are not built to any standard. 173
174
Patrick Mallett: Well, they could but the vast majority doesn’t meet anything. And that’s the rub. 175
176
Lydia Wegman: What kind of hookups do they have? 177
178
Patrick Mallett: The ones that don’t meet any standards? It’s the Wild West. It’s everything from a port-a-potty to 179
showers in bathhouses. 180
181
Patrick Mallett continued presentation. 182
183
Tony Blake: It sounds as if, with a tiny home, you could have either an RV type hookup or a mobile home type hook 184
up. Is that true? 185
186
Patrick Mallett: Theoretically. 187
188
Tony Blake: And we would permit that? 189
190
Patrick Mallett: If it meets those standards, both in the building code and the health. 191
192
Michael Harvey: The bottom line is this: If you’re putting a structure on a parcel of property it either has to be a HUD 193
certified structure or a stick built house meeting state building code. 194
195
Michael Rettie: Well HUD is a standard. If nothing that’s a Federal standard for building a manufactured home. 196
197
Tony Blake: But it doesn’t say how wide or how long it’s going to be. It just says 2x4’s would be this far apart. 198
199
Michael Harvey: And remember most HUD homes have to meet certain design and wind zone requirements and it 200
has to be a self contained engineered unit. 201
202
Michael Rettie: HUD has gone up with their own building and construction standards. That’s where you get the little 203
1x2 studs and that kind of stuff. But all of that is it’s systems. Even the building officials can’t change those systems 204
unless a design professional basically specifies how to do that. 205
206
Patrick Mallett: So we’ll see people that will tinker with a mobile home and if you rip out a wall and add onto it, what 207
does that become? And that kind of transcends the mobile home park. 208
209
Lydia Wegman: Can we go back to the tiny homes? And so if they meet the RV standard would they be temporary? 210
211
Approved 1/4/2017
5
Patrick Mallett: Yes. 212
213
Lydia Wegman: Only a mobile home or single family could be a permanent. 214
215
Patrick Mallett: Exactly. You’re coming to a space that’s designated on a site plan as temporary or permanent. And if 216
you’re in a temporary space you’re suppose to be built to an RV standard and have a hook up. 217
218
Lydia Wegman: What if a tiny home is set on a single-family lot? 219
220
Michael Harvey: It has to meet state building code. 221
222
Maxecine Mitchell: With the tiny home meeting the RV standard can only stay at a RV park for a certain length of 223
time? 224
225
Patrick Mallett: Just the same as a RV. 226
227
Buddy Hartley: How long can it stay there? 228
229
Patrick Mallett: 180 days. 230
231
Buddy Hartley: What happens if it’s there after 180 days? 232
233
Patrick Mallett: It’s a violation… On the enforcement end of this, transcending the text change is how do we deal with 234
that? 235
236
Maxecine Mitchell: Right now they couldn’t be on either one? The tiny home. 237
238
Patrick Mallett: No, because it’s not meeting that standard. 239
240
Buddy Hartley: Could you drive it around the block and bring it back? 241
242
Patrick Mallett: I think that’s a discussion for the enforcers to come up with some policy that’s appropriate. But I think 243
it’s in the realm of possibility to require, as part of its approval… That there’s a statement and there’s an affidavit 244
that’s recorded on a lot that you’re not going to have tenants staying there in your temporary spaces for longer than 245
180 days. Period. 246
247
Patrick Mallet continued presentation. 248
249
Tony Blake: Is anything grandfathered in this? 250
251
Patrick Mallett: If you’re a mobile home park and you’re there and it either pre-dated our zoning requirements it’s the 252
same. You can do nothing, and this is not going to impact what you have today nor are these requirements really 253
going to create additional items, if you have mobile homes there’s no additional suffering in terms of… It’s when you 254
want to convert portions to temporary. That’s when you have to do additional things. But the performance standards 255
and the requirements; we made a conscience effort to make it the same. 256
257
Michael Harvey: Tony, one thing to keep in mind is that with the current regulations, which are applicable, we have to 258
do our own inspections. We work with several park owners to address violations that they still have to comply with. 259
Our goal is to try to work with park owners that have illegally allowed, for example, 3 units in 1 5,000 square foot 260
space. You’re going to have to address that violation. That’s one huge violation. The other violation that we see a lot 261
of is illegal additions on mobile homes that essentially invalidate its HUD certificate, but also a violation of state 262
building code and zoning. So unfortunately we have 90 parks that we are inspecting. I would say we have done 40, 263
and have worked on several issues in those 40. There are multitudes more. We have just scratched the service. But 264
Approved 1/4/2017
6
a lot of our efforts are trying to coordinate with land records and emergency service staff, trying to fix any and all 265
addressing problems so there is an appropriate level of compliance where this is an address, this is where they have 266
to go, and emergency services know where to go when there is an emergency. 267
268
Lydia Wegman: Did you hear anything of concern at the July 20th meetings you had? 269
270
Patrick Mallett: No. I did get a phone call and email from an operator yesterday who owns 65 mobile home parks 271
throughout the southeast of which they own several in Orange County. They said this is exactly the trend. We have a 272
good number of our home parks that have been converted to have some sort of hybrid so that we can meet the 273
market demands. 274
275
Lydia Wegman: Was he comfortable with what you were doing? 276
277
Patrick Mallett: Yes. I don’t think I’ve had any negative responses. Either from residents that are interested to tenants 278
to mobile home park owners. 279
280
Patrick Mallett continued presentation. 281
282
Alan Clapp: On the septic end the only thing that’s different is the minimum size for a mobile home inaudible. The 283
park model and the RV type have a lower flow rate in the North Carolina sewage inaudible so it would be less flow to 284
the system. Then we’re going to get the question of, “Can we do 2 where we have 1?” and the answer’s going to be 285
no because they still have to meet the 5,000. 286
287
Michael Harvey: We only allow 1 unit per 5,000 square feet. 288
289
Patrick Mallett: And, peppered throughout the 30 some odd pages of the text change, it’s 1 space, 1 unit. No 290
efficiencies. It doesn’t matter how big it is or how small it is. And we did take the comments from the ORC about the 291
shed’s and then lowering the minimum cap from 10-acres to 5-acres for your minimum track size. 292
293
Lydia Wegman: Michael, is there anything you wanted to add? 294
295
Michael Rettie: The only thing we regulate with RV’s is the electric pedestal. It’s the only jurisdiction we have 296
anything to do with. 297
298
299
Patrick Mallett: So part of that would be the site plan approval and the designation of the space and then some sort of 300
affidavit that says it’s built to the park model standard. 301
302
Lydia Wegman: But no HUD certification? 303
304
Michael Rettie: Not for a RV. 305
306
Alan Clapp: Yes. 307
308
Paul Guthrie: How many? 309
310
Alan Clapp: I don’t know because those are the ones that we don’t go to. 311
312
Paul Guthrie: So what we’re talking about here would be totally controlled by State and Federal Law… That could 313
become a problem. So I just plant that seed. 314
315
Michael Harvey: Understood. But with all due respect if we did nothing it would still be a problem. If we never came 316
up with this amendment we’re still looking at the problem. 317
Approved 1/4/2017
7
318
Paul Guthrie: Well I think there’s a solution outside of that. If a surrounding or neighboring piece of property felt that it 319
was being harmed by those discharges then there could be private action. 320
321
Michael Harvey: They can be now, in fact, there has been. In the 12 years I’ve been here there’s been 1 park that 322
seems to get… 323
324
Paul Guthrie: Because I have a feeling that we’re going to see some significant changes attempted on a clean water 325
act, for example. 326
327
Maxecine Mitchell: I have one more question. I take it there’s no RV parks in Orange County? 328
329
Patrick Mallett: Legally, no. 330
331
Alan Clapp: There is one just across the line in Alamance County, but not in Orange. 332
333
Maxecine Mitchell: Ok. I was just wondering if this is the first time we’re dealing with RVs. The one I found was on 334
Jones Road and I’ve seen people park their RV there but I don’t know how long. 335
336
Alan Clapp: That’s the one. That’s called a park model. So they leave those there. They hook their bathrooms to the 337
septic system but they have a bathhouse where you have to go and take a shower. 338
339
Maxecine Mitchell: Ok. And they’re regulation is based on the County it’s in? 340
341
Alan Clapp: Yes. So, in Alamance that’s fine. Here, the Health Department could permit that the same way but they’d 342
also have to meet planning regulations. 343
344 MOTION by Kim Piracci to approve statement of consistency in attachment 3 and to approve the proposed 345
amendments in attachment 4. Seconded by Patricia Roberts. 346 VOTE: 7-1 (MAXECINE MITCHELL OPPOSED) 347 348
Maxecine explained she had some reservations about whether it’s a good idea. 349
350 Agenda Item 8: Public Hearing Process - 1 Year Report – To provide comments and input into a report 351
staff is preparing for the Board of County Commissioners that will review one year of public 352
hearing items. This 1-year report was requested by the BOCC when the revisions to the 353
public hearing process were adopted in November 2015/ 354 Presenter: Perdita Holtz, Planning Systems Coordinator 355
356
Perdita Holtz reviewed the abstract. 357
358
Tony Blake: I have the feeling that there was more through put than we would have otherwise been able to 359
accomplish but I’m not certain I should warn out the numbers. Have we actually moved more items through the 360
process via this? 361
362
Perdita Holtz: Well it had more to do with the speed of items moving through the process. 363
364
Tony Blake: So you’re saying that they went through faster, I had the feeling that there were more. 365
366
Perdita Holtz: I don’t think that there were more. I think this was a fairly typical number. 367
368
Laura Nicholson: I was just going to say, my favorite part is the fact that there’s more public comment at these 369
meetings, which I think is nice because we’re getting the public involved earlier in the process. Which, I definitely 370
Approved 1/4/2017
8
appreciate. I’m still a little bummed about the non-quorum issue but I understand why it’s in place at the quarterly 371
public hearings. But I think it’s good for the public to be able to come and comment more often and I think it’s good 372
for us to hear their comments. 373
374
Lydia Wegman: I would agree with that. 375
376
Kim Piracci: Not very many of us go to the quarterly public hearings, do we? 377
378
Perdita Holtz: Well that was a little bit of the problem with that. Having the quorum as a requirement in order to hold 379
the public hearing and there were a couple of hearings where we were on the phone trying to get Planning Board 380
members to the hearing and the hearing started half an hour late while somebody came. And I do recall one 381
specific hearing where there were like 100 people in the room that had to wait half an hour. That was really when 382
the BOCC said, “We might have to look at how we do these”. But this year now that it’s no longer a quorum 383
requirement it doesn’t seem like there’s a quorum of Planning Board members at public hearings. 384
385
Laura Nicholson: That was the reason I was opposed to it initially because if you don’t require it sometimes people 386
don’t feel the need to come, and second what does that say about us as a Planning Board when we can’t even get 387
a quorum together for a meeting? That says that we’re all disengaged, and that doesn’t really speak volumes. 388
389
Lydia Wegman: I would just speak for myself, I don’t feel disengaged but I do travel a lot which has made it hard for 390
me to go to all of the meetings. And so for me personally I am grateful that things can move forward even if I’m not 391
there. And Tony has been great about being there. Others have as well. And I do feel bad about not being able to 392
be there but I just wouldn’t assume it means disengagement. 393
394
Buddy Hartley: The one that she was talking about, I came back from vacation to get there so they’d have a 395
quorum. So I think that it’s probably a good idea that we are not having to have quorums. 396
397
Kim Piracci: Right. But, ok I still feel so new… We should either be there or we shouldn’t whether we’re required or 398
not? 399
400
Perdita Holtz: You’re supposed to come. It just means that the public hearing is not going to be held up just 401
because there’s not a quorum of Planning Board members. 402
403
Kim Piracci: Ok, and you’re supposed to go because… 404
405
Patricia Roberts: It’s a joint meeting between the BOCC and the Planning Board so the idea is that we would be 406
there. I’m not sure that we’ve done the best job in the on boarding process because it took me a long time as a new 407
member to realize that it wasn’t just the monthly meetings and there’s the quarterly public hearing as well. As so I 408
think that that could be the missing link. Like on the website, when it has the job description it doesn’t really saying, 409
“And attendance of the quarterly public hearing”. 410
411
Perdita Holtz: It does now. Because of what you had said I made sure they changed that. 412
413
Kim Piracci: Ok so when I’m there, it’s usually going over what we go over here and what we approve? 414
415
Perdita Holtz: Right because you’re now making a recommendation earlier in the process than the Planning Board 416
used to. Formally the Planning Board didn’t make a recommendation until after the quarterly public hearing and that 417
made it so that items that were low controversy actually took longer because it had to go back to the Planning 418
Board in order to get a recommendation. And so it is kind of a big deal that those 7 that were adopted the night of 419
the hearing. Formerly that would’ve taken anywhere from 4-8 weeks longer. 420
421
Tony Blake: And the Commissioners do want you there and they will often ask you for comments or ask if there are 422
general Planning Board comments. 423
Approved 1/4/2017
9
424
Paul Guthrie: How are you defining a quorum? 425
426
Perdita Holtz: The way the County defines a quorum is in majority of seated members. So this Board normally has 427
12 members… 428
429
Paul Guthrie: So no excused absences? 430
431
Perdita Holtz: Well, excused absence doesn’t have anything to do with a quorum. You have to have people in 432
attendance. So it’s the number of people you have to have in attendance… This goes to State laws and rules. You 433
can’t base your quorum requirements on whether somebody is out of town, or in the hospital. Your quorum is the 434
number of seated members, and the majority of the number of seated members. So right now it’s 6. 435
436
Laura Nicholson: I have another question. Part of it was rather than sending certified mail to a smaller amount of 437
people, we’re now sending regular mail to a bigger amount of people. How do you think that that’s working? Is that 438
increasing attendance at information meetings? 439
440
Perdita Holtz: I think that it really doesn’t have to do with if it was regular or certified, I think it depends on what 441
speed proposed and who’s nearby. 442
443
Laura Nicholson: But do you think that being able to notify more people is helping? 444
445
Perdita Holtz: I think it helps public participation, sure. 446
447
Tony Blake: This recent effort trying to align land use with the zoning on these little non-conforming parcels around 448
the County, I think you got a much better turnout there than you would’ve otherwise. 449
450
Perdita Holtz: I will say that we used to get complaints from some people that were receiving certified mail because 451
it comes in your mailbox and it says it’s from Orange County Government and there were people who said, My wife 452
was upset all weekend because the Post Office got it on Friday and we couldn’t go get it until Monday” and they 453
thought it was tax foreclosures and they were upset that we sent those notices certified mail. And there are a lot of 454
people who won’t go to the Post Office to pick it up, and it’ll come back to us. 455
456
Lydia Wegman: I haven’t had that much experience with the prior process, I was relatively new, but this year seems 457
to be working fine for me. I do feel bad missing the meetings but I am grateful that my absence is not going to hold 458
up a BOCC quarterly public hearing if I’m not able to make it. And I agree with Laura, having people come here to 459
talk to us helps us make better decisions and offers us opportunities for fuller discussions because we have a 460
chance to hear what people are concerned about… How does it work for you? 461
462
Perdita Holtz: The actual process is working well. I do think we need to tighten up some of our internal stuff. Like 463
you all and the public doesn’t see and we’ll be working on addressing that. Like legal review time frames and when 464
they occur and such because there was the issue where they didn’t get finished until after it came to the Planning 465
Board so we had to bring it back. There have been a couple blips like that but we’ll get it right. 466
467
Lydia Wegman: So it sounds like it’s working reasonably well from your standpoint? 468
469
Perdita Holtz: Yeah. And I think that being able to approve low controversy items the night of the hearing is a big 470
improvement. 471
472
Laura Nicholson: I just wanted to ask about notification for neighborhood information meetings. I feel like we’ve 473
gotten more notification than before but it still feels kind of scattered. Not all of the time but sometimes. Are we 474
supposed to get notified, or is it just that sometimes we get? 475
476
Approved 1/4/2017
10
Perdita Holtz: The Planning Board gets notified for major sub division projects and Class A SUP’s, because that’s 477
the stuff that you guys have something to do with. There are also NIM’s for Class B SUP’s, which the BOA handles 478
and the Planning Board doesn’t get notified for those because you don’t have anything to do with Class B SUPs. So 479
I think that there has been a little bit of confusion about what the Planning Board… 480
481
Michael Harvey: Any time there’s a SUP we just send a general heads up to the Planning Board and County 482
Commissioners. We don’t send it to the BOA as detailed as you all get because technically we could be accused of 483
trying to influence the jury as it were. We let them know that a case has been submitted and they’ll be getting a 484
meeting. So we walk that fine line and since you all have been disconnected from the public hearing process we 485
also don’t have the same concern about sharing information with you on a SUP. 486
487
Perdita Holtz: And it has to do with the Planning Board meeting not being an official public hearing for the Class A 488
SUPs so that’s where that comes into play. 489
490
Paul Guthrie: What’s the Planning Board’s jurisdiction relative to cell towers? 491
492
Michael Harvey: You are a review body that makes a recommendation on what class of telecommunication facility 493
that’s the Class A SUP 200 feet or taller. But the County Commissioners are the ultimate review and approval 494
authority under 199 feet. That was a decision made by the Elected Officials. 495
496
AGENDA ITEM 9: COMMITTEE/ADVISORY BOARD REPORTS 497
498
a) Board of Adjustment 499
b) Orange Unified Transportation 500
501
AGENDA ITEM 10: ADJOURNMENT 502 503
Planning Board meeting was adjourned by consensus. 504
505
506
____________________________________
Lydia Wegman, Chair