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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAugust 18 2009 Special MeetingIREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES AUGUST 18, 2009 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met for a Special Meeting on Tuesday, August 18, 2009, at 4:00 P.M., in the Iredell County Government Center (South Wing Conference Room), 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC for the purpose of discussing the 2030 Horizon Plan. Board Members Present Chairman Godfrey Williams Vice Chairman Marvin Norman Steve Johnson Ken Robertson Scott Keadle Staff present: County Manager Joel Mashburn, Planning Director Ron Smith, Cooperative Extension Director Ken Vaughn, Executive Assistant Retha Gaither, and Clerk to the Board Jean Moore. 2030 Horizon Plan (Comprehensive Land Use Plan) Revisions, Questions & Answers GM -FLU Policv 1.3.1: Adopt a formal county -wide policy that specifies the conditions under which extraterritorial jurisdiction will be extended to the municipalities that addresses key issues such as schools and public utilities. Commissioner Johnson acknowledged that sometimes the board didn't have that much control; however, a traffic study should be requested, if available, from the Department of Transportation. GMFLUPolicv 3.2.1: Assess the soil composition, topography, drainage, acreage, access to infrastructure and resources, and other critical factors to idents prime working lands in the county. Amend the "Rural Preservation Area" designation on the Future Land Use map to better indentify these areas. (See also Agricultural Preservation Strategy 2.1.1.) Commissioner Robertson asked if a comprehensive soil analysis occurred in the 1930s. He also asked who would identify the prime working lands. Cooperative Extension Director Ken Vaughn said a soil analysis was created in the 1960s, plus a new study would be available this fall in a digitized format. Planning Director Smith said his office and the Cooperative Extension Office would identify the prime working lands. GM -FLU Policv 3.2.3: Encourage Master Planning of Subdivisions in agricultural residential land use areas. Provide incentives to promote this type of planning. Master planning entails a designed grouping of compatible land uses approved as one contained development. This plan indicates the physical and functional interrelationships between uses and addresses the phasing of portions of the development. This approach is an alternative to individual site plans for each use and is intended to create more consistent conditions within the development. Commissioner Robertson asked the type of incentives. Smith said an incentive example would be to take a large land tract with a working farm, allowing it to continue to be used as such, and in return, there could be smaller lot sizes, plus more flexible regulations to allow one to develop on the residual portion and maybe get the same units on a smaller property. He said it would be a land use incentive -- not a monetary incentive -- clustering would be allowed. GM -FLU Policy 3.3 — Protect Scenic Corridors: Ensure that new development enhances and protects the county's rural character by protecting critical scenic corridors in the county. Commissioner Robertson asked who would determine what was scenic. Smith said most of this would start through planning. He said in this particular case, the Cooperative Extension Service, along with the NCDOT, would be contacted as well as others. Smith said a good example was NC 3 coming out of Mooresville. He said many people wanted this area left rural, but jobs were coming. Smith said one remedy was to try and buffer the development, and this was a way to preserve a scenic corridor. Consensus of the board to delete this sentence. Commissioner Johnson said the board could continue to consider rural housing grants with the Statesville Housing Authority. AG StralM 1.2.1: Promote education and awareness of economic and social benefits of farming on the county's website, at public events, and by supporting related community efforts. Target outreach efforts to real estate professionals, developers, schools chambers of commerce, and other organizations. Commissioner Robertson asked if the county would be expected to fund this strategy. Smith said there might be some printing money needed. He said the whole idea was to put many measures in place to make farming viable, and to let people know its significance in Iredell County. Smith said education was provided through the erosion program and there were fliers that could be printed. He said many of the farming recommendations were grounded in the Farmland Preservation Plan. Robertson said that in essence, before someone purchased a home near a farm, they might have a packet telling them what to expect. Smith said possibly, or it could be as easy as a discussion occurring in the planning office. AG Strategy 1.2.2: Develop a `local food" collaborative organization comprised of educators, health professionals, farmers, historians, and other related professionals to unite farm and non- farm entities in an effort to find joint ways to promote local farming and its public benefits (i.e., scenic views, historic landscapes, rural character, local food and its public benefits (i.e., scenic views, historic landscapes, rural character, local food supply). Commissioner Robertson asked who would develop the organization. Smith said the planning office and possibly the health department could assist, for example, the "Healthy Carolinians" program. Commissioner Robertson asked how it was different from Cooperative Extension. Vaughn said it would be an expansion of Cooperative Extension, and it would be an opportunity for several offices to work together. He said it could be a "stepped up emphasis to portray the true economic value of agriculture in the total county economy." Mr. Vaughn said his office could use all the help available. Smith said the three offices (Planning/Health/Cooperative Extension Service) were already working together to accomplish projects. AG Strategy 1.3.1: Review the county's development ordinances to identify barriers to agri- tourism uses, such as farm stands, on-site retail establishments, and seasonal events, and to 2 supporting uses such as farm feed stores, veterinary clinics, grain and feed mills, farm machinery and equipment sales, and other uses. Barriers to locating agribusinesses on bona - fide farms should be amended to allow farmers to develop value-added commodities on farm properties, such as pasteurized milk and processed beef and chicken. Commissioner Robertson asked if this strategy was different from 3.2.1. Smith said it was redundant. Commissioner Johnson said that if a value added movement occurred, coordination would be needed. He said the Cooperative Extension office would have to help the farmers, and the planning office could accomplish this through the zoning ordinance. Vaughn said several people were taking their farm products closer to the consumer and this was value added. Robertson said, likewise, the consumer could get closer to the farmer. Vaughn said his office had seen many people recently seeking this type of assistance. Commissioner Johnson said the zoning ordinance was the method that would make this strategy work. He asked if the planning office intended to incorporate into the ordinance any language about allowing value added activity for the farmers to market their products. Smith said 1.3.1 (page 42) mentioned bringing all of this together. He said much of the planning department's work built up to that initiative. Commissioner Johnson asked how this strategy could be funded. He said this was an unrealistic expectation. He offered the following wording: "Develop and maintain a cooperative strategy with cooperative extension to inform the agricultural community of federal and state programs to develop land acquisition and conservation. " Smith had no problems substituting the language as suggested. Consensus of the board to make the change. AG Strategy 3.1.1. Support and assist efforts to educate property owners about adjacent working lands. This could include a neighbor relations packet for newcomers and realtors, enhanced road signage, and other means of outreach. Commissioner Johnson said the zoning ordinance would affect the stated goal. He asked if there would be regulations for setbacks, or how would the adjacent property owners be notified. (Johnson mentioned the past example of a farmer using herbicides. Would a developer be notified about this? Would an additional setback be needed, or a conservation easement?) Smith said this would have to be in the zoning and subdivision ordinance. He mentioned that if the board had a fall retreat, or at some point, a list of suggested items to be included in the ordinance might be supplied. Johnson said plenty of advance time would be needed to consider the items, or an ordinance. County Manager Mashburn mentioned that the 2030 plan did not create any ordinances. T Strategy 1.2.3: Identify locations for necessary transit supportive users, SHeh as g a' and - user 3 Commissioner Robertson asked if the county was committing itself to getting into the parking lot business. Smith said the intent of the language was to accommodate them, if possible. He said the word "funding" could be deleted. Smith said he tried to "shy" away from saying anything about getting into this type of business; however, if something landed in the county's jurisdiction, then accommodation might be needed. Commissioner Johnson said this was similar to some of his questions about transit corridors. He said the board could say it would not fund light rail, but someone might act independently and this might be the state, federal government, or Mooresville. Johnson said that if the county ignored the possibility of any transportation corridor, the board had tremendously escalated the cost of property acquisition. He said the county could say this was the location for a transportation corridor, and the ordinance could acknowledge this. Johnson said then, the developer would know a setback would be necessary to allow for the corridor. Smith said that was what he was trying to accomplish. Commissioner Robertson said he didn't want to make it any easier for people to drive to Charlotte, because he wanted businesses to eventually chase the employees and locate here. He said this would also reduce people's reliance on fossil fuels. Robertson said he could live with the sentence, if it ended at the first comma as in: Identify locations for necessary transit supportive uses. (There was a consensus from the board to end the sentence at this point and to delete the other wording.) T Policy 1.2 Coordinate Efforts to Plan ,for Future Transit in Iredell: Work with regional partners to identify and plan for future transit (i.e., bus and rail) corridor and ancillary users, such as park and ride lots to provide alternative transportation choices in high traffic areas of the county. T Strategy 1.2. l: Develop a plan for future transit corridors in Iredell County and include these corridors within the Iredell County Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Potential Corridors could include Brawley School Road, river Highway (NC -150), NC -3, US -21 and other high traffic corridors. Commissioner Johnson said the term "regional planning" struck fear in him. He said this was "someone fifty miles from here deciding how the poor folk in this county would be spending their money." Johnson said the county needed to stay away from these people. Smith said the "people" continued to call him. Johnson said that Smith should refer the people to him. Commissioner Robertson said "regional partners and a funding plan" meant adding onto the sales tax to pay for roads and he was against this. T Strate.Qy 2.2.2: Consider development of a local educational program to advise drivers about driving conditions and best practices for driving on rural roads that are shared with farm equipment. Commissioner Robertson said neither one of the strategies were within the scope of the county's responsibility. He asked if the county would be suggesting how drivers should drive on rural roads. He also expressed concerns about paying for the programs. 4 Smith said agriculture played a key role in the plan. He said some rural roads, especially in north Iredell, were so narrow that farm implements, a car, and a mailbox couldn't make it together. Mr. Smith said he didn't know of a good way to work on the issue other than working with the post office and the Department of Transportation. Commissioner Johnson said he knew the county made road signs. He asked if the county could also make signage indicating faun equipment. Mashburn said the signage could be made in-house, but the DOT would have to give permission for installation. Commissioner Robertson said that if the board decided to make the signage then that should be stated. Chairman Williams said he felt sure that driver's education classes discussed what a driver should do when they came upon a farmer driving a combine. Vaughn said the intent was to make an awareness/education effort. He said farm equipment was getting larger, and it took up more space on the roads, plus mail boxes were right up along the roads. Commissioner Robertson said the sentence could read: Consider awareness through currently approved Department of Transportation signage. He said the strategy read the county was developing an education program, but he wasn't hearing anyone saying anything other than the county was putting up signs. Robertson said that if this were true, then the strategy should read that more signs would be put up. He said that when farm operations were on both sides of the road, the strategy indicated crossovers should be reviewed. Robertson asked if that was the county's responsibility, or the farmer's responsibility. He said that if it was the farmer's responsibility, then why was the county involved. Robertson said he didn't want to imply authority when the county had none. He said that on 2.2.2, when the need for additional signage was seen, then people could be made aware of this, but on 2.2.3, he didn't know if the county had any jurisdiction over the road or farm. Smith said the only issue he saw was pertaining to the value added issue. He said that if a farm had a primary operation on one side of the road, and they also owned the other side, they would have to use common sense. He said the public would have to be accommodated. Vaughn said there were cattle crossings, heavy equipment crossings, truck crossings, and this was what the strategy was about. He said nothing specific -- a broad concept. Robertson said then it would be covered under 2.2.2. He said it could be written that we will make better use of appropriate signage. He said 2.2.3 could then be deleted. Smith said this could be done. Johnson said that if a tomato farmer had a situation similar to the one mentioned by Smith (both sides of the road being used) something needed to be inserted into the ordinance -- couldn't be located in a blind curve, and so forth. Smith said this could be done. Consensus of the board. T Strategy 3.1.2: Work with major county employers to develop Transportation Management Programs that offer transportation alternatives and incentives for employees to not drive alone to work. Commissioner Robertson asked if the county would be giving incentives for employees to not drive alone to work. Smith said he didn't assume that incentives would be provided. He said that what was being targeted was air quality issues. He said there would be no monetary incentives. Smith 5 said some employers, such as Lowes, might offer flex time, or allow employees to work from home. T Strategy 3.1.3: Work with regional partners to enhance Travel Demand Management (TDM) programs to reduce single occupant vehicle trips. Commissioner Robertson asked what TDMs were. Smith said he would look this up at the break. Commissioner Robertson said that if a good answer couldn't be found, then the strategy should be deleted. Commissioner Keadle asked how the strategy was placed into the plan. Smith said it was inserted as an overall initiative with air quality. Commissioner Keadle said the plan was under Mr. Smith's direction. Smith said this was true, but he preferred to look up the program. . .�� aac-ridirir;ii^rbzs-t+sty;;mrroctgsaa-nrc-ceuwj,. T Strategy 3.2.4: Adopt county -wide access management standards. This will require coordination with the North Carolina Department of Transportation and municipalities in Iredell County. county. Commissioner Robertson said he didn't feel the 3.2 policy had anything to do with the Commissioner Johnson asked about the Intelligent Transportation System. Smith said it was a system done in a number of ways either through signs, lights (triggered to move traffic quicker) and so forth. He said it was using technology to move traffic quicker. Commissioner Keadle asked if this wasn't the realm of engineers and didn't the county, as a matter of policy, use best practices and try to do things in the best way possible. Smith said to some degree yes. He said transportation systems were something that DOTS did not jump into willingly. He said it wasn't the norm, but for the most part, the DOT was relied upon. Commissioner Keadle said, then, the county government would put pressure on the state department of transportation to use a strategy they didn't care to use. 6 Smith said he didn't know if they didn't care to use it. He said it was more expensive and it might work better in certain places. Mr. Smith said he thought that previously the board had asked for 3.2, 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.3 and 3.2.5 to be deleted. Consensus of the board to delete all of these strategies with the exception of T Strategy 3.2.4. and to move it to the previous page under 3.1 transportation. It will now be 3.1.3.4. Smith said he understood the county did not want to get into a road program. Commissioner Johnson said the "crux" of the matter on transportation was that it influenced development. He said growth stopped when transportation became an issue. Johnson said when this happened growth started in another direction. He said that if an Interstate were widened, such as 77, then another spurt of growth happened. Johnson asked if the staff had ever looked at the I-77 widening schedule as far as residential development. He said that as the DOT began plans to widen a section, that coordination with a municipality might begin for water sewer, plus the land use plan could be modified. Chairman Williams said it was difficult to get the information, plus the town wouldn't agree to anything until the road was widened. Johnson said it would be announced well advance when a project might start. Smith said his office had tried to take into consideration the latter part with the extension of water and sewer to the degree it could. He said 1-77 had not been specifically addressed, but as far as the towns, water sewer plans had been pulled in. Mr. Smith said he thought that from a "realistic standpoint, the office hit it as well as it could." He said most of the other road projects were east west connectors across town with the exception of Brawley School Road and Cornelius Road. Commissioner Johnson said he felt it should be a part of the plan that when there was an announcement, the land use plan needed to be reviewed, and the zoning ordinance was adjusted. Mr. Smith said that to a large degree this was done through the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, but when this was given, there wasn't that much information. He said the staff tried to do it this way, but it didn't always work out. Commissioner Johnson said that when the construction schedule was announced, that's when the staff should start looking at the area. Commissioner Robertson said right now, when someone built a subdivision, they put in the infrastructure, and the cost was included with the house. He asked if the strategy was saying the county was offering to do sanitary tax districts. Smith said it was saying the county could consider developing one. He said this was really a water and sewer issue, and his office was constantly dealing with the issue. Smith said sometimes the health department wanted to raise the lot sizes in certain areas, and in those areas already, the property values were large enough. He said that if sizes were enlarged, that increased the value as well. Smith said it was just an option, especially for the "higher paced areas." He said it could have been used for Brawley and Perth Road, but he didn't know how serious of a recommendation it was at this point. Smith said the urban services areas were the de facto tax districts. Commissioner Johnson said that in the late 1990s, a sanitary district on Brawley peninsula was discussed, and it would have required a huge input of county money. He said then an assessment was going to be imposed, but the business plan showed the county would never receive its money back. too. Commissioner Robertson said that if a district occurred for one, then others would want it 7 Smith said that if it were omitted, he wouldn't be concerned because there were better ways to do it. Chairman Williams said the plan was for ten years. Commissioner Robertson said undue influence would be placed on the board for sanitary district approval, and the board would have to pick and choose. Commissioner Johnson said the county would have to be careful where water and sewer was placed too. He said traffic problems began at the end of sewer. Consensus of the board to remove 2.1.2. WW Strategy 2.1.2: Continue to monitor water wells in Iredell County and identify critical well water quality and quantity issues. Commissioner Robertson said he didn't think the county had started the monitoring program. Smith said he thought this was just keeping records of the new program as it came along. W Strategy 3.1.1: Consider requiring periodic inspection of septic systems to ensure their long- term sustainability in meeting health code requirements. Commissioner Robertson said there had already been a lengthy debate about this issue. Robertson said that if the state required the county to provide this service, it should; however, if the state didn't require it, then the county shouldn't. Commissioner Keadle asked about the use of "consider" in a strategy. He asked if the strategies using this word would be in the future ordinances. Smith said the board would consider the wording twice -- now, and when it was in an ordinance. He said usually in creating an ordinance, a less than conservative approach was used, and then a conservative approach was used, to meet both ends of the county along with the board. ER Strategy 1.2.2: Consider requiring developers to set-aside public open spaces as a condition of development a r -e ide a fte 44eu! to be used for protection of a larger open space/park area that can serve the development. These open spaces can provide transitions between adjacent uses, provide buffers along road frontages and scenic corridors, or serve as low- impact/active recreational sites. Affordable housing should be exempt from such a requirement to reduce the costs associated with these developments. Commissioner Robertson had concerns about this strategy and so did Commissioner Johnson. Johnson said the "fee in lieu of had been used before, and it didn't work. Mr. Johnson said that if an incentive could be given to the developers, as in setting aside open space, or clustering, this would be a better way. He said that on the interior of the property the standards could be relaxed so another lot could be inserted. Consensus of the board to delete "or to provide a fee in lieu" and consider incentives for developers to set aside instead of requiring them. Commissioner Robertson said "consider" was used in this strategy; however, this would amount to one group getting a district with everyone paying for it. He said, "The only way you get it is to tax yourself." 9 issue. County Manager Mashburn said this would be one way to address the transportation Consensus of the board to remove ER Strategy 1.2.3 in its entiret . ER Strategy I.3.1: Work with the municipalities in Iredell to develop a countywide stormwater management plan that includes standards for stormwater management on private lands. Consider requiring developers to use low -impact development features and other best management practices to manage stormwater. Commissioner Robertson asked if this were an extension of erosion control. Smith said yes. ER Strategy 2.2.1: Consider purchasing hybrid vehicles and alternative fuel vehicles when replacing or adding new vehicles to the county's fleet. Commissioner Robertson said this strategy could be left due to it not making any reference to the county making a funding commitment. He said that when these types of vehicles were economically viable, the county could purchase them. Commissioner Johnson said there were other types of vehicles, other than hybrids the county could purchase, especially the ones with better gas mileage. He said batteries for hybrids were too expensive. Johnson said gas mileage should be a consideration when the county purchased vehicles. ER Strategy 2.3.1: The county should identify opportunities to educate the public about the benefits of alternative, fuel vehicles and encourage their use. Commissioner Robertson said he didn't think the county should be doing this strategy unless the county was using this type of vehicle. Page 82 #9: Require developments that create more than a minimum threshold impact (to be determined) on the local transportation system to conduct Transportation Impact Assessments (TIAs). If mitigation is required, developers or petitioners should contribute by expanding transportation system capacity proportional to the new development's estimated demand for capacity ora fee in -lieu. These standards should be applied to residential and non-residential uses, particularly schools. (T Strategy 3.3. 1) Commissioner Johnson asked if the Department of Transportation didn't already require this. Smith said the Department of Transportation (DOT) required it to a lesser degree. He said one situation was known, where the results of a traffic impact analysis occurred, and the DOT saw what was needed, but only required half of it knowing this would be a problem. Smith said this was at a major interchange. He said the county did some of this already through the subdivision process, but it was on larger developments. Questions/Comments from Commissioner Keadle Commissioner Keadle asked what were the overall commitments being made. He asked what were the consequences if the board did not sign off on the plan. He asked if the planning staff could do the strategies without approval, and wasn't the staff already performing some of the items. Smith said the staff tried to perform many of the items. He said as far as not acting on the plan, this had been a public process. Smith said meetings occurred eight times to receive input. He said not taking everyone's consideration might create a perception issue. Smith said his department needed guidance. He said one item that had not been discussed were the maps. Commissioner Keadle questioned the following statement on page two: 9 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners recently sent a letter to the NC General Assembly opposing the legislation that allows the NC Department of Transportation to convey ownership of roads to counties in North Carolina. We recommend that the Plan language be revised to reflect the County's interests on this matter. Specifically, we suggest that the following sentence should be deleted from the Plan: In addition, new tools, such as the ability to own and maintain roads, are available to counties in North Carolina that provide them with the opportunity to undertake transportation improvements. Commissioner Keadle asked Smith his comments. Smith asked if the question referred to whether or not the county should not participate in roads. Commissioner Keadle said he felt the company from Chapel Hill apparently did research and found out the elected board, that represented Iredell County, had given a pretty clear message and vote, but the plan put together by staff, was a direct contradiction. Smith said it was "kind of the opposite." He said this was included in the plan, and he asked them to take it out because of the board's decision. Commissioner Keadle said he was understanding that Clarion Associates had been asked to take it out, yet the company representatives put in the document that they had asked Mr. Smith to take it out. Smith said he asked Clarion to take it out, and the memo was to go along with the plan. He said it was just the way it had been written. Commissioner Keadle said the memo had been sent to Mr. Smith on June 10, 2009, with no carbon copies to anyone. Mr. Keadle said the memo seemed to speak to the planning staff and it said "we," (Clarion) recommend that the plan language be revised to reflect the county's interest on this matter. Keadle said this looked like a sentence directed to Smith by Clarion. Smith said this could be interpreted by the way the memo was written, but the recommendations basically all came from him. He said the memo was basically a compilation of the changes that had been proposed before the planning board meeting. Commissioner Robertson said it was similar to a confirmation memo. Smith said "board of commissioners" could be removed and "Ron Smith" could be inserted. He said Clarion wouldn't have known about the decision unless he had notified them. Page 2 of 97: • The county defines where preservation of agriculture and rural character will be priorities. Commissioner Keadle asked if "county" meant government. Smith said yes. Commissioner Keadle asked if government could be used instead of county. Commissioner Robertson said it was implied that it was county government. Page 4 of 97: In the summer (?1'2008, four community forums were held to raise community awareness of the planning effort and to obtain feedback from the community. Forum participants answered critical policy questions using anonymous polling software. This input was used by the Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Committee to better understand the aspirations and interests of the general community. The Committees, in conjunction with Planning Department staff, worked for several months to develop the plan. A draft version of the plan was publicly reviewed on and the final plan was adopted on 10 Commissioner Keadle asked Mr. Smith if he felt this was a representative sample of the community. Smith said yes; however, he would have preferred more people to "come out." He said that he felt the opinions expressed were representative of the areas. Smith said north Iredell, in particular, was a good example. Commissioner Robertson said many people from the Mooresville area also attended a forum as well. Commissioner Keadle said that if a pollster were asked to get a sampling of 100,000 people, and they were told what occurred, then they probably wouldn't agree it was statistically worthwhile. Smith said probably not. He said, however, under the budget constraints, another firm couldn't be brought in to conduct it differently. Commissioner Keadle said then, there probably could be errors in the data gathered from the community. Smith said that with a plan there were always opinions both ways and something could have been missed. Chairman Williams said the information was out there and many people were talking about it. Commissioner Johnson said the people who were unhappy with the plan had an opportunity to speak just like everyone else. Commissioner Robertson said the forums were for input -- they were held before the plan was written. Page 6 of 97: In North Carolina, county zoning enabling statutes have long required that zoning be "in accordance with a Comprehensive Plan. " However, neither the North Carolina Statutes nor case law mandate preparation of comprehensive plans, define their elements, or set a mandatory procedure for their adoption. Local governments can choose whether or not to develop a plan and what contents the plan will include. Commissioner Keadle asked if this were really in the statutes, and if so, was it capitalized as such. Smith said he didn't know about the capitalization, but it was in the statutes. Page 6 of 97: In 2005, the state zoning statutes were amended to strengthen the role of adopted plans where they do exist. This new law requires that Planning Board review of proposed zoning amendments include written comments on the consistency of the proposed amendment with the comprehensive plan and any other relevant plans (such as a small area plan, a corridor plan, or a transportation plan) that have been adopted by the Board of County Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners is required to adopt a statement of plan consistency before adopting or rejecting any zoning amendment. These written comments are required, but do not limit the Board's discretionary power to adopt or not adopt zoning amendments. Commissioner Keadle said, "So if we adopt a plan that says X,Y, Z, and someone comes up with a rezoning request for A,B,C, and we elect to do A,B,C, then we have to make a written statement about how we approved X,Y,X and now want A,B,C. Commissioner Robertson said this was in the motion. He said this was not always the case, but now, it was a part of the motion. Commissioner Keadle said he had heard the plan didn't have any weight in terms of zoning decisions, but in fact, it did, unless the board wanted to contradict itself in the same sentence when making a zoning change. Commissioner Robertson said that it was different from the plan, the motion was to amend the plan. Commissioner Keadle asked if the plan would really be used in the future. Commissioner Johnson said the Land Use Plan wasn't amended that often, but when it was, it was usually along a commercial corridor, or not to far removed from this type of area. He said the only departure he could recall was the sawmill case. He said this was sort of agricultural and sort of commercial in a rural setting. Chairman Williams said there had been others, such as small businesses that existed before an actual Land Use Plan occurred, and they were grandfathered. Page 15 of 97 4. Guiding Principles: The community aspirations, outlined in the 2030 Horizon Plan are founded on seven guiding principles. These principles were developed from the public input and feedback provided during development of the plan. Future implementation of this plan will focus on achievement of these principles. 1. Provide Fiscally E.fifi Governance and Public Services 2. Provide Leadership to Coordinate Planning within the county 3. Coordinate Development with the Provision of Infrastructure 4. Balance the Protection of Environmentally Sensitive Areas and Rural Character with Private Property Rights 5. Maintain and Promote Local Agricultural Businesses 6. Promote and Assist Economic Development Efforts 7. Enhance Quality of Life for Residents Commissioner Keadle requested that the following principles be added: 8. Low Taxes 9. Minimal government intrusion 10. Maximum liberty and freedom N. Economic freedom and efficient markets 12. Maximum individual responsibility County Manager Mashburn asked if there was a problem with having a maximum of something and still having rules and regulations that were contrary to that. He asked, "Can you have it both ways?" Commissioner Robertson said he interpreted it as saying, "As much as we can, we try to limit the amount that we intrude or regulate. It doesn't mean that you can't do it at all." Consensus of the board to add items 8 through 12 as suggested. Page 36 of 97 GM -FLU Strategy 1.2.2: Encourage Mooresville to develop an annexation agreement with the City of Kannapolis to better manage development that is likely to occur between the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis and Mooresville. Page 36 of 97 GM -FLU Strategy 1.2.3: Encourage Mooresville to develop an annexation agreement with the Town of Davidson to identify and agree upon future town boundaries in southern Iredell County. Commissioner Keadle asked the definition of encourage. He said for instance, "The United States politicians have been trying to encourage Israel and the Palestinians to agree on boundaries for as long as I can remember, and I have concluded that encouragement is not an effective political tool." Keadle said encourage didn't seem to work in the Middle East, and he wondered how it worked in the Town of Mooresville. 12 Smith said this was something that started at the staff level. He said a good example was the release of jurisdiction process where the Town might come in with a property that might be equidistant between Mooresville and Davidson. Smith said the property could potentially be annexed by either one, and it placed the staff in a difficult position. He said, "If they had a line in the sand designating that, it would be easier because you wouldn't have to consider those issues." Smith said again, "It would start with the staff level." Page 36 of 97: GM -FLU Policy 2.1: Manage and Direct Future Growth: The county will revise its policies and regulations to direct new growth and development to areas targeted for growth, as designated on the Growth Areas and Future Land use maps. Commissioner Keadle asked, "Targeted by whom?" Smith said that if the plan were adopted, then they would be targeted by "us." Commissioner Keadle asked, "How do we direct new development to targeted growth areas?" Smith said that when you look at the future land use map and the urban service areas, most of the denser development would take place within these areas because of water and sewer being available. He said the outlying areas had no water sewer, and there was reliance upon wells and septic tanks. Smith said through land use decisions and the adopted map, it would push the development towards towns where the utilities were located. He said the concept was to not make changes outside the growth areas that would encourage sprawl and denser development in the rural parts of the county. Smith said this was how the current zoning was in place. Commissioner Keadle asked Mr. Smith to define sprawl. Smith said smart growth and sprawl were jargon words. He said basically his definition of sprawl was allowing development to cause problems in areas where the infrastructure was not prepared for it, and "we knowingly contribute to it." Smith said by knowing it's a rural road that's 16 ft. wide, and there's no water and sewer in the area and allowing a higher density development. Page 42 of 97 AG Strategy 1.2.1: Promote education and awareness of economic and social benefits of farming on the county's website, at public events, and by supporting related community efforts. Target outreach efforts to real estate professionals, developers, schools, chambers of commerce, and other organizations. Commissioner Keadle asked if these types of professionals were unaware of the economic and social benefits of farming. Smith said not necessarily. He said it was providing more credibility to the programs already in place. Commissioner Keadle asked if the farmers needed to be educated about the importance of real estate development, education, and commerce. Smith said this might be a better question for the farmers. Commissioner Johnson said he thought the two groups came to a better understanding through the 2030 plan process. Page 49 of 97 • Bicycling: Bicycling can be a significant mode of transportation, both .for commuters and for recreation. Significant bicycle planning at the county and regional level has been ongoing, most notably with adoption of the Lake Norman Bike Route. The Lake Norman Bike Route plan details a variety of needed bike facility improvements throughout the Lake Norman area. The county is also involved in planning for the Carolina Thread Trail, an extensive regional bike and trail network connecting major recreational destinations throughout the Charlotte Metropolitan Region. 13 Commissioner Keadle asked how the plan came to the conclusion that, "Bicycling can be a significant mode of transportation, both for commuters and for recreation." Smith said he thought bicycling was a significant mode of transportation; however, he felt significant needed to be defined. He said the Lake Norman Bike Route was a major initiative by the Department of Transportation. Commissioner Keadle said it turned out that light rail was not a significant mode of transportation with all of its cost. He said that if things were talked about, then probably they needed to be quantified -- how many Iredell County vehicle miles, and how many are expected to be on bicycles. Page 59 of 97 Pertaining to Economic Development Commissioner Keadle said he had objections to many of the economic development strategies. He said the free market could take care of many of the items. ED Strategv 1.1.2: Continue to collaborate with local economic development agencies to provide incentives to new businesses wanting to locate in Iredell County, especially clean industries that will not negatively impact the county's environment. Evaluate the impacts of these incentives on the local tax base. Commissioner Keadle said he wasn't for dirty industries, but he felt it was difficult to define clean. He said it was difficult to balance the necessity for life and not disturbing the earth. Keadle said we all have a footprint, and he had objections to the entire page. Page 62 of 97 CR Strategy 1.2.2: Consider developing a scenic corridor overlay district that would apply to critical scenic corridors in the unincorporated portions of' the county. The overlay district could include more rigorous standards for providing vegetative buffers along roadways, increasing setbacks of buildings, regulating off -premise signage, and height restrictions. (See also Growth Management and Future Lane Use Strategy 3.3.2) Commissioner Keadle said his notes read, "Yeah, regulate everybody. Go out in the middle of no where, and see if you can interfere with commerce." Page 66 of 97 W Strategy 2.1.3: Support the efforts of the Water Management Group established by Duke Energy and public utility providers through the Catawba- Wateree relicensing process, to jointly fund long-term initiatives that will improve water quantity and quality management across the basin. Coordinate efforts with the municipal utility providers to foster these improvements. Commissioner Keadle asked if financial commitments were being made since the word "consider" was not included. Commissioner Robertson said the county didn't make a commitment, but the entities that took water out of the Catawba River Basin would be assessed. He said this came out of the licensing for Duke Energy. Robertson said the assessments went into a fund, and the users determined how to spend the money. He said the funds were supposed to be spent on ways to preserve the quantity and quality of water. Mr. Robertson said the county did not have the power "to either do it or stop it." He said the county government didn't put a dime into the process. Smith said the county was not a member of the group. He said basically the county's role was to put the entities together with the property owners. Page 65 of 97 W Strategv 1.1.3: Identify private wastewater treatment plants serving neighborhoods near Lake Norman that are likely to fail or are in failure. Work with these privately owned plants to ident long-term solutions for treating wastewater that focus on maintaining water quality in the watershed. Commissioner Keadle said he assumed this did not imply that the county would penalize them for breaking the law, when it said, "work with." Keadle said he assumed that if someone 14 were dumping sewage in the wrong place, "we wouldn't work with them," they would be told to stop. Smith said he took this as being proactive -- working with them. Page 70 of 97 ER Strategy: Multi -modal Transportation to Improve Air Quality: The County supports development of multi -modal transportation to improve system capacity and mobility and to improve air quality and reduce the number of single -occupancy vehicles on the road. Commissioner Keadle asked if multi -modal transportation was a code for anything. Smith said it was the whole gambit. He said it basically meant getting from point A to point B. County Manager Mashburn said Mr. Smith would make the modifications to the plan, and resubmit it to the board. Smith said he didn't have an expected date to resubmit the plan. Commissioner Robertson mentioned he might not be able to attend the September 15 board meeting. He said the board could go ahead and approve the document; however, if it was presented on that meeting date. Adjournment: Discussion about the 2030 Horizon Plan ended at approximately 6:05 p.m. Approved: 15 Clerk to the Board