Hi All,

It has been a while but I wanted to reach out to share with you what I am aware of regarding the Lawrence Road proposed development.

1) There was a neighborhood information meeting (NIM) held on August 15th. Some of you may recall that the weather at commute time (prior to the meeting) was nasty but the meeting was held nonetheless. A short recap: Essentially the same proposal, less the charter school(s) and Hillsborough provided water and sewer that would support the site is no longer a part of the current discussion. UPDATE: Another NIM has been scheduled for Thursday- 10/5 (see details below). 

2) As discussed previously, the applicant is now leveraging a "Special Use" permit process which is absolutely not the same, arguably, democratic process we experienced during the Orange County Planning Board (NOTE: 2 members of which are also Board of Adjustment members and were previously in favor of the initial applicant request to rezone the property in question) and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners process. This process is termed "a quasi-judicial proceeding" which, to me anyway, simply means discarding all of the preceding Planning Board and Board of County Commissioners rulings as they seemingly have no place or value in a Board of Adjustment hearing. Instead, this process is designed around the commentary of credentialed experts, attorneys or anyone with "standing" (as determined by the Board of Adjustment). As best I can tell, "standing" means you either meet the standard of the preceding sentence and / or you live within 1,000 feet of the property in question and can demonstrate that you have grounds to be heard by the Board of Adjustment. Again, as determined as determined by the Board of Adjustment.

3) Traffic in this town is oftentimes... well, let's just call it an ongoing challenge... based on a number of circumstances (e.g., an accident(s) on I-85, I-40, an infrastructure failure - think bridge outage or any other unforeseen road / infrastructure problem, etc.).

4) The roads / infrastructure around the site in question were originally designed to accommodate rural traffic. The very same roads / infrastructure that are being asked to accommodate ever increasing traffic volumes which they were initially not designed to handle safely.

5) YOUR VOICE CONTINUES TO MATTER! 

If you are in favor of the applicant's revised development plans, I respect that opinion and your voice is not lost on me. If you, like me, continue to feel that the current proposed development (even without the school(s)) will still complicate a challenging neighborhood & road / infrastructure situation(?)... then I hope you will continue to remain engaged.

UPCOMING MEETING DATES:

Neighborhood Information Meeting (open to the general public)

Thursday, October 5th, 6 - 7PM, Orange County Main Library, 137 W. Margaret Lane, Hillsborough

Board of Adjustment Meeting

Wednesday, October 18th at 7:00 pm at Whitted Human Services Building, Donna S. Baker Meeting Room at 300 W. Tryon Street, Hillsborough. NOTE, this meeting was initially scheduled for the October 11, 2023 Regular Board of Adjustment Meeting, which has been cancelled

That's all I have for now.

Matt