County master plan adopted

Commissioners approved Orange County’s master plan Tuesday after more than two years of drafting and public dialogue.

The new comprehensive plan focuses on sustainability in seven areas, including housing, economic development and land use.

Although the plan is designed to function as an overall guide for the county during the next 25 years, its immediate consequences for residents are clear.

Orange County will maintain its rural character and agriculture industry, foster a commercial tax base, grow in focused, mixed-used patterns, and promote social equality.

The plan designates expansive, low-population areas outside Chapel Hill and Carrboro as “rural buffers” that will remain low-density.

The plan also recommends that county staff revise local ordinances to protect residents’ property from development at Carolina North and the possible relocation of Horace Williams Airport.

Residents have offered their thoughts on the plan in six public input meetings since January.

Some suggested minor revisions while others voiced significant concerns with the plan’s lack of time frames and deadlines for its goals.

A group of nine social and business organizations rejected the plan last week on the grounds that public input was not sufficiently incorporated.

The Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition, which includes the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, previously submitted 82 pages of suggested changes to commissioners.

They claim that only 11 of their 38 biggest recommendations were ever discussed.

“The coalition believes that high priority should be given to economic development,” said Dolly Hunter, a member of the coalition.

The plan does not specify how the county should implement its various objectives, which range from improving transportation efficiency to protecting farms.

The county’s volunteer boards will form more concrete and time-specific goals for realizing the comprehensive plan during the next year.

Tethering and airports

Also Tuesday, commissioners approved an ordinance that limits the amount of time residents can keep dogs tethered outside their homes to no more than three hours a day.

Commissioner Valerie Foushee cast the only dissenting vote. She said she thought the ordinance would impose on residents who responsibly care for their dogs but still use a rope or chain to confine the animal to a certain area.

Later in the meeting, Chairman Barry Jacobs presented a letter he wrote to Chancellor Holden Thorp about the airport authority, which the N.C. General Assembly gave UNC the power to create in August.

Jacobs asked for commissioners to be more actively included in the formation of the authority, which has the power to use eminent domain to site a new airport in Orange County.



Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.