Citizen remarks from the BoC Meeting and Public Hearings 1/16/07
Remarks from Gretchen Smith
Chatham County Board of Commissioners Meeting
January 16, 2007
Lystra Road Subdivision Sketch Design Application
Comments by
Gretchen Smith
xxxx xxxx Road
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919-xxx-xxxx
My husband and I reside on 11 acres of land at xxxx xxxx Road, adjacent to the southeast corner of the proposed “Lystra Road Subdivision”. I have lived there for 22 years. As President of the Jones Branch Homeowners Association and adjacent property owner to the proposed “Lystra Road Subdivision”, I still have concerns about the development even with the few changes the developer has made to the submitted application. I ask the Board of Commissioners to deny the application for sketch design as submitted, for the same reasons that were presented to the Planning Board on December 5, 2006 and January 2, 2007 and in letters dated January 7 to each Commissioner from myself and my husband.
Although recognizing that property owners have rights regarding development of their property, I believe development should be done in a responsible way that is compatible with the surrounding community and not in a way that is detrimental to water quality, the environment, adjacent property owners, or the community. I believe that is why we have ordinances and regulations, and why our government has both the authority and the responsibility to protect against those detrimental effects.
In the three Planning Board meetings I have attended recently, the message I keep hearing is that if the property is divided into one-acre lots, it meets Subdivision regulations and must be approved. When requests for Economic and Environmental Impact Assessments are brought up by adjacent property owners and a few Planning Board members, the message is that those assessments cannot be required for Sketch Design. I respectfully disagree, based on my review of the regulations.
I believe the Chatham County Subdivision Regulations give the Planning Board and the Board of Commissioners the authority and the responsibility to perform a “responsible review” of Subdivision requests that goes beyond just the fact that the proposed sketch design meets the one-acre lot requirement. Specifically, I would like to refer the Board to the following sections of the ordinance:
Page 4, Section 1.3 Purpose, particularly items A, B, D, E, H, K, and L
Page 28, Section 4.4.B Procedure for Major Subdivisions (1) Step 4 – 8, which states “The information required on a sketch design map is described in Section 5.1, Section 5.2 A, Section 5.2 B, and Section 5.2 C.”
Pages 38-39, Section 5.2 Additional Sketch Design or Preliminary Plat Information, A. Impact Assessment, (1) Environmental and (2) Economic
Pages 44-45, Section 6.1 Suitability of the Land, A. Land Physically Unsuitable for Subdivision
Pages 55-56, Section 6.5 Public Use and Service Areas, B. Easements, Dedications, and Reservations, C. Community Assets
A summary of my concerns include:
- Insufficient information provided by developers for a thorough and responsible review
- Insufficient time allowed for a thorough and responsible review
- Failure by the current developer to solicit or use input from adjacent property owners and other interested parties
- Unsuitability of the land for subdivision as proposed due to:
--- Herndon Creek Ravine Significant Natural Heritage Area (SNHA)
--- Number of wetlands and streams, including tributaries that drain into adjacent Jones Branch stream and parts of Herndon Creek located on adjacent properties
--- Steepness of topography in many areas
--- Bouldery and extremely bouldery surface on significant portion of property
--- Narrow, winding Lystra Road not designed for traffic generated by large developments
- Need for an Environmental Impact Assessment due to Herndon Creek Ravine SNHA, wetlands and streams within the Herndon Creek watershed
- Need for an independent Traffic Impact Analysis as part of an Economic Impact Assessment
- Need for permanent conservation protection of Herndon Creek Ravine SNHA and the Herndon Creek watershed
- Amount of area indicated as “unsuitable”, bouldery and extremely bouldery on the Detailed Soil report, and potential for site disturbance
- No details regarding surface drip septic systems or their maintenance
- Insufficient undisturbed buffers for Herndon Creek Ravine SNHA, other streams and wetlands
More details about these concerns are contained in the attached documents. Thank you for the opportunity to present my concerns.
Attachments:
Chatham County Subdivision Regulations, pages 4, 28, 38-39, 44-45, 55-56
Letter dated January 7, 2007 from Gretchen Smith to Chatham County Board of Commissioners
Presentation to December 5, 2006 Meeting of the Planning Board
Letter dated March 17, 2006 from Kristen Sinclair with NC Natural Heritage Program
Herndon Creek Conservation Project letter dated November 28, 2006
Conservation in the Herndon Creek Watershed dated August 18, 2006
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s Guidance Memorandum to
Address and Mitigate Secondary and Cumulative Impacts to Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife Resources and Water Quality
