The Orange County Board of County Commissioners held their first business meeting of the fall session on Thursday. The primary agenda items included zoning amendments and a professional services contract with the Development Finance Initiative from the UNC School of Government.
What’s new?
- Planner Lauren Honeycutt and Deputy Director of Development Services Patrick Mallett from the Orange County Planning Department presented a zoning amendment for 1031 Frazier Rd, Mebane.
- The proposal from Common Ground Ecovillage involves downzoning to rural residential, which meets the surrounding zoning statuses.
- Common Ground Planning, Design, and Development Circle Operational Leader Anthony Weston said they're requesting a downzoning because of the impracticality of their 2015 masterplan to build a larger ecovillage with a shared septic system.
- The project was premised on building the entire project upfront as a single, cooperatively owned and designed project, Weston said.
- Since then, construction costs and interest have increased. Weston said recruiting members has also been difficult.
- This change will allow Common Ground Ecovillage to stick to its ideals in a much more flexible way that allows it to phase the development over time.
- “Potential residents can build at their own rate and by their own design, rather than something that's all done up front,” Weston said.
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Perdita Holtz, deputy director of long-range planning in Orange County's planning department, led a discussion on authorizing the county manager to sign a contract with the UNC School of Government’s DFI initiative for pre-development services related to the Greene Tract.
- Holtz said there’s an ongoing community engagement effort that is expected to result in a master plan for the Greene Tract.
- The three local governments, Orange County, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, identified the need to move from a master plan to construction, requiring a financial feasibility analysis to assess affordability and housing price points, Holtz said.
- “There's also a need for zoning approvals by the town of Chapel Hill and a need to connect with private sector developers to bring the overall project to fruition,” Holtz said. “The local governments are not developers.”
- The proposed contract with the DFI provides the specialized financial and real estate expertise required for the project.
- Director of DFI Marcia Perritt said DFI's founder Tyler Mulligan “saw a need for more sustained and more in-depth technical assistance around real estate development and public-private partnerships,” and so the initiative was created in 2011.
What decisions were made?
- The Board unanimously approved and authorized the county manager to sign the contract with DFI after approval of content informed by the county attorney.
- The rezoning approval for the Common Ground Ecovillage was approved.
- The approval will downzone the property to single family residential and make it vacant of the conditional district under which it was held.
- “I do think that it is an ecologically responsible development that they are proposing,” BOCC Vice-Chair Sally Greene said. “I have known some of the people involved for years and appreciate the challenges that they've gone through. I think that this is going to be a great project, and when it finally comes to pass, I'm happy to support it.”
What’s next?
- The BOCC will meet on Sept. 10 for a work session in the Southern Human Services Center at 2501 Homestead Rd, Chapel Hill.
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