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I am sure most, if not all, Orange County residents are unaware that a Special Use Permit (SUP) to cram a large dog boarding and training facility on a portion of an occupied residential lot bordering New Hope Creek in the Rural Buffer of Orange County has been granted by our Board of Adjustment (BOA). I am nonplussed how this came to pass.
Orange County’s 1981 Comprehensive Plan describes our Rural Buffer as “a low-density area consisting of single-family homes situated on large lots…a minimum size of two (2) acres…rural in character and which will remain rural, contain low-density residential uses.” New Hope Creek is a primary tributary of Jordan Lake. Several communities draw drinking water from Jordan and thus have a direct interest in protecting its watershed. It is one of the most important wildlife habitats in the Triangle.
Congratulations to Carrboro Alderman John Herrera on his recent remarriage. (A beautiful wedding ceremony it was, too!) John's new blended family has six (!) children and I received the news this afternoon that his new family is making a new home in Holly Springs, which necessitates his resignation from the Board of Aldermen.
I want to say that although I will miss having John on the board (and in Carrboro), I know he is doing the best thing for his family and I wish him all the best. I am also confident that John will remain a leader in North Carolina and I look forward to hearing what he is up to next. Congratulations and thanks for your service, John.
Here's the email he sent the BOA:
This coming Tuesday, the Orange County Commissioners are scheduled to endorse the Reality Check Report: Guiding Principles for Quality Growth. Apparently this was a conference held back in February for visioning the ideal principles of growth in the 15-county local area. The 3 guiding principles adopted by this group are:
Transit- Vibrant Centers
- Sustained Greenspace
These are all solid principles, but are they really the top three? What about clean air and water? What about human issues like education?
Does anyone know anything about this process or the groups sponsoring it? The only local name that I recognize is Rosemary Waldorf.
This hurts me. I have good friends at Whole Foods. But now I have
another reason not to shop there.
If you are a progressive and you are shopping at Whole Foods, you are feeding a high-priced machine that violates many of your personal principles. Please join me in shopping elsewhere. And just so you know what soapbox your hard-earned dollars are funding, consider this from Whole Foods CEO John Mackey in
the Wall Street Journal.
The last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment.
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The vicious cycle of annual OWASA residential rate increases many times the rate of inflation is rapidly making water unaffordable. These exorbitant increases are unwarranted, reflective of poor management decisions. OWASA has set-up a vicious cycle of rate increases leading to reduction of water usage, which leads to further rate increases, leading to further usage reduction, ad infinitum. This system is not sustainable.
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