Travis Crayton's blog
Over the next two weeks, Orange County will be holding public outreach sessions to get feedback from central and rural Orange County residents about the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan. Residents are invited to discuss options for new, expanded and existing bus services under the plan. Bus routes to be brought for public input will include rural service routes, regional service routes, and the Hillsborough Circulator.
Four meetings will be held throughout northern Orange County in August. The dates and locations are as follows, and can also be found on the OP calendar.
Last week, Chapelboro's Elizabeth Friend took a look into how Orange County agencies are (not) enforcing the countywide smoking ban (PDF) enacted by the Orange County Board of Health last October. I think this piece raises a few concerns worth discussion. For context, the ban officially took effect on January 1, 2013, but enforcement measures were not scheduled to begin until a few weeks ago on July 1.
I was happy to see the county enact a smoking ban back in October. This policy decision to promote better public health for all of Orange County's citizens is one that should be applauded -- I just wish the enforcement efforts were worthy of applause, too.
The editors of OrangePolitics are excited to announce our live online candidate forums for the upcoming elections for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, the Chapel Hill Town Council, and the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners.
We are also excited to host an informal Conversation With the Mayors, which will include the candidates in all three of the county’s uncontested mayoral races.
As you might have noticed about a month ago on June 3, Orange County (finally!) joined Twitter and Facebook in an attempt to enhance their social media presence and public engagement/outreach.
I say in an attempt because if you've been following the County's Twitter or Facebook, you've probably realized just how awful the tweets and updates from the County have been.
Chapel Hill hosted another lunchtime presentation Tuesday, this time to discuss development agreements. UNC School of Government professor David Owens broke down development agreements as they exist under North Carolina state law while Chapel Hill Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives Mary Jane Nirdlinger provided a presentation on Chapel Hill's development process specifically.
I attended the presentation, and you can read my livetweets below. I found the presentation useful to better understand how the development process has changed and now operates in our town, particularly given the ongoing development processes for Glen Lennox and Obey Creek.
Development agreements are authorized under North Carolina state law (specifically, NC General Statutes §160A‑400.20 through §160A‑400.32). As written, state law gives much autonomy to municipalities to determine their own development processes and how to go about entering into development agreements. It's also worth noting that development agreements are designed for large-scale projects only (defined under state law as 25 or more developable acres).
A few other takeaways from the presentation:
- Municipalities in North Carolina have the ability to alter zoning codes as they see fit. There is no "threshold" requirement for rezoning. However, rezoning cannot be included in a development agreement, but must be carried out before approving a development agreement that necessitates a zoning change.
- Development agreements are useful because they're all-encompassing and outline very specifically the details of a proposed development. Once approved, an agreement cannot be altered without the mutual approval of both the municipality and developer.
- Beginning a development agreement process does not guarantee approval of any development agreement.
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