HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Board minutes - 110321 Approved 12.1.21
1 MEETING MINUTES
2 ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD
3 NOVEMBER 3,2021
4 REGULAR MEETING
5 (Due to current public health concerns, this meeting was held virtually.
6 Members of the Planning Board, staff and public participated remotely)
7
8 MEMBERS PRESENT: David Blankfard (Chair), Hillsborough Township Representative;Adam Beeman (Vice-Chair), Cedar
9 Grove Township Representative; Lamar Proctor, Cheeks Township Representative; Kim Piracci, Eno Township
10 Representative; Carrie Fletcher, Bingham Township Representative; Statler Gilfillen,At-Large Representative;
11 Randy Marshall,At-Large Representative; Susan Hunter, Chapel Hill Township Representative;Whitney Watson,At-Large
12 Representative; Melissa Poole, Little River Township Representative; Charity Kirk,At-Large Representative;
13
14 MEMBERS ABSENT: Alexandra Allman,At-Large Representative;
15
16 STAFF PRESENT: Perdlta Holtz, Planning Systems Coordinator; Michael Harvey, Current Planning Supervisor;Ashley
17 Moncado, Planner ll;Tina Love,Administrative Support
18
19
20 AGENDA ITEM 1: CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
21 Chair David Blankfard called the meeting to order.
22
23
24 AGENDA ITEM 2: INFORMATION ITEMS
25 a. Planning Calendar for November and December
26
27
28 AGENDA ITEM 3: APPROVAL OF MINUTES
29 September 1, 2021 Regular Meeting Minutes
30 September 1, 2021 Training Notes
31
32 MOTION BY Lamar Proctor to approve the September 1, 2021 Regular Meeting Minutes and Training Notes. Seconded by
33 Randy Marshall.
34
35 ROLLCALL VOTE:
36 Charity Kirk Yes
37 Randy Marshall Yes
38 Susan Hunter Yes
39 Lamar Proctor Yes
40 Kim Piracci Yes
41 Adam Beeman Yes
42 Statler Gilfillen Yes
43 Melissa Poole Yes
44 Carrie Fletcher Yes
45 Whitney Watson Yes
46 David Blankfard Yes
47 MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
48
49
50 AGENDA ITEM 4: CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA.
51
52 There were none
53
54
55 AGENDA ITEM 5: PUBLIC CHARGE
56
Approved 12.1.21
57 INTRODUCTION TO THE PUBLIC CHARGE
58 The Board of County Commissioners, under the authority of North Carolina General Statute,appoints the
59 Orange County Planning Board (OCPB)to uphold the written land development law of the County. The
60 general purpose of OCPB is to guide and accomplish coordinated and harmonious development. OCPB
61 shall do so in a manner, which considers the present and future needs of its citizens and businesses
62 through efficient and responsive process that contributes to and promotes the health, safety, and welfare
63 of the overall County. The OCPB will make every effort to uphold a vision of responsive governance and
64 quality public services during our deliberations, decisions, and recommendations.
65
66 PUBLIC CHARGE
67 The Planning Board pledges to the citizens of Orange County its respect. The Board asks its citizens to
68 conduct themselves in a respectful, courteous manner, both with the Board and with fellow citizens. At
69 any time, should any member of the Board or any citizen fail to observe this public charge,the Chair will
70 ask the offending member to leave the meeting until that individual regains personal control. Should
71 decorum fail to be restored, the Chair will recess the meeting until such time that a genuine commitment
72 to this public charge is observed.
73
74
75 AGENDA ITEM 6: CHAIR COMMENTS
76
77 There were none
78
79
80 AGENDA ITEM 6: AMENDMENTS TO THE ORANGE COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FUTURE LAND USE MAP AND TO THE
81 ORANGE COUNTY ZONING ATLAS—ENO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT(EDD)—To make a
82 recommendation to the BOCC on BOCC-initiated amendments to the two maps listed in the title. The
83 proposed amendments to the Future Land Use Map (FLUM)would change the land use classification of
84 112.2 acres of land, comprised of 34 parcels,from Economic Development District Transition Activity
85 Node to 10-Year Transition. The same parcels are also proposed to be rezoned from EDE-1 (Economic
86 Development Eno Lower Intensity)to R-1 (Rural Residential)This item is scheduled for BOCC Public
87 Hearing on December 14, 2021.
88 PRESENTER: Perdita Holtz, Planning Systems Coordinator
89
90 Perdita Holtz presented a PowerPoint presentation to the Board and provided background information and answered
91 questions.
92
93 David Blankfard: Will this allow existing the pump station to serve everything else that is currently in the EDD.
94
95 Perdita Holtz: A lot of the existing uses in the EDD are on well and septic and not hooked up to existing sewer. The
96 capacity for the pump station is focused on that 200 acres plus the development that Durham is anticipating on its side of
97 the county line.
98
99 Adam Beeman: What is the long-term plan in Orange County for waste treatment? Seems like we're sending off to
100 Mebane and Durham and Durham has that explosion of growth on the border so it would be nice to have some sort of
101 commercial options available.
102
103 Perdita Holtz: There is no plan for Orange County to get into what we call the water and sewer business. That has been
104 left to the municipalities not just Durham and Mebane but also Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Chapel Hill and
105 Carrboro being through OWASA.
106
107 Adam Beeman: So we have no intentions of trying to deal with that as far as the County is concerned?
108
109 Perdita Holtz: That has been the political decision that was made to date.
110
111 Adam Beeman: Well I think we need to rethink that because it's not going to work. If we are going to look at ourselves
112 along the industrial corridor, 140 and 1-85, because we are relying on other people. That limits any kind of commercial
Approved 12.1.21
113 growth. That concerns me not having any thoughts of potential restaurants, etc. We're going to limit ourselves the whole
114 way down the highway and they're just going to go to other counties to spend their money because we don't want to deal
115 with waste.
116
117 Lamar Proctor: Orange County doesn't have any water and sewer infrastructure anywhere close to this area.
118
119 Perdita Holtz: Orange County doesn't have water and sewer infrastructure at all. It's all with other entities, municipalities,
120 OWASA and Orange Alamance Water System in Efland.
121
122 Lamar Proctor: These 100+acres, if they are rezoned back to R-1, does there need to be a shift anywhere else. Is there
123 some master amount of acreage that needs to be a certain zone?
124
125 Perdita Holtz: No,the EDD districts that are affiliated with the Eno and Buckhorn Districts are 2 areas that do not actually
126 require non-residential to hook up to a public water and sewer system.
127
128 David Blankfard: Is it common that NC counties are not in the water and sewer business?
129
130 Perdita Holtz: It's more common than not. They can be but it's a very expensive endeavor. To build and maintain a
131 wastewater treatment plant is a lot of money, 10s and 10s of millions of dollars and then there's the upkeep. A lot of
132 permitting because of discharge into rivers and streams or you have to use spray irrigation. It's more common that
133 counties are in the water business where they have a water system but no sewer system.
134
135 Charity Kirk: It the area of the map (yellow)the area of higher density is that R-2?
136
137 Perdita Holtz: It is, that's Whispering Pines Subdivision and it's R-2 zoning and the difference is minimum lot sizes and
138 setback requirements,the list of uses is the same. R-1 is what the County Commissioners initiated and why the proposal
139 is for R-1. The lots in Whispering Pines subdivision are much smaller than any of the lots around and that is because of
140 the R-2 zoning.
141
142 Charity Kirk: If this is an economic development zone it makes more sense to encourage density.
143
144 Perdita Holtz: I believe the County Commissioners are acting as though they do not want it to be an economic
145 development area any more in areas 1 and 2 on this map. When they initiated the amendments they didn't give a reason
146 but from what I've been able to gather, it has to do with the lack of water and sewer and also wanting to have residential
147 where there is existing residential and not have conversion of those lots to other uses.
148
149 Charity Kirk: The Board of Commissioners seem to know that they want. The point of this is just to recommend that they
150 do it or not?
151
152 Perdita Holtz: Under statute, the Planning Board makes a recommendation on all Comprehensive Plan and Zoning
153 Amendments and so this is the prescribed process that has to happen.
154
155 Charity Kirk: Is there a reason we shouldn't recommend it to the R-2?
156
157 Perdita Holtz: The short answer is no. Also keep in mind the vast majority of these parcels in 37.7 acres and 74.5 acre
158 area already have houses on them.
159
160 Charity Kirk: So you don't suggest that would be a good idea because they're already developed and we don't want to
161 have to go through and review lot size with the existing owners.
162
163 Perdita Holtz: Correct.
164
165 Statler Gilfillen: At the core this is downzoning, if I were a property owner and would be more restricted of the use of my
166 property long-term, I might have comments or questions. Can you tell us the level of public response to this?
167
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168 Perdita Holtz: There were 6 residents that attended the public information meeting and they just had basic zoning
169 questions. Mostly, they were concerned about being able to continue to have their single family residences. I fielded a
170 handful of phone calls that were basic zoning questions of what it means for their property.
171
172 Whitney Watson: I see that this change,the EDD has been in place for a number of years. If in the future Durham does
173 have additional capacity how difficult would it be to convert these areas back to ED-1 or ED-2?
174
175 Perdita Holtz: It would be the same process as what we're doing now. It is within the primary service area of the
176 WASMPBA agreement and this area is designated as primary service area which means extension of public water and
177 sewer would be allowed. That's one of the roadblocks of putting non-residential zoning outside of those designated
178 primary service areas. That would not occur in this case it would be a rezoning process and a Future Land Use Map
179 process like we are going through right now to change it back if there were any changes in the future.
180
181 Adam Beeman: Hillsborough has no intention of expanding their water and sewer?
182
183 Perdita Holtz: Not to this area, not this far east. My understanding is that they are concerned that their existing growth
184 areas are the sewer capacity that they will be able to handle.
185
186 MOTION BY Kim Piracci to approve the recommendation to the BOCC on the Statement of Consistency and the proposed
187 ordinance as shown in Attachment 1 and Attachment 2. Seconded by Statler Gilfillen.
188
189 ROLLCALL VOTE:
190 Charity Kirk Yes
191 Susan Hunter Yes
192 Lamar Proctor Yes
193 Kim Piracci Yes
194 Adam Beeman Yes
195 Statler Gilfillen Yes
196 Carrie Fletcher Yes
197 Melissa Poole Yes
198 Whitney Watson Yes
199 Randy Marshall Yes
200 David Blankfard Yes
201 MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
202
203
204 AGENDA ITEM 8: ADJOURNMENT
205 Meeting was adjourned by consensus at 7:39 p.m.
206
207
208 David Blankfard, Chair