Loading...
HomeMy Public PortalAbout07-27-1999 Public Hearing . . . PRESENT: PUBLIC: ITEM #3: ITEM #2: 103 MINUTES PUBLIC HEARING July 27, 1999 Mayor Horace Johnson, Ken Chavious, Frances Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, Catherine Martin, Richard Simpson, John Taylor (PB chair), Richard Bradford, David Daniel, Ed Gill, Jim Boericke, Cathy Carroll, Chris Quinn, Pam Blue-Thompson, Bryant Warren David Rhodes, approximately 10 residents, Eric Peterson, Margaret Hauth Mayor Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. He passed the gavel to Planning Board chair Taylor. Hal.lth asked to proceed with item 3, as the applicant for item 2 was not yet present. Hauth introdQced the text amendment to establish a Board of Adjustment size of seven members. She noted this was part of the efforts the town was making to increase the likelihood of having quorums present for its advisory board meetings. She noted that the ordinance does not require alternate members of the Planning Board, so that change can be handled at a regular Town Board meeting, She noted that the ordinance requires the Board of Adjustment to have 4 members present and in agreement on any application, which is difficult with 5 members. By making the alternate members full members, reaching the 4 member quor:um and voting minimum will be easier. Boericke noted that the new text does not reflect that the county will appoint three and the Town board will appoint three. Hauth said she would make that correction. Hauth briefly described the Precision Auto rezoning request and reminded the members of the zoning re-write that created 2 commercial districts and 2 levels of auto sales. Brinkley asked whether Orange Grove Road qualifies as an arterial street and Hauth confirmed that it does. Martin questioned the impact of this site on the Eno River. Mayor Johnson followed up with a question regarding site contamination. Hauth noted the Board of Adjustment would review any significant change to the building. Rhodes described his proposed operation. He noted his intent to preserve the majority of the existing landscaping and display cars on gravel along the Churton Street and Orange Grove Road portions of the site. He noted some overflow cars would get parked in the rear gravellot. He said the current owners are working to get a final determination from EP A stating that "no further (clean-up) action" is necessary. Some of the contamination is from diesel fuel, which Duke Power did not keep on site. Rhodes added that he would likely lease office space to other uses, as he does not need the whole building. Simpson asked whether cars are serviced on site. Rhodes said no, only clean up work, he is simply a salesman. He noted that the site has 22 parking spaces and a 3,600 square foot building. He responded to Chavious's questions about enlarging the building and indicated plans to only build a structure to the rear to allow for car detailing. Blue-Thompson noted that she lives up the street and asked about traffic impact, impact on the neighbors from lights, and impact on the park. Rhodes said he does intend to install some additional lighting to add security to the site when closed. He also intends to work with the park to see if a shared arrangement can be worked out to improve the current situation. Rhodes noted that he has four to five employees, about 40 cars displayed and has about 10 customers a day; he said he wished he would generate a traffic problem in the neighborhood. He noted his hours of operation would be 9-5:30 Monday-Friday, 9-4 on Saturday and closed on Sunday. 104 JPH 7/27/99, page 2 . Hauth addressed the citizens present briefly. She continued that the item they were interested in, a text amendment to allow duplexes on septic tanks was not on the agenda and had been withdrawn by the applicant. She said she would also be addressing their stormwater concerns as soon as she could fully study the engineering drawings and determine what could be done. She thanked them for coming and for their patience. John Taylor closed the public hearing and returned the gavel to Mayor Johnson who called for a brief recess. Johnson asked Hauth to provide an update on the Hillsborough Place development. Hauth said that the Planning Board would be reviewing revised plans at their August meeting. A joint meeting with the county commissioners, school board, and both planning boards will be held on September 8 at the courthouse, with a town public hearing to follow on September 28, also at the courthouse. Hauth added the regular September Planning Board meeting will be canceled. Johnson noted that the town would be convening the joint meeting and that the meeting will not become a public hearing; it is for information sh~g to bring everyone to the same level of knowledge about the development. He added that the developer or staff would address questions. The Mayor adjourned the meeting at 7:40 PM. Respectfully submitted, . ~A,~ Margaret Hauth, Secretary . . . . ATTACHMENT .5 1 0 5 APPROVED DECEMBER 7.1999 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL MEETING SEPTEMBER 8,1999 The Orange County Board of Commissioners met in joint session with the Hillsborough Town Commissioners, the Orange County Planning Board, the Hillsborough Planning Board and the Orange County Board of Education ~n September 8, 1999 at 7:00 p.m. in the big courtroom of the new County courthouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Alice M. Gordon and Commissioners Margaret W. Brown, Stephen H. Halkiotis, and Barry Jacobs COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Moses Carey, Jr. COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Albert Kittrell, and Clerk to the Board Beverly A. Blythe (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) HILLSBOROUGH TOWN BOARD: Mayor Horace Johnson and Town Commissioners Ken Chavious, Frances Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, Catherine Martin and Richard Simpson ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS: Bob Bateman, Delores Simpson, Keith Cook, Brenda Stevens, Ricky Kennedy, David Kolbinsky and Superintendent Randy Bridges HILLSBOROUGH PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS: Chair John Taylor and members Pamela Blue-Thompson, James Boericke, Richard Bradford, Joel Brinkley, Cathy Carroll, David Daniel, Edward Gill, Chris Quinn, and Bryant Warren ORANGE COUNTY PLANNING BOARD MEMBERS: James Selkirk NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. ALL RECORDINGS OF THE MEETING WILL BE KEPT FOR 5 YEARS. 1: CALL TO ORDER Chair Alice M. Gordon called the meeting to order. 2. PURPOSE OF THE MEETING AND INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS Mayor Horace Johnson made opening remarks. He said that the purpose of this meeting was to inform the two elected boards, the Orange County School Board and the two Planning Boards about the proposed annexation of the planned unit development, Corbin Downs. The decision to annex the property rests solely on the Hillsborough Town Board. He introduced the Hillsborough Town Board, and asked the Hillsborough Planning Board to raise their hands. He said this was not a public hearing, and there will be no comments from the public at this time. There will be a public hearing on Tuesday, September 28th at 7:00 in this courtroom. This is an opportunity for the public and the elected officials to hear about this issue. He then introduced Chair Gordon. Chair Gordon introduced the Board of County Commissioners. She said that Commissioner Carey is not in attendance because he is attending an EMC Board meeting. She said the County Commissioners requested this meeting to become fully informed about this project. She said they plan to listen, learn, and contribute. Susan Dovenbarger, Chair of the Orange County School Board, introduced her Board members. She said that she appreciates the opportunity to be invited here to talk about a proposed development plan. She said it was coincidental for them to be invited to talk about this particular subdivision because the superintendent recently 106 shared with the Board of Education the plans that are up for final approval which total approximately 3,300 new homes coming into the Orange County school district, including Corbin Downs. They are feeling extreme pressure to plan for new schools, especially a new middle school. .3. PRESENTATION OF PROPOSED CORBIN DOWNS DEVELOPMENT Boots Elam, land planner for this proposed development, said that he feels the input he has received has made this a better project. He wants to be a good neighbor, not only to Hillsborough, but also to Orange County. The project name was changed from Hillsborough Place to Corbin Downs by request from the Town. This name was derived from the man who first surveyed the town of Hillsborough. He made reference to several maps. He said that the project is located at the intersection of 1-40 and Old North Carolina 86 with frontage on new North Carolina 86 to the east. The project consists of 337.7 acres. Their goal in establishing this project is to try to establish a project that meets the goals of the Economic Development District (EDD). His firm wants to create an employment center with a living center attached to it. They want to create a living center that could cover all facets of housing, from assisted living, to retirement, to family housing, to apartments, to town homes. All of this would be developed in a village atmosphere based around an employment center. He said that the newspaper always has articles about parking problems in the Triangle area. He said there has been a focus in a lot of the metropolitan areas to provide a housing base located within employment centers. Corbin Downs would provide places to live near places to work. In the beginning they went through a land analysis. The first map they analyzed was the slope of the property to understand the character of the property as it related to the typography. Another map was a soil map that helped in anticipation of erosion and in identifying other techniques that may need to be utilized. Another map was the hydrology map that indicates the location of any flood prone areas and how the site was being drained naturally. Another map was the vegetation map. They felt it important to save as much of the vegetation as possible during the project. They overlaid all the maps using a filter mapping process to come up with a development suitability map. From there, using the goals and objectives of the project, a number of sketch master plans were derived and a master plan was proposed. This master plan broke the property down into areas that would be single family and office flex-business park, assisted living, retirement, apartments, town homes, office, wholesale, retail, a transit stop, and a daycare Montessori school located on the site. In reviewing the EDD and how they derived the land use plans, they worked with their transportation engineers to come up with routes that would lead back to old and new 86. They then derived a plan that sets up the basic schematics of how they envision the project to develop. On a map, Mr. Elam showed what they did to carry out the theme of the history and character of the existing town. Also, they looked at the entrances to the property and then prepared the document which went to public hearing. They received a lot of input from citizens, staff, and town board members at the public hearing. . They took the input and revised the plan. The Planning Board reviewed the plan and had another work session with the Town Commissioners to go over the design. The developer said that they also met with the Superintendent of schools and have indicated to Orange County that they may be able to help with a school site. It is their position that they will work with Orange County either at this site or another site. The developer will provide a school site. Currently they understand that there is an impact fee of $750.00 per unit and they are proposing to add an additional $100 per unit so they will pay $850.00 per unit to the school system. Also, based on the input received, there are 100-foot buffers around the perimeters of the property. They will have ball fields and soccer fields that will be available to all citizens in the community. They had proposed a public safety facility that would be in the eastern part of the property. The Town has requested that it be relocated. They will give five acres plus $300,000 to the Town for that facility. The developers will pay approximately $1 ,000,000 for waterlines to the development. They have tried to take all the pubic comment into consideration in the plan. They do not see this as an adversary role, but as fulfilling a goal in development of this EDD. . . 4. REVIEW SUMMARY BY STAFF a. Town - Operational and Fiscal Impacts Town Manager Eric Peterson focused on the financial and operational impacts related to the Town of Hillsborough. The most important issues and impacts occur during the first three years. Year one, there will be a deficit. In years two and three the deficits are significant and this needs a lot of thought. If the Board decided to annex this area, they would need to resolve these deficit issues. He said that 77% of the total costs allocated to the Corbin Downs development is public safety related - fire and police. One of the most important points that the Town Board will need to evaluate is the investment in locating a fire and police department in that area. It is evident that development is going to come to this area, it is just a matter of when. As other development occurs, there is an economy of scale, regardless if this area is annexed. He talked about the benefit to the Town by providing water to this area. He said that the Town will not need any more personnel as a result of this project. There would be a deficit the first year in the water fund, but the second and third years the Town would have a surplus. The Town's major concern is making sure that any new development pays for itself. He said that one of the other benefits of this project would be that the EDD would be open for other development. The Town would . . . 107 benefit whether or not the property is annexed. He said there is risk by trying to do this. If the property is annexed and the development does not go according to the plan, there will be a financial risk. If the Town does not approve the annexation of this property, it will eventually be developed, and could be developed in small plots with very little coordination. b. County - Operational and Fiscal Impacts Planning Director Craig Benedict said that a development of this type is referred to as a development of regional impact. The primary concern when the Orange County staff looked at this property was the traffic impact. There is approximately 1.6 million square feet of non-residential construction planning within this project over seven years, and over 700 residential units. The Orange County Planning staff believes that at the completion of this project, there will be an additional 37,000 trips added to the roadway network per day. Regarding Old 86, which is a two lane road, Craig Benedict showed on a map the EDD area and designations of the particular areas. He explained the map. He said that the right-of-way is not there for adding lanes to the roadway. Traffic is the most critical issue. He touched on some of the other County services that will be provided by the County. Planning Review and Inspection is one of the services that the County provides to the Town of Hillsborough. They would need to expand their staff to handle a development of this size. EMS is a direct impact that is a County service. Under tab three in the agenda packet, there are responses from EMS on how they would handle a development of this size. He made reference to the increase in traffic and traffic accidents that would involve both EMS and police as a backup. He made mention that there would be impacts on the recreation and parks programs provided by Orange County. Other areas of County impact include the library that would experience an increase in traffic. Erosion control would be another area that would need to have additional staff to handle the impacts from this project. Another issue that would be affected would be public transit. There would definitely need to be a bus route circulated through this project. He said there were some conflicts with what was on the original EDD plan and what is in the proposal. Craig Benedict said that he would continue to work with the Hillsborough staff to examine those differences. He said there would definitely be tax revenue coming from this development. Regarding the revenue based on the different uses of the development, he said some of the values per unit were a little high. He would like the opportunity to discuss this with the developer to make sure the most realistic property values are being represented. Using the numbers within the application, there would be approximately two million dollars of revenue to the County based on the present tax rates. c. School and County - Operational and Fiscal Impacts Craig Benedict made reference to school impacts and said that they want the applicant to work with the school system on the number of students who will be generated and the impacts on the elementary, middle, and high schools. This would be a capacity analysis tied in with the student-generated figures. He feels it important to work on the timing of these impacts. He said the middle school would have the tightest constraints in this general area because there will be a new elementary and high school coming on line within the next few years. d. Revised Traffic Impact Analysis Hillsborough Planning Director Margaret Hauth made several comments about traffic. She made reference to the two-page memo that has the comments that were submitted from the firm that reviewed the transportation impact statement prepared by Kimberly Horne. She addressed Craig Benedict's concern about no right-of-ways for road widening. She said that the properties that were purchased do cross over Old 86. The developer owns frontage on both sides nearest to the interstate, so the land would be available for the full widening. The NCDOT minimum would be used where the developer does not own the property. She said that individual driveways would be offset so that there are no traffic problems. She made reference to a map and showed where there would be a park and ride lot. She said that the developer is willing to provide this space. She made reference to a feasibility study that looked at South Churton Street from 1-40 to the railroad trestle to see what can be done within the existing right-of-way for widening. She said that the NCDOT has not been able to begin this study due to staff turnover. She said this might be a good opportunity to work together and provide NCDOT with something rather than waiting for them to address it. e. Project Compliance with Town Subdivision, Zoning, and EDD Regulations Margaret Hauth summarized the process that would be followed by the developer. She said that each pod would require a site approval. All the pods except for single family would require approval by the Board of Adjustment. There will be a public hearing before the Board of Adjustment. Once those approvals are granted they would get their permits and be monitored by both the Town and the County. There are a number of internal conditions set up for when certain larger items would be finished. They would have a timeline for each pod of the development. In terms of individual compliance issues, the 1 DO-foot buffer is still in place. All solid waste containers will be handled at the site approvallev'el. An overall site storm water plan must be submitted for the entire development and approved by the Town. The Town would submit this to a consulting engineer for review. . . . 108 Construction debris would be pit burned. Other construction debris has not been handled and she is open to any input in this area. The Town does expect that the pods will be sold to individual developers. They will be held to this development plan. This development is not in a designated watershed so there is not an impervious surface limit. The development will comply with, at site plan level, setbacks and impervious surface limits that are existing in the ordinances as well as the Upper Neuse Basin requirements. Construction of the buildings will be established at site plan level and that will be enforced. Tree preservation and signs will also be addressed during the individual pod developments. The Town does not have a comparable major transportation corridor overlay district; however, the EDD does address visibility and provides for a 1 DO-foot interstate buffer. The mixture of land uses is shown so it can be seen how it interacts with the ordinance. The development can not be predominantly one use. The whole point of the ordinance is to provide for mixed uses. 5. GROUP DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS Frances Dancy said that she is worried about the two years of deficits. She asked if there was any help available since the Town has a very tight budget. Mr. Elam said that this is something they will explore with the Town Manager. He feels they can work on this together. Rick Kennedy said that he feels there is an advantage in talking with one person instead of a number of persons with a number of developments. He expressed concern about the low number of students predicted for such a large number of housing units. He feels the number of students would be at least .6 per housing unit. He said the middle school was the priority right now. Mr. Elam said that he has recent information on students generated per household that he will share with the Orange County schools. They used national statistics that they found with the Urban Land Institute and with different agencies of North Carolina. They have done a lot'of high-density apartments, and the way they are designed they really do not generate the school children that one would typically expect. David Kolbinsky said that he appreciates the sensitivity of increased students. They are already concerned about the traffic on Old 86 and the corridor between 1-40 and 1-85. Brenda Stephens asked how the development came up with an additional $100 for the impact fee. Mr. Elam said they were looking at possibly donating a school site, and they looked at what the total acreage of the school site would be. He said that jf they need to work on a middle school site, they would. Based on the acreage, what the site would be worth, and the total number of units, they felt that to add $100 to the impact fee would be a fair amount. Richard Simpson said that he likes that he has something to think about. Ken Chavious said that he appreciates that Mr. Elam has been willing to work. with them. He feels it is time that the Town and County officials take charge of their community. The Town and County are not trying to jump down the developers' throat; it is just a matter of being in control of the community. He asked Mr. Elam about the road property and Mr. Elam said that they only own parcels on Old 86. He said that he appreciates the ones who have presented facts about this project. Barry Jacobs asked questions and asked that they be answered at another time. He congratulated this developer for presenting an integrated design. 1. How many millions of gallons of water a day will the development use? 2. How many people per use are projected and how many trips per day per use are projected? 3. What is the exact acreage of the property? (He has seen three different numbers) 4. Does the EDD require a certain % of commercial vs. residential development? 5. The impact on the entrance to 1-40 going to RTP will be tremendous. This is not addressed. 6. The cross-section of Old 86 should be developed, and the buffer should be added. 7. Internal turn lanes should be added. 8. Look at putting some retail where the apartments are, so pedestrians do not have to cross the street. 9. There should be limited access to Old 86; there is an extra access point. 10. He is concerned about the open space with a lack of specificity. There should be a targeted percentage of open space, particularly so the vegetation and hardwoods are protected. 11. He would like to see how the payment in lieu system would apply to this project. 12. Is the impact fee $100 above the current one? If the impact fee goes up, is it still $100 beyond what's required? 13. He would like to see Affordable Housing considered. 14. He would like to see the staff investigate the track record of this particular developer on projected build out. 15. Orange County Board of Commissioners has been strong in their opposition to open burning. They hope to get Hillsborough and this developer to work on this. . . . 109 Evelyn Lloyd said she is always concerned about the financial status of the Town. She does not agree with the number of apartments and the amount of water that will be needed for this development. This is something that needs a lot of careful thinking. Susan Doverbarger said that she was glad to hear about the ratio that was used to establish the number of students that are generated from new developments. She clarified that they are currently building an elementary school and a high school. They will need another middle school. Both of their middle schools are over capacity. It is their greatest concern to seek assistance with the middle school site and how to fund the school. Mayor Horace Johnson said that some of his concerns have been addressed. He made reference to page 2-1, paragraph 1, 4th sentence, which reads, "there are no absolutes or guarantees. n He said this is frightening. He read the 3rd paragraph and said that this adds more fright to him. They would prefer having most of the development take place in the first years of the project. He feels that it is important for his board to look at this and do what is best for Hillsborough. Commissioner Brown asked questions that may be answered later. She feels this development will have a countywide impact and all the citizens will be paying for additional schools. She is concerned about having the traffic impact study done on the Old 86 corridor. She would like a further explanation from the Orange County Planning Department on how much support Orange County gives the Hillsborough Planning Department, and what obligation would Orange County have to Hillsborough if the project were approved. She is concerned about the lack of specificity on recreation and parks. She is interested in who would maintain the ball fields since Hillsborough does not have a Recreation and Parks department. She is concerned about erosion control. This project is large but the Erosion Control department is not large. She would like some additional information on the additional staff that will be needed from the County. She agrees with Commissioner Jacobs on the Affordable Housing issue. She also feels very strongly about open burning and the tree protection issue. Since this will necessitate clear cutting, she wants to know how they plan to protect trees in this area. Commissioner Halkiotis said that County government has spent a lot of money to keep Hillsborough looking like Hillsborough. They spent $125,000 to put a rock walkway around the old courthouse. They spent an additional $25,000 to put flemish brick on the Government Services Center. There was even a fake facade put on the roofline of the new jail addition to keep the historicity of Hillsborough in place. He opposed Lawrence Place on 70 West because of the traffic. Old 86 is an old two-lane narrow road and was never designed for 37,000 trips a day. The County does a lot for the Town of Hillsborough and he summarized these items. The biggest thing the County does is try to give the Orange County Board of Education money to build schools. He feels that something this size which shows retail space is really scary. He has some serious concerns. Keith Cook had no questions. He said most of his questions have been answered. He appreciates the hard work the Town has done on this project. Delores Simpson said that in reading the report, she was disappointed to see that very little attention was given to the schools. She feels that in the next few years, what constitutes a family will change. She feels the average size family will be larger in years to come. She thinks the Town and County need to think more about their schools. They will need to plan for additional schools, especially another elementary and middle school. She is delighted to hear that the developer will donate a site. Catherine Martin thanked the Town staff for their work on this project. She said that development would obviously occur in this area since it is prime real estate. The question is what is the best kind of development for this area, one developer doing a coordinated project or a lot of developers doing it in a piece meal fashion. The financial and traffic aspects will need to be considered. She likes the concept of having the TT A and park and ride lots. Schools, recreation and parks, and traffic are hot topics. Bob Bateman thanked the Town for letting the Board of Education sit in on this early discussion. He stated that this would be a tremendous impact on the County, especially on the resources of the Town of Hillsborough such as traffic, water, etc. He does question the projected number of students that will be generated through this project. His one personal concern is that he thinks that 2 Y:z houses on an acre of land are too many. Chair Gordon made reference to tab 3 and said that some services are those that are offered countywide, but some of the services are unique to Hillsborough. She spoke to Eric Peterson and said she is assuming that when he calculated the expenses he did not calculate increases in things that would affect the Planning jurisdiction. She asked if there was any consideration given to services that have to do with land use planning, that are ordinarily provided by a town. There are some services that Orange County provides countywide, and then there are others that are land use jurisdictions that the County does not provide. She asked if the Town or the County would hire another Planning staff person. Eric Peterson said that he did not assume any cooperative efforts in providing the services. He assumed that as the Town boundaries expand, it is the Town's responsibility to provide the services. She asked Craig Benedict about his comment about maxing out the Planning Department staff. Craig Benedict explained that he was talking about the building services side of the Planning and Inspections Department. A project of this size would definitely increase the personnel needs in the inspection side of the equation. . . . 11 0 Margaret Hauth said that Craig Benedict has suggested that the developer hire an outside consultant to certify their plans and provide them to the County staff. The developer is willing to proceed with this suggestion. This would take a lot of the burden off the County Planning Department. Chair Gordon said that since all the ~Iected officials have asked their questions, there was time for more questions. Evelyn Lloyd said that what bothers her is having as many people to the south of the railroad tracks as there are to the north. She said this detracts from Hillsborough. Susan Dovenbarger made reference to a new middle school and the standards for building new middle schools. She asked John Link if the cost was estimated at 18 million dollars. She asked him to speak about what opportunities there might be right now to fund a new middle school, since this is the next thing on the horizon for the school system. John Link clarified that the cost for a new middle school is 18 million dollars. He said that there are no CIP funds for a new middle school. This much money would require going back to the voters for a school bond. Both school systems need to be included. This would need to be brought forward soon for planning purposes, as early as next week. Regarding the school site, he thinks it is a very nice gesture from the developer to convey a school site to the school system. It is important that the site be in the right place and the right acreage. Commissioner Jacobs asked if an analysis like the one Eric Peterson did for the Town could be done regarding the impact on County services. The fiscal impact on Orange County needs to be determined. He made reference to open space and feels that this may not suit the needs of the people that will live in this village. He asked the developer to consider building up instead of out and providing additional open space. This project is scary, and he feels a decision should not be rushed. As elected officials, he thinks they should have their own timetable. He feels that the traffic will have a tremendous impact on all of the people who live and work here. There will be one solid block of traffic from Highway 70 all the way to 1-40. He thinks there is an opportunity to make this something that will have high standards. Mayor Horace Johnson made reference to page 2-7, second paragraph, which reads, "There is unquestionably risk involved in trying to predict the cost of proposed annexation. There is unquestionably risk involved in trying to predict the cost of servicing a large development that mayor may not be built according to schedule, depending on the economy and many other factors." He said in the worst case scenario, if the Town annexes this area, there may be a deficit of up to a half million dollars. This means that the people who live in Hillsborough would face a higher tax rate. He thinks this would make Hillsborough an elitist town, where only those that could afford to pay the taxes could stay here. This has already happened in Chapel Hill. He said it would be better for the development to take place first, so there would be one year's worth of tax revenues to start with. He hopes that the Hillsborough Town Board would give this some serious thought, and see if the Town can sustain in the worst case scenario. Chair Gordon said, on behalf of the Commissioners, she really appreciates Hillsborough, the Board of Education, the Planning Board, the Staff, and the developer for coming tonight. This is a project of regional significance. This kind of communication and cooperation is so important, and she is delighted to see that this could be done. Mayor Horace Johnson commended the Hillsborough Planning Board and the Planning Directors for their dedication on this project. 6. ADJOURNMENT Chair Gordon adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for September 14,1999 at 7:30 p.m. in the meeting room of the Government Services Center in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Alice M. Gordon, Chair Beverly A. Blythe, Clerk ~/~