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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 08-19-2008- 6dORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: August 19, 2008 Action Agen~a~ Item No. ~~jj SUBJECT: Initial Review of Proposed Chatham/Orange Task Forces DEPARTMENT: County Manager PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No County Commissioners, Planning, ERCD ATTACHMENT(S): 1. Proposed Task Force Processes (Charge and Composition) 2. Minutes of Orange-Chatham Meetings 3. Draft 3/31/08 Assembly of Governments Meeting Minutes This item was delayed from the Board's June 24, 2008 meeting due to time constraints. INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Blackmon, 245-2300 Barry Jacobs, Chair Craig Benedict, 245-2575 David Stancil, 245-2590 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. 2 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. 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 Attachme~nt~1 '•?J 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 Pazks/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 boazds by Mazch 1, 2009 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 a Coun Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Cha el Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Large Member -Chatham Task Force Staff: Orange County Planning Orange County Environment and Resource Conservation Orange County Pazks & Recreation Chatham County Planning Attachment 1 V Chatham/Orange Regional Transportation Planning and Public Transportation Task Force Proaosed 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 March 1, 2009 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. Prouosed Committee Membershia Chatham/Orange Resional Transaortation Member Name Issues Task Force Chatham County Elected Official Oran a Coun Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Cha el Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Lar a 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 boazds on these matters by Mazch 1, 2009. Proposed Committee Membership Chatham/Orange Regional Watershed Protection Issues Task Force Member Name Chatham Coun Elected Official Oran a Coun Elected Official Town of Pittsboro Elected Official Town of Chapel Hill Elected Official Town of Carrboro Elected Official At Laz a 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 Boarcl of Commissioners met for a Joint Meeting with the Chair/V~ce Chair from the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chapel Hill Town Mayor and Town Manager, Chair~ce ChaiNExecutive Director of OWASA, and a UNC n:presentative on Tuesday, August 14, 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 Bany Jacobs COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identfied appropriately below) CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Yee-Chair George Lucer CHATHAM COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Charlie Home and Public Works Director David Hughes TOWN OF PI7TSBORO MAYOR: Randolph Voller TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Mayor Kevin Foy and Town Manager Roger Stancl TOWN OF CARRBORO REPRESENTATIVES: Dan Coleman, Boani of Aldermen OWASA REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: OWASA Board Chair Mac Clarke, Vice-Chair Randy Kabridk, and Executive Director Ed Kerwin UNC REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT: Carolyn Efland, Assoaate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services 1. DinneNWelcome 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 deeded 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 conoem. Introductions were made. Chair Carey said that staff was available to answer any questions but no formal presentations would be made. 2. Restional WatsrlWatershed 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 sbc million gallons per day from Jordan Lake, and there have been discussions with the Division of Water Resources to expand this allocation for Chatham Courrty. 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 then: will have to be cooperation from a lot of the stakeholders in osier to get more of an allocation from Jonian 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 haw long the agn~ment was with Cary to access water through its intake and David Hughes said 50 years. Chatham County Commissioner V~oe-Chair George Luger 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 justfication to get an increase would n3quire 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 irnohies 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 partiapating along with Cary and Durham in the study looking at optim¢ing 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 ebsting and enhanced faalities. 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 Luger said that he is interested, but he cannot speak for the other four Courrty 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. Courrty Manager Charlie Home 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 resoun~s (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 irnolved. Discussion ensued on the use of chloromine for disinfection of water. Ed Kenton 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 Luger 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 n~ional 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 serviang, and maybe there could be a discounted rate on the water that is supplied. 3 Charlie Home 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 Kabridc 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 Volley 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 balk to the respective boards. Randy Volley 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/Ouen Sr~ace AcauisitioNDevelooment • Chapel Hill Southern Park shared use options Chair Carey said that all entities an: already working together on other things besides Southern Park. Southern Park is imminent Mayor Foy made nfen:nce 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 Faclity 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 then: has been Borne 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 ncommendation is to talk about this, and if Chatham County wants to move it along, then everyone can decide on the points to addn:ss in the cooperation. George Lucer 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 panics cross-county. Chair Carey said that it would be good to have the interested parties to have further discussions about this. George Lucer said that it will take the Recreation and Parks Departmerrts getting involved together. Commissioner Jacobs said that Southern Park would probably be on line 3-4 years ahead of the Chatham Courrty parks. He encouraged the creation of partnerships that can start now. There are thne soccer fields at Southern Park that will not have lights, and ff there were I'~ghts, 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 Lucien agreed to move forward on this collaboration together. Chair Carey said to make sure that all are irnoNed, inducting Pittsboro. Mayor Volley 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 Luder said that, in relation to parks, there is a lot of impetus to create gnrenways along the Haw River. He would like to help make this happen. 0 4 Commissioner Jacobs said that Fsvironment and Resource Conservation Din:ctor Dave Stand) was working on something n~aniing Haw River. Dave Stand) said that Orange County is a member of the Haw River Trail Partnership. Haw River is the southrNestem comer of Orange County. Laura Blackmon asked Dave Stancil.to speak to the purchase of Property as a watershed site in this area. Dave Stand) said that this relates to the Jordan Lake Macro Site. This inductee part of Chapel Hill, Orange County, and Chatham County. There are opportunities for collaboration on conservation. George Lucer said that his Boani of County Commissioners would be very supportive of this. Mayor Foy asked Dave Stand) who he shared information with in Chapel Hill about this and Dave Stancl said staff and the Mayor. It has been awhile. Laura Bladkmon asked Dave Stanch to fonivani this information to the Managers again and Chair Carey asked the Managers to revive the issue on this corridor. Commissioner Jacobs asked Planning Din:ctor 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 Lucer 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 Lucer said that Chatham County is having a public hearing next week on updating the stream buffer requirements, especally those that will flow into Jonian Lake. When this process is completed in the next couple of months, the information will be transmitted to Orange County. 3. Transportation Plannina/Public Transc~ortation • OPT/CTN/Chapel Hill Transit Cooniination 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 TTA 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 haw Carolina North is going to be served by public transportation. George Luaer said that this should be pursued sooner rather than later. He said that at the last MPO meeting, it was n:ported 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 conect, most everyone I'nring 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 Courrty 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 Coundl 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 decde if it wants to get involved outside its service boundary. Charlie Home said that it is one thing to provide a service, but another to get people to utilize public transportation. 0 s 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 attematives. Carolyn Efland said that from a UNC perspective, it only has parking for half the employees and about 1096 of the students, most of which are graduate students. She said that UNC is being 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-anti-ride. She said that people are moving out of Orange County and into other counties (Chatham and Alamance). She said that TTA's service area does not indude 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 Luaer said that he would envision spark-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 prooess. 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 how 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 Luaer said that it is more of a public service. Charlie Home said that there are 16-18 passenger vans that take the public for a fee, but primarily it is for Medicaid patierrts, 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 antiapate a lot of residential development in the southernmost corridor. There will be spark-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 Stanal said that the Chapel Hill Town Counal authorized him to work with Chatham County with transit issues. The fiat thing he did was to talk with TTA and there is a partnership now because TTA 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, Prttsboro sent a resolution bads with Pat Strong to Chair lGnley and the board to look at to say that Pittsboro warrts 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 Stanal said that Chapel Hill souk! work with Chatham County and Commissioner Jacobs asked that Ok7T be included also. 4. Joint Plannlna 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 bads to the boards to benefit from expertise on joint planning. to 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 bads to a joint meeting of the full boards since they are still cx+eating visions and relationships. He asked if there should be this type of meeting again or the fuA boards. George Lacier 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 fuA 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'" at the Assembly of Govemmer~ts meeting. 5. Other 6. Next Stews 7. Adiounnment 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/Chatl~am County/PittsboroJChapel Hill /CarrboralOWASAIUNC 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/V'~ce-Chair from the Chatham County Boani of Commissioners, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro Mayor and Town Manager, Chair~ce-Chair/Executive Director of OWASA, and a UNC n:presentative on Tuesday, October 30, 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 vce-Chair Bany 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 identfied appropriately below) CHATHAM COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Carl Thompson, Vice-Chair George Lucer and Commissioner Tom Vanderbedk CHATHAM COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Charlie Home TOWN OF PITTSBORO STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Bill Teny TOWN OF PITTSBORO REPRESENTATIVES ABSENT: Mayor Randy Voller, TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Roger Stanch 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 Din~ctor Ed Kerwin UNC REPRESENTATNES PRESENT: Carolyn Efland, Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Services The meeting began at 6:23 p.m. 1. DinneNWelcome 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 pn:vious 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 din:ction of where to go from hen:. 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 censer uoga~e anti u~scussion Orange County Agricultural Economic Development Coordinator Noah Rannells said that this study began balk in 2005 when the Orange County Commissioners requested a ct¢en boani to examine the need for aValue-Added Agricultural Products Processing Center. This spring, after talking with other jurisdictions about particpating in this center along with private 2 13 sector entities, Orange Courrty ailed as the fiscal agent for the contrail and contracted with Smithson Mills, who used to work for the North Carolina Departrnent of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and has worked with almost every single value-added fagTity 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 struilure of this entity -Orange, Chatham, Alamance, and Durham Counties; Weaver Street Market: and Whole Foods. The consultant will come forwani with some ideas of how this faatity might be run. 3. Site selection options. George Luger asked about the iwo counties that did not respond and Noah Rannells said that Caswell and Person Counties declined to partiapate, but they are interested in this idea. Tom Vanderbeck asked about the value of the study and R was answered $15,000. He asked how this consultant was chosen and if all entities were involved. Noah Rannells said that input was soliated from the other counties and he spoke with the Chatham Ag Advisory L3oard. There wen: then surveys mailed to all partiaparrts 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 - ti4 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 Luger 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 lGnnaird 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 jurisdiilion 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 opportun""ity 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 irnolved. George Luger volunteered Tom Vanderbedc 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. Res~ional WateNWatershed Protection Issues 3 ~~ • Review of documents requested and provided by Chatham County and OWASA George Luger 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 faclitate a regional water supply out of Jorclan Lake for the western 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 14'" meeting, there was information about a small study that OWASA was particpating in with the City of Dufiam and the Town of Cary. This study is about haw the irrterconnections between OWASA, Cary, and Dufiam might be optimized or upgraded for these three jurisdictions. Chatham County expressed an intent in possibly particpating. There has been some work on this. The discussions were left-that Chatham County would not be a formal particpant 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 Lucierlett at 6:54 p.m. Ed Kerwin said that this is a very important topic with the drought. Last week's rain ony increased OWASA's water supply by less than one percent. It is important to discuss water issues all the time and not just when then: is a drought. Charlie Home 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 an: 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 Kennrin 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. ctizenry does not realize this. She said that there was so much discussion about n:daimed water use, and after the 2002 drought, there was a lot of serious work on it This is just now under consbvction and will not be ready unti12009. 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 Home said that Chatham's need for water will be quicker than Dufiam and OWASA's need, and the timeframe at this point is that Chatham will need it within the next 10- 15years. Then: is an effort now to inkxease the allocation from Jordan Lake. Mayor Chilton said that Chatham County, OWASA, Orange County, and the Cily of Dufiam have an allocation from Jordan Lake. Ed Kennrin 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 plannir~, there is a greater risk of shortage before the quany reservoir comes online in the 2030's. OWASA's interest is preserving some futun: flexibility and minimmng any expense for that 4 Chair Carey asked if there has been any fadlitation of discussion at the State level about decisions on the intake and Charlie Home 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 resouroe management Mayor Chilton said that the bottom-line goal of this process should be that the actions of the local govemmerrts would incxease 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 Vanderbedc said that this drought has highlighted the preriousness of :drinking water and he woluld like to highlight the need for better reuse of water. He thinks that UNC and OWASA have set the bar high as far as muse water. Chair Carey asked about the collecctivve action and next steps. Mayor Chilton said that it might be helpful to have a conversation with elected offirials in Chatham County about the land use plans for northeast Chatham County. Charlie Home said that Chatham County is hard at work revising land use plans to get a better standani. He said that there should be more information in about 3~ 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 derision-making forward. He suggested putting together a letter from the elected ofFirials 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 Acauisition/Development • . Update on Chapel Hill Southern Park/Chatham shared use discussions yet Roger Stanril said that Mayor Foy and George Lurier have not had time to work on this 5. Transportation PlanninolPublic Transportation • Update on OPT/CTN/Chapel Hill Transit Cooniination 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 inducted in the Regional Triangle Development Plan, which is the Durham Wake-Orange Courrty consolidatioNc~oniination effort between the community transportation systems. The goal is to indude Chapel Hill Transit's EZ- Riderservice in an effort to coordinate or consolidate Orange Public Transportation and EZ Rider into one service for one county. Wake and Dufiam Counties have one community transportation system. Orange County has two because of the rural and urban sectors. He said that then: was a very successful discussion, and it will be inducted in the recommendations that NCDOT look at this and pass it down to the governing bodies of each area. Since then, the f5 5 i~ Triangle Regional Development Plan process has been watered down due to the fact that the Assistant Director of DOT n3tired, 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~o-door service. Charlie Home 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 coon~inated efforts between two different transit agendes can be handled through a process. He said that TTA 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 dierrts. 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 dients and not n~Juce the service level. AI Terry said that another issue is that there is a certfication process that all transit agendas have to have for DSS dierrts, elderly dierrts, or disabled dients. None of the certfication processes are the same for the agendas. He said that he and Steve Spade are going to formulate a very similar process between Chapel Hill Transit and Orange Public Transportation. Tom Vanderbedc asked if Chatham County was part of the feasibility study that fell apart and AI Terry said no, that it was the elected offidals 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 agendas 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 TTA. 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 Standl 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. 6 ~~ Charlie Home 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 Planningt 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 irnolved in joint planning, the topics of irrterest, etc. He reviewed the handout, as shown below: Joint Planning 1. Who are the potential .partners? Orans~e County Chatham County County Courrty Chapel Hill Pittsboro Carrboro Siler City Hillsborough ~rY Goldston Other UNC OWASA Durham City/County Planning 2. Who should work on this? Orange and Chatham County Planners can take the lead to inflate 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 inducts 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 Wehsite- 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 Updaties- 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 partidpants will be inducted on the website. Tiered PrioritiesJWhat Topics? At this time planners are not proposing thresholds of review~mpact or spedf~c areas of information exchange but a pilot program to share growth management information. Collaborative Planning Topics 1) Transportation 2) Utilities 3) Land Use Planning 4) Watier Resources 5) Parks and Emriromment 6) AflappinglGlS 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 an: 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 agn:ed 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 Vanderbedc said that Chatham County is working on a corridor ordinance and 15- 501 is one of the conidors. Development along there got ahead of the curnent County Commissioners, so they are playing catch up. Commissioner Jacobs said that years ago there was a meeting with elected officals from Chatham and Orange Counties and some of the people from Orange County were basically saying that they would not help Chatham Courrty 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 d'dferent group and there is a change. He said that both Chapel Hill and Carrboro Boards want to faclitate 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 officals need to know that Orange County and Chatham County are partners in spirit as well as geography. Tom Vanderbedc said that the next meeting with Chatham County and TTA is November 1 `~. Cari 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/B'icyde Plan. He would like to learn move about this plan. Charlie Home said that when DOT does road widening or other modfications, 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 faclities between the Chapel HiIVCarrboro area and Pittsboro, and to identify a specfic corridor beMreen the two areas targeting for widening projects, but not along 15-501. He would suggest Jones Feny Road. Mayor Chinon 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 signficant improvements for public access to the river along the bridges in Chatham ~S s ~ Iq and Alamance Counties. He would like to work on improving the access point that is in Orange Courrty. 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 poirrts. 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 onier to do this in a manner that uses what the State can give (i.e., dens'~ty bonuses). The goal is not to slow growth, but to direct it to the appropriate areas. Charlie Home 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 Courrty going with purchase of development rights. ' 7. Next Ors~anizational Steps Chair Carey said that at the last meeting, there was discussion of having pertain 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, vce-Chairs, and Mayors continue to meet on a regular basis, there will be a deasion 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 more 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 CarrboroJChapel HilUChatham 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 Chair~ce-Chair from the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, Chapel 19 Hill, Carrboro and Pittsboro Mayor and Town Manager, Chair~ce-Chair/Executivve 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 Vce-Chair Valerie Foushee 24 COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blaclvnon, 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: Courrty Manager Charlie Home 30 TOWN OF PIITSBORO STAFF PRESENT: TOWN OF PI7TSBORO REPRESENTATIVES 31 ABSENT: Mayor Randy Voller and Town Manager Bill Terry 32 33 TOWN OF CHAPEL HILL STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Roger Stanch 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, Assoaate 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 31 ``. He said that there was some talk of forming a subgroup 44 of elected officials in the future. This may Dome up at the AOG meeting. 45 46 47 48 2. Restional WatsrNYatershed Protiection 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 OWASA Executive Director Ed Kerwin said that the OWASA Chair had a family 2 emergency and sends his n'9n~ts. 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 inducted officals from Chatham County, 6 Orange County, Tawn of Cary, OWASA, City of Dufiam, and State staff; was that the City of 7 Dufiam expressed strong desire to develop Jordan Lake as its next major increment of supply. 8 The Deputy City Manager of Dufiam said that Dufiam wanted to move quickly and was 9 planning to present this n:oommendation to the City Council, which happened today. There is a 10 draft resolution, which was well received by the City Coundl, and it will act on the resolution at 11 the March and meeting. The resolution states support of Dufiam asking for additional alloc.~ations 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 Dufiam's water treatment plants is nearing the end of its 15 useful I'rfe, Dufiam may be interested in having the water treatment faclity 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 Lucer 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 Dufiam 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 ar+e moving 26 towani this type of growth, but he is not sure about Dufiam 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 Dufiam getting involved. Until he sees the governments in Dufiam committing to a 29 pattern of growth that is more oriented towards pedestrians, bicydes, 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 decsion 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. ft 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 Dufiam 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. h will be an issue in the Dufiam County Commissioners' race. He said that he knows that 42 Chatham County Commissioners are couscous of the growth. 43 George Lucer said that he agreed with Mark ChiRon's .comments, and sustainable land 44 use plans are important in a project of this magnitude. 45 Ed Kervvin said that he is not in a rush to see the OWASA system drawing water out of 46 Jonian Lake, but it is good to know that if they need 8, it will be there. 47 Mark Chilton said that these cornersations have been going on for about a year with 48 Orange and Chatham, and if Dufiam 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. as 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 Dufiam to Psten because it has a 5 huge impact on NC 54,10, 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 Dufiam, but the 10 timeline may be a long one. He said that this intake could very well happen without Durham. 11 George Luger said that he does not believe that is the case, and there needs to be a 12 r~egfonaf approach with Dufiam. 13 !t was said that any intake would be managed by DENR and it will not be owned by one 14 entity. 15 Ed Kervvin 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 Dufiam is going 18 to do this. This is why it is important to work hani with the elected officals. He does not want to 19 be left behind. 20 Chair Jacobs agreed with Mark Chiffon'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 Dufiam. 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 Dufiam's water system. The worst-case scenario is, 29 if rainfall remains extremely low this year, that when the reservoirs reach a 1596 level, OWASA 30 would put a temporary aboveground 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 forwani, George Lucer said yes. 35 Mark Chilton said that the goal of this process sho~ild 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 benefd to the Haw River. George Lucer 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 sc~wol 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 Counal approves this at the March 3'~ 46 meeting, then it will be communicated to the elected boarcis 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 31 ~. 49 He said that OWASA should be at the AOG meeting. a3 1 Mark Chilton said that krcal governments outside of the region are also looking at Jordan 2 Lake for their water supply and this concerns him. An example is the Piedmont Triad Regional 3 Water Authority. 4 Chair Jacobs said that the News and Observer had an editorial last week about haw 5 Raleigh better go and get some water out of Jordan Lake. 6 Charl'~e Home said that when this allocation process opens up, those entities 7 downstream on the Cape Fear will also have a chance to be irnohred. 8 George Luger said that Chatham County would be meeting with its legislative delegation 9 and will discuss this draft, and he will also discuss this with his board. ~ He said that this could 10 also be discussed with the Town of Pittsboro and its Councl. 11 12 b. Jordan Lake -Coordinated Water Allocation and Planning 13 c. Jordan Lake Rules 14 Environment and Resource Conservation Director Dave Stanch said that he would speak 15 to these rules, but as of today they got word from the Division of Water Quality that there is a 16 ~ plan to take the Jordan Lake rules to the May 8~' meeting of the Environmental Management 17 Commission. He anticipates that those revised rules will be available in early April. 18 Chair Jacobs said that Orange County, Chapel Hill, and Chatham County have spoken 19 against these revised rules. Orange County also had some specfic concerns about how it 20 might affect some of the open space. Some of the requirements imposed might make it more 21 difficult to pursue agriculture, especially in the rural buffer. 22 Chair Jacobs suggested that staff compile the similarities and d'rffen:nc~s of the 23 commenrts from these boanis about the Jonian Lake rules, so that the differences could be 24 discussed, in the spirit of building partnerships. 25 26 d. Regional WaterNVatershed Protection Issues 27 Craig Benedict showed a map of the Courrty with the Cape Fear basin. With these new 28 rules coming forward, it is likely that Orange County will have to have additional land use 29 regulations. He said that it will be diffKx:ult to achieve the 35% reduction level that is being 30 proposed. 31 Chair Jacobs said that at the AOG, then: will be a presentation on the process and there 32 will be discussion and direction for OWASA. 33 Mayor Foy verified that the list of comments from each board on the Jordan Lake rules 34 would be written. Chair Jacobs suggested that the Manager could get together with Ed Kerwin. 35 Mayor Foy asked George Luger about anything.written from Cary and George Luger 36 said yes. Mayor Foy said that this would be good background information to have. 37 Mark Chilton said that it would be helpful to summarize each local government's water 38 conservation measures. 39 40 3. Value Added Agricultural Products Processing Center Update and Discussion 41 42 a. February 19, 2008 Board of County Commissioners. Resolution~upport for 43 a Piedmont Regional Share Use, Value-Added Food and Agricultural Processing Center 44 Chair Jacobs said that four counties, Whole Foods, and Weaver Street contributed to 45 doing a feasibility study regarding this facl'rty. The consultant did a nice job and made some 46 recommendations. A Commissioner from each of the four counties met to discuss the 47 recommendations. Alamance County passed a resolution indicating its support to continue. 48 Orange County's was on the blue sheet. The consultant identified the old Orange Enterprise 49 building in Hillsborough as the best location for this facl'rty. The Board agreed to set aside this 50 building for the facility. Orange County is waiting to hear balk from Chatham and Durham 51 Counties. There could possibly be a meeting between Orange County representatives, Senator 0 1 IGnnaird, and Representative Faison, who have introduced separate bills in the legislature to 2 fund this center. Orange County has also approached Congressman Price. 3 Noah Rannells said that that some assistance has been received from the American 4 Farm Trust Southeast Representative Jerry Cohn in helping to build a strategy. He pointed out 5 the backside of the resolution, whidi has 13 points provided by the consultant to help move the 6 process forward. The target dates were put in by Orange County staff. From a producer 7 perspective, the plan is to have 501(c)3 status and begin trying to get some k~mmitrnent from a 8 project manager to help steer this fonnrard. 9 George Lucer said that Tom Vanderbedk has been attending these meetings and he will 10 be reporting to the Chatham County Commissioners on this. 11 Noah Ranells said that Dufiam is trying to get this issue on one of the upcoming 12 agendas. 13 Chair Jacobs pointed out that Orange County has been working on this for nine years. 14 Mark Chilton said that there is a UNC student organ'¢ation that is interested in this. 15 The resolution is shown below: 16 17 RESOLUTION 18 Support for a Piedmont Regional Shared Use, Vale Added, Food and Agricultural 19 Processing Center 20 21 WHEREAS, the recent tobakxo buyout program has left many farmers seeking economically 22 profitable aRemative enterprises to allow them to remain farming; and, 23 24 WHEREAS, the pro~amity of Alamance, Chatham, Dufiam, and Orange Counties to markets for 25 value added products is signficant given existence of local farmers' markets, grocers, 26 restaurateurs, and food service managers that buy local farm products; and, 27 28 WHEREAS, added value products provide a means to retain economically viable, thriving farms 29 in Alamance, Chatham, Dufiam, and Orange Counties, benefiting our rural character and 30 agricultural heritage, and contributing to the health and high quality of life; and, 31 32 WHEREAS, shanrd use value added processing centers require careful planning and strong 33 collaborations to be successful; and,. 34 35 WHEREAS, a feasibility study funded by Alamance, Chatham, Dufiam, and Orange Counties, 36 as well as Weaver Street Market and Whole Foods, was completed in November 2007, and, 37 38 WHEREAS, the survey respondents inducted 36 percent fruit and vegetable growers, 27 39 percent livestock producers, and 28 percent specialty food producers, caterers, or 40 restaurateurs, who together currently produce 74 food items, and in the future desire to produce 41 112 distinct products; and, 42 43 WHEREAS, the feasibility study indicates diem use at the fadlity can reach 142 production 44 hours per week in one year and would generate more than $150,000 in fees in years 2 and 3 of 45 operation, and gross income generated by dierrts using the faclity would be between $800,000 46 and $1.2 million per year; and, 47 48 WHEREAS, the feasibility report detailed 13 action items that will ensure that the center can 49 open in 2009; 50 51 NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners: as 1 2 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 1) Agn:e to partiapate in a regional, multi--county, value-added shared-use food and agricultural processing center;. 2) Fomnally alkxate the former Orange Enterprise Building on Valley Forge Road in Hillsborough for development of a n~ional value-added shan:d-use food and agricultural processing center; 3) Recommend that the governing board of the Center become a 501(c)3; and 4) Agree that the shared monetary compensation for the Valley Forge Road property (item 2 above) will be determined later and request that equitable fiscal support among partners be pursued that recognizes the allocation of the Orange Enterprise building owned by Orange Courrty. This the 19°i day of February 2008. 4. Joint Parks/Ooen Sosce AcauisitioNDeveloument a. Southern Park Mayor Foy said that it is almost finished, but there is a hold up on the fields because of the watering issue. Roger Stanal said that the staff is looking at drilling a well, artifiaal turf, or trucking water in. Mayor Foy said that he and George Lucier were supposed to talk and George Lucier said that the respective Recreation and Parks Departments were supposed to get together and discuss this. Chair Jacobs suggested having a report by March 31 ~ for the AOG meeting and Mayor Foy agreed. Chair Jacobs said there is a U. S. Communfies entity that counties can use to get a group rate for diffen:nt products, and the newest product is artifiaal turt. Orange County has been talking about putting artfiaal turf at Smith Middle School fields, and it is about $1.5 million. b. Potential Greenway between Chatham and UNC Dave Stanal said that Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft had told him that there had been some conversation about a pedestrian corridor/greenvway tying into the Southern Village area of Chapel Hill. He did not know anything further about this. c. Jordan Lake Natural Area (macrosite) Dave Stanal said that staff is continuing to work with some property owners. This would build on existing open space. This natural area extends into Chatham and Durham. There is slow but sure progress. 5. Transuortation PlanninsUPublic Transportation - Regional Planning Organization -Special Transportation Advisory Committee Roger Stanal distributed a memo from Steve Spade, Transit Din:ctor, to him about an update on staff activfies related to Chatham County Transit Service. Several service options an: considering medications to the current Chatham County Express to serve the University, operation of an express route reaching further into Chatham County from Chapel Hill, and the introduction of vanpool service. Then: should be a more complete report in Iate.March. Chair Jacobs asked when Orange Courrty and Hillsborough would be engaged reganiing Carolina North. ~ Roger Stanal said that he is having conversations with OPT about cooperative arrangements between Chapel Hill Transit and OPT. 0 1 AI Terry said that there have been several meetings with Steve Spade, and one of the 2 options is using some new Fn~dom Funds from the Metropolitan Planning Organ¢ation that 3 would g"rve an inner-city senior route that would get the seniors to more populated areas and 4 ease up on the EZ-Rider service that normally carries the senior adults. There is no discussion 5 with OPT and Chatham County at the moment 6 Chair Jacx~bs said that, as far as Carolina North, this would be nor-senior. Mayor Foy 7 said that Chapel Hill is just about finished with its long-range transit plan, aril it has implications 8 for the broader region. 9 Carolyn Efland said that there an: some modeling issues with Carolina North and it may 10 be April before there is any more information on the transit issue. 11 Mayor Foy said that it turns out that the n~ional model numbers are bad because it says 12 that no one is riding the bus on Martin Luther IGng Boulevard, and this is wrong. The next step 13 will be engaging Orange and Chatham Counties. 14 Chair Jacobs said to make sure and engage Hillsborough. 15 Craig Benedict said that Orange County put together an Orange Unfied Transportation 16 Advisory Board last year, and some of these topics could be broached at these meetings. 17 Then: are representatives from Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough. 18 Mayor Foy said that UNC is very interested in Alamance County because it has a lot of 19 employees there. 20 AI Terry said that Alamance County Transit Authority accesses Chapel Hill through US 21 70 and NC 86. There is another transit agency that goes into Chapel Hill called Piedmont Area 22 Regional Transit, which is an express route for commuters. This is an option of looking at 23 another agency coming into our area. 24 25 6. Joint Planning 26 Method of sharing information among governments 27 Bi-monthly meetings 28 Shared website 29 Special word groups 30 Tiered Priorities 31 o Collaborative Planning Topics 32 o TransportationNtilities Land Use Planning 33 Watisr resources 34 Housing 35 Parks and environment 36 Mapping/GIS 37 38 Chair Jacobs asked where this was left off last time and Roger Stanch said that Planning 39 Dinectors have been meeting. 40 Craig Benedict said that they have been working on a shared website for joint planning. 41 There have been discussions with the Information Technology departments. The Planning 42 Directors are meeting on a regular basis to talk about these topics in general. 43 Chair Jacobs asked how to move forward with making something happen. Craig 44 Benedict said that there could be a resolution at the AOG meeting. 45 Mayor Foy said that he is interested in Cary and Chatham and what they an: doing, and 46 their joint planning. There is also a work group with Dufiam. He would like to know what could 47 be done in this regard. 48 George Luger said that the work with Cary came out of the annexation issue. He said 49 that at one time Cary was more environmentally conscious about planning than Chatham and 50 now it is the other way around. He thinks there are some river protection issues with the Haw 51 River. There are some areas that the governmental entities need to work on together. a~ 2 4 6 7 8 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 Lacier said to identify specific areas and have a Memorandum of Understanding, which establishes a precedent. Mayor Foy agn~d. 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 cxeate 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 MayorsJChairslManagers. Chair Jacobs said that it would be other elected officals 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 as 1 DRAFT 2 MINUTES 3 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 4 ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS 5 March 31, 2008 6 7 8 The prangs Courrty Board of Commissioners met in negular 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 Bany 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 Councl Members Sally Gn:ene, 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 2a Aldermen Joal Hall Broun, Dan Coleman, Randee Haven-0'Donnell, and Jacquelyn Gist, 25 Lydia Lavelle and John Herrera 26 CARRBORO BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEMBERS ABSENT: 2z HILLSBOROUGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens and 28 Councl 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 Kabridk and Executive Director 33 Ed Ketwin 34 MEBANE CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE: Everette Gn:en 35 DURHAM CITY REPRESENTATIVE: Mayor Bill Bell 36 37 NOTE All other particpants are listed in the text as appropriate. 38 39 NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE 40 PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 41 42 43 Call to OrderAntroductions/Ooening Comments 44 ~ Introductions were made. 45 The pink sheets wen: meeting agendas from three joint meetings of Orange County and 46 Chatham County/O1IVASA/UNC/Chapel HiIVCarrboro. There was also a map envisioning 47 cooperative planning between Chatham and Orange Counties, as well as a simple Buckhom 48 Village map. 49 50 ~ Orange/Chatham Countv Regional Planning Collaboration Report 2 i 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 bads at the next AOG meeting. Staff will make initial 4 pn~entations and then the elected offidals present at the joint meetings could speak on these s 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 d'~sc;ussions, it was realized that in 9 this regional perspective inductee such entfies as the City of Durham, Dufiam County, and io Cary. The areas of intent indude land use planning, transportation, parks, open space, 11 environmerrt, and GIS information and mapping. Some of the areas of joint interest indude 12 Jordan Lake Watershed, Haw River Watershed, 15-501 Transportation Corridor, development 13 of regional impact:, and the regional value-added shafed-use food and agricultural processing 14 center. There was discussion about how best to share this information among staffs, elected is offidals, 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, t7 transportation planning and public transportation issues, and joint planning. He said that part of 18 that discussion will indude joint use of Jonian 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 Luder said that the group talked about selecting spedfic projects rather than 22 going too global in terms of the joint planning exercise. These could indude 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 28 irnolved 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 Warn 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 DOTs agenda. 3s Commissioner Gordon said that she attended the meeting of the Durham-Chapel Hill- 39 Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organ'¢ation, and in the next two meetings, the results of the 4o transportation study will be available,, which will addn~s 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 agreemenrt. 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 Bill Strom said that there should really be a joint planning agreement discussion on the 48 table because there are joint interests. 49 George Lucier suggested working towards a Memorandum of Understanding, or several 5o MOAs. There could be one overarching agreement that would identify specfic areas and then 51 have subheadings. 0 3 t 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 Can~boro'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 fourfold over the Went 25 years. 9 There is a building moratorium right now on large residential developments that is scheduled to 1o be lifted in June. During the year of moratorium, Chatham County has established a Major I 1 Corridor Orclinance, 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 is so that people can come and partidpate. 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 Spedal 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 bads with a proposed Memorandum of 22 Understanding, then it could indude how to involve elected offidals. 23 24 21 Potential Joint Use of the Jordan Lake Water Suooly 25 Execx~tive 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 ma~am¢e the local water resources. Key elements of that 28 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 teamed with the droughts that ma~amizing 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 teamed that there was a discussion about 38 Durham and Chatham working with OWASA to try and develop a regional intake because it is 39 the best way for planning. 40 Markle Chilton arrived at 8:06 pm. 41 Dan Coleman asked to hear from former OWASA Chair, Mark Manxplos, on the strategic 42 plan that was adopted in 2005 when he was chair. 43 Joel 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. 4s George Luger 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 so it is a regional intake with agreement among the major parses. 30 4 ~ Mayor Foy asked what happens if Greensboro gets an alk>cation. 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 Dufiam, Chatham County, and OWASA or Orange County. 4 Kevin Foy said that he keeps hearing of conflicting verbiage about Greensboro and 5 Raleigh wanting the water, but there are only two sites. He does not know how this will work 6 George Lucien 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. 8 Chair Jacobs said that some concerns were raised about Dufiam's partidpation and 9 Mayor Bill Bell was in attendance for that reason. 1o 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 dear 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 Jonian 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 polio' of the 5 million gallon 18 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 fadlitation, it was perceived that they would have access to 21 this allocation. The idea is that there is a continuum of possibilities. He agn~ed with Bill Strom 22 that there should be some type of strategy so that Orange County is not totally exduded 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 govemmerrts 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 nrgion 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 warrts to commit to avoid having to go to Jordan Lake except foran 37 extreme emergency. 3s Dan Coleman said that he is hearing that Jordan Lake should not be a permanent part of 39 the n~ular water diet.- He said that he would like to suggest the possibility to be dearer in the 40 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 Want asked Ed Kervvin about OWASA's confidence level and Ed Kennrin said that a lot 43 of experts believe that the dimate change in the southeast is that there will be more 44 pn~cipitation, 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 Chiffon's comments were very well thought out and on 48 target She wants to know how these comments interface with what OWASA is doing. 49 Ed Kennrin 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 bolting at zeroscaping and reexamining the policy on watering lawns at 3 schools. 4 Biq 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 dose 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 8 them in a sustainable way. 9 Joal Hall Broun suggested that if boards want to partitipate, then each should go bads and io 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 bads 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 polities 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 Lutier 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 %4 fold. This detision has to be made this summer and 24 cannot be made any later than this. 25 Mayor Bell said that he understands Mark Chiffon's concerns. He said that Dufiam 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 2s would hope that the boards would agree to allow the discussions to continue. 29 Randy ICabridc, Chair of OWASA Board, said that the board approved unanimously to 3o cooperate with Chatham and Dufiam to look at a n:gional intake from Jonian 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 partitiparrts to support 33 long-range planning, even if it irnolves 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 3s drought, OWASA instituted year-round conservation and no other jurisdiction did this and it also 39 began the discussions that led to tienrd rates to encourage conservation. He said that the 40 entiities 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 partitipate 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 tities for water conservation and efforts. He would 47 like to hear more about the water reuse plans and other plans. 48 Bill Strom said that all understand that this conversation is going to take awhile to sift 49 through and the Chapel Hill Town Countil needs the opportunity to put its thoughts in a so resolution. There should be no action tonight He wants to be able to give OWASA dear 51 direction. 6 33 1 Mayor Foy said that there should be acknowledgement and everything should be written 2 dawn so that OWASA has a dear 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 nesolution 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 Jakx~bs 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 compilatioNdiscussion of current conservation efforts; and Chatham County would tike some 1o kind of answer this summer in order to move forward. He said that, in listening to the last part of 11 the cornersation, it might be useful for the boards in Orange Courrty 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 Voofiees, Deputy City Manager of Dufiam, said that he was the author of the 15 resolution. He said that it was Dufiam's intention to call out the fad 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 Dufiam has been doing water conservation for a long time. 19 Clarifying questions of various board members were answen:d by Ted Voofiees. 20 21 ~ Buckhorn yllasre 22 Craig Benedict said that Budkhom Village is a planned development zoning proposal that 23 was submitted to Orange County fora 130-akxe 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 commerrtss. 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 dear focus of discussion. 38 Commissioner Gordon suggested that each jurisdiction may want to discuss the Greene 39 Tract ahead of time. 40 The next meeting will be hosted by the Town of Hillsborough. 41 42 ~ Greeene Tract Update 43 44 DEFERRED 45 46 ~ Update on the 2035 Lons~ Rans~e Transportation Plan (LRTP1 47 48 DEFERRED 49 50 ~ Writbsn Updates (No Staff Presentations) 51 7 1 a. County Comprehensive Plan 2 b. Solid Waste Transfer Station Siting Process 3 c. Land Trust Affordable Housing Maintenance Task Force 4 d. County Capital Projects 5 6 7~ Adjournment 7 The meeting was adjourned at 9:33 pm. s - 9 10 Barry Jacobs, Chair 11 12 Donna S. Baker, CMC 13 Clerk to the Board D