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HomeMy Public PortalAbout10.24.2002 Joint Public HearingTown AGENDA JOINT PUBLIC HEARING HILLSBOROUGH TOWN BOARD and PLANNING BOARD Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:00 PM F. Gordon Battle Courtroom ITEM #1: Call to Order ITEM #2: Purpose and process of the meeting This hearing covers annexation, zoning, and a master plan review for the entranceway special use district. All speakers will be sworn in before speaking. ITEM #3: Request from the Trump Group and property owners (Davis, Moren, and Bratton) to annex and zone 339.34 acres at the northeast quadrant of the I -40/01d 86 interchange. The requested zoning is Entranceway Special Use with a Master Plan for the site. This application includes a Master Plan for the area showing a broad mixture of uses, including retail, office, single- and multi -family, civic, and park. Special Use Permits for individual portions of the development will have to be submitted, and be subject to further public hearings, before any buildings are constructed. ITEM #4: Announcement of any future hearing or meeting dates & times. ITEM #5: Adjourn 101 East Orange Street • P.O. Box 429 • Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 919-732-1270 • Fax 919-644-2390 MINUTES JOINT PUBLIC HEARING October 24, 2002 PRESENT: Mayor Joe Phelps, Ken Chavious, Frances Dancy, Mike Gering, Evelyn Lloyd, Mark Sheridan, David Daniel (PB Chair), Chris Quinn, Bryant Warren PUBLIC: Jack Smyre, Scott Radway, George Alexiou, Robert Siemens, Dave Ross, Chris Smith, Jennifer Miller, Tom Magnuson, Holly Reid, June Minton STAFF: Eric Peterson, Bob Homik, and Margaret Hauth ITEM #1: Mayor Phelps called the hearing to order and passed the gavel to Planning Board Chair Daniel. Daniel welcomed everyone and briefly described the hearing process. He added that speakers from the last hearing remained under oath. Smyre reported that they had completed 2 of the 3 homework assignments from the last hearing. He ddthe traffic impact statement has been completed. He summarized the results to say that the roads are currently at an OK level of serve. He said that they would remain OK in 1 Oyears. However, when Waterstone is added and the 10 years elapses the volume of traffic is overwhelming. Commissioner Gering asked if that means the intersections are failing at Level of Service F and Smyre confirmed. Commissioner Chavious asked where in the traffic assumptions the big box captured. Smyre said it is included in the retail portion of the traffic. He added that 1/3 of the mixed-use areas and the freestanding retail are also included in that number. Daniel asked about the status of the improvements to Old 86 and what improvements Waterstone is prepared to make. Smyre noted that the project has been request, but currently has no funding. He added that the status at this point is unclear, since NCDOT controls the funding. Commissioner Chavious asked Smyre to indicate where on the drawing the four -lane section drops to two. Daniel swore in George Alexiou. Alexiou said the four lane cross section between the two interstates is the ultimate project, not what Waterstone proposes to build. Commissioner Chavious asked how much Waterstone would build and Alexiou said it is not clear yet. Commissioner Sheridan asked where all the traffic coming off I-40. Alexiou said that would require a different type of study to get at that "attraction" figure. Commissioner Sheridan expressed concern about the willingness of humans to sit in traffic. He asked Alexiou if he agreed with the belief that you cannot build your way out of congestion. Alexiou said widening roads does not alleviate congestion. He added that the secondary road network around the project is also deficient and improvements in the network and adding transit will help. Smyre asked the members for their support in prioritizing this widening project with NCDOT. Smyre distributed a school impact calculation prepared by Radway using the projection methods employed by Orange County for projecting school students. Commissioner Gering asked Radway if he used one of the Tischler models employed by Orange County. Radway said he used the averaged figure of the five methods that Orange County used. Commissioner Sheridan asked how many total students could be expected from Waterstone and Radway said 115. He went on to note that the number is a projection and actual student counts could be different, especially if the housing mix changes. Smyre shifted to water and sewer capacity. He said that generally speaking, the town does have sufficient capacity to serve the development. He said they reviewed the staff -prepared water capacity analysis and feels that with the current level of development, the committed development, and Waterstone at build -out, there is sufficient capacity. He noted that this summer, availability of raw water was the issue, but treatment is the next stumbling block. Radway said he looked at the period of January 2001 to June of 2002 as being Joint Public Hearing 10/24/2002, page 2 at "normal consumption" levels. During that period, the maximum day use was 3 million gallons, the average day was 1.2 million gallons, and the peak was 1.824 million gallons. He said the town has capacity, but there are trigger points for new action. He added that he would like to review usage this fall. Commissioner Gering asked if they used a different definition of obligated customers, since the results are different that the staff's findings. Radway said he believed they used the same definition and simply carried forward what the staff had done. Commissioner Chavious asked about the 80% of capacity trigger Radway mentioned. Radway said that when a municipality hits 80% of its treatment capacity, it must begin looking for additional capacity. Radway added that at 2/3 of the way through Waterstone, the town would hit that 80% threshold. Smyre said they have additional information to share shortly, but noted that even in the worst case there is enough water capacity. Smyre noted that Waterstone's capital facility fees would pay for the plant expansion. Commissioner Lloyd asked what their capital facilities fees would be. Radway said that the town has 1200-1300 approved residential units that are not built yet, which will generate $2.5 million, not including Waterstone. He noted that the non-residential is harder to estimate because it is based on meter size. Commissioner Chavious noted that we are in the middle of a drought. In 2013, when Waterstone is completed, we may see another drought and where would we be. He said we need to be responsible to our existing customers. Mayor Phelps asked if Waterstone has estimated their residential usage. Radway noted that the national average for a single-family house is 200 gallons per day, but the Hillsborough average is 189 gpd. He said the non-residential averages are 100 to 120 gpd per 1000 square feet, but Hillsborough's is 101 gpd. Radway noted that Hillsborough needs to add more customers to help pay for the improvements the town needs. Daniel opened the floor for public comment. Daniel swore in Robert Siemens. He said he lives in Stagecoach Run. He asked who was going to compensate him for the loss of property values and security caused by this development. He said he and his neighbors didn't want the connection to Fletcher Road, didn't want greenway access, want the buffer increased to 250' and want a fence built. He said he hasn't heard about any improvements to NC 86. He asked who was going to pay for his connection to the public water, not to mention the monthly bills. He expressed concern about water supply during droughts. He said he and his family left Cary to avoid this type of development. Daniel swore in David Ross. He said he lives at 2312 Woodberry Drive and thanked the members for holding another hearing. He said he is an Orange High teacher and is concerned about water capacity. He said there have been water restriction each of the five years he has been here and he questioned whether the water exists. He said he and his neighbors deserve the same 100' buffer Stagecoach is getting. Daniel swore in Chris Smith. He said he and his family live at 2812 Fargo Road. He said he s encourage by the serious discussion tonight. He said previous discussions were too detail oriented and missed the important big topics being addressed tonight. He asked whether Waterstone is what the town wants; do the benefits outweigh the costs. He asked the members to be sure, because he doesn't think so. He asked them to consider the costs imposed on Stagecoach Run and noted it's outrageous to put apartments adjacent to their neighborhood. Jennifer Miller spoke, saying she would abide by her previous oath. She said she is proud of the change in the process she is seeing. She said that more residents mean more schools. She said she reviewed the 1987 Joint Public Hearing 10/24/2002, page 3 water capacity study, which documents the amount of water flowing through the town gauge downtown. She said the amount has been decreasing since the 1930s. She said the members can manage growth, but you cannot manage the climate. She said the applicants have made a lot of promises, but how can we ensure they will be kept. She suggested that Old 86 be widened before anything is constructed. Daniel swore in Tom Magnuson. He detailed the remnants of the original Chapel Hill Road that cross the property and said he wanted to be sure the members knew it was there before they made a decision on the project. He said he believes the developer has an obligation to mitigate any damage to the road/path. He suggested requiring the development to survey the line of the road and 100' to each side to identify any obvious archeological resources. He suggested that the developer also fund removing any of those resources so they would not be totally lost and provide a signed report to the town from their consultant. He added that there is a portion that is 15-20' wide and cobbled. Commissioner Chavious asked Magnuson what he was asking the town to do if resources were found. Magnuson said someone has to decide which is more important. Commissioner Sheridan asked Magnuson his opinion of the overall development. Magnuson said he didn't really have one; he added that it has a lot of promise but he is concerned about the long build- out schedule. Holly Reid spoke, saying she would abide by her previous oath. She reminded the members she was representing Walkable Hillsborough Coalition. She said this is the biggest decision the Town Board has been faced with. She said since we don't have a master plan for growth and infill, we don't know how to review this. She said Waterstone is a huge commitment and risk because it uses all available water capacity. She said she couldn't support it because it lacks a multitude of benefits that outweigh the risks. She said there is no center, it does not provide enough economic development, it's still auto -dependent and too far from the rest of town. Daniel swore in June Minton. She said she agreed with Reid, Magnuson, Smith, Miller, and Ross. She said she is a real estate broker and she questions the student generation numbers. There being no further public comment, Daniel returned the gavel to Mayor Phelps for discussion of next steps. Smyre said they would like to prepare a cost benefit analysis to present at another hearing and allow the staff sufficient time to review their analysis. He suggested dates of January 16, 21, and 23. Eric Peterson said he would like to update the water capacity analysis to address the capacity. He noted that the land use plan needs to be very close to final when the cost benefit analysis begins, because the two are very closely linked. Commissioner Chavious asked Peterson to address the flow study and student generation numbers. Mayor Phelps suggested the members discuss the plan and next steps in the October work session. MOTION: Commissioner Dancy moved to close the public hearing and Commissioner Lloyd seconded. VOTE: Unanimous. Mayor Phelps adjourned the meeting at 9:20 PM. Respectfully submitted, Margaret A. Hauth, Secretary