Last night, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners held a joint meeting with the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners to discuss various planning matters affecting the Town and County.
What’s new?
-
Perdita Holtz, the deputy director of Orange County’s Long Range Planning & Administrative Division, gave a presentation on the history behind current planning agreements between the municipalities within Orange County.
- Matt Efird, assistant town manager of Hillsborough, and Shannan Campbell, Hillsborough’s planning and economic development manager, presented updates on water and sewer capacity as well as a history of contracted services between the county and Hillsborough.
- David Stancil, director of administrative and support services for the county, provided an update on Hillsborough’s Fairview Landfill site investigation, which was conducted to assess hazardous material levels. The final report will be sent to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, who will determine what remediation needs to be done to repurpose the landfill site. As a part of the Town’s Fairview Master Plan, Fairview Park will extend upward into the former landfill site.
- Hillsborough Town Commissioner Meaghun Darab expressed concern over disconnected walkways and speeding around the park.
- “I guess the one thing that I look at when I look at this is that three new tennis courts go in, but the walking path to Homemont [Avenue] still is treacherous,” Durab said. “And it’s been like that for years, and I just keep on thinking of how many earthmovers did we have in the area, how many backfills. What did we have there that could've just made that a nice, clean entrance to that neighborhood?”
- Stephanie Trueblood, public space and sustainability manager for Hillsborough, said that the Town is working toward providing a sidewalk in that area but would welcome country funding and participation.
- “I guess the one thing that I look at when I look at this is that three new tennis courts go in, but the walking path to Homemont [Avenue] still is treacherous,” Durab said. “And it’s been like that for years, and I just keep on thinking of how many earthmovers did we have in the area, how many backfills. What did we have there that could've just made that a nice, clean entrance to that neighborhood?”
- The main concerns of the planning department include recreational opportunities, aging playgrounds and disconnected walking trails.
- Hillsborough Town Commissioner Meaghun Darab expressed concern over disconnected walkways and speeding around the park.
- Trueblood presented an overview of a planned train station and surrounding community space located between Gold Hill Way and Orange Grove Road in Hillsborough. The entire site is roughly 20 acres.
- “A funding agreement was executed March 31 of 2020, and that was [a] cost sharing agreement between the North Carolina Department of Transportation, GoTriangle and the Town of Hillsborough, so the project is a funded project,” Trueblood said. “The town has the primary responsibility for delivering the project as well as long term ownership and maintenance of the building, platform and site.”
- The station was supposed to be completed by 2027, but can be extended if needed.
- The future train station was funded in the 2016-2025 transportation improvement program, it was estimated at the time as a $7 million project for the station but the platform was another $1 million.
- Though the main use of the site is for the train station, which will cover nearly five acres, one third of the remaining area will be allocated for about five acres of affordable housing.
- Around three acres will be allocated for commercial space, and 0.74 will be for civic use, such as a performing arts center or a transit hub.
- The final remaining 5.26 acres will be used for sidewalks, landscaping parking, stormwater management and more.
- Alan Dorman, an Orange County asset management services business officer, gave an update on a planned crisis diversion facility near the UNC Hospitals Hillsborough campus. Construction is expected to start in October and the facility will be open around December 2026.
- “We are still in the negotiation process, so everybody cross your fingers about that,” Dorman said. “We are also currently working with the design firm CPL on designing the space, we’re sort of right in the design development now, and so we’ve got some preliminary designs we’re kicking around.”
What’s next?
The Hillsborough Board of Commissioners will meet again on March 10 in the Hillsborough Town Hall.
