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Board of Adjustment

Orange County · Board of Adjustment
Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Regular meeting Environment and sustainabilityHousing and affordabilityLand conversion and large developmentParks and recreationStormwater and floodingSubdivision and site plansWater and sewer

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

Orange County's Board of Adjustment heard two quasi-judicial cases on December 11, 2024. Case A-7-24 asked to halve the reservoir setbacks at Lake Orange so a house could be built about 145 feet from the water, where the ordinance requires 150 feet for buildings and 300 feet for septic. Case A-8-24 asked for a special use permit letting Schoolhouse of Wonder run a camp on Triangle Land Conservancy's Brumley Forest Nature Preserve, a use that has operated there for years without one.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

Both applications were approved, and the setback variance split the board.

On A-7-24, the parcel at 4630 Old Lake Trail sits inside the watershed protection overlay at Lake Orange. Staff explained why the ordinance's usual escape hatch does not apply: the county allows lots created before January 1, 1994 to encroach on stream buffers and septic setbacks, and this lot's lines changed in a 2003 recombination, which disqualifies it. The board approved the building setback reduction 4-1, with Vice Chair Beth Bronson opposed. She said she was more comfortable with the septic setback than the building setback. The septic setback reduction, from 300 feet to 150, passed unanimously.

On A-8-24, the camp occupies about 12 acres of a roughly 90-acre parcel within the wider Brumley Preserve, which Triangle Land Conservancy bought in 2010 at 613 acres and has since enlarged. The camp director told the board the 12-acre core is sized by how far a five-year-old can walk in a day, and that groups spend most of the day out in the forest. The board approved the standards, the findings and the conclusions in three unanimous votes, adding two conditions: the fire marshal must sign off on emergency access, and staff must review the revised site plan the applicant produced that evening. The applicant's attorney said conservation easements may bar widening the pavement but that shoulders could be widened for emergency vehicles, and agreed to work with planning staff on signage.

Staff closed by telling the board an appeal was filed that day against an advisory opinion on bona fide farm use at Union Grove Farm, the former Mapleview portion. The planning director corrected the record: what is being appealed is an advisory opinion, not a binding determination. The board adjourned at 8:39 p.m. and expected no January meeting.

How the votes went

A-7-24 building setback variance approved 4-1, Bronson opposed. A-7-24 septic setback variance approved unanimously. A-8-24 special use permit approved with two conditions in three unanimous votes.

From the published minutes.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (6)

Procedural · 4Minutes approval · 1Public hearing · 1
  1. 1 Call to Order
    Procedural
    Chair Leon Meyers called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. with four members and one alternate present.
  2. 2 Consideration of Additions to Agenda
    Procedural
    No changes.
  3. 3 Approval of Minutes
    Minutes approval
    The November minutes were approved unanimously.
  4. 4 & 5 Public Charge & Potential BOA Conflict of Interest Statement
    Procedural
    The chair read the board's standing statement on decorum and the conflict of interest statement required before a quasi-judicial hearing.
  5. 6 CASE A-7-24 (BA24-0005): Variance from reservoir setbacks at 4630 Old Lake Trail
    Public hearing Environment and sustainabilityHousing and affordabilityWater and sewer
    A quasi-judicial hearing on a variance from Section 6.13.4(C) and Table 4.2.9 of the Unified Development Ordinance, which require a 150-foot building setback and a 300-foot septic setback from the Lake Orange reservoir line, measured at the 615-foot contour. The owners want to build a house about 145 feet from the lake, halving both setbacks to 75 and 150 feet. Staff noted the ordinance lets lots created before January 1, 1994 encroach on these setbacks, but a 2003 recombination changed this lot's lines and made it ineligible. The board split the question and voted separately on each setback.
    Building setback variance approved 4-1; septic setback variance approved unanimously
    • 4630 Old Lake Trl · no matching parcel on file
    • Pin 9857-87-2089 · Geib Ronald L Jr · assessed $371,300
  6. 7 Adjournment
    Procedural
    Adjourned at 8:39 p.m. Staff reported an appeal filed that day against an advisory opinion on bona fide farm use at Union Grove Farm, and expected no January meeting.

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