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County reviews Buckhorn plan

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Staff

By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday asked the Orange County Planning Board to return to them a recommendation regarding the proposed Buckhorn Village development no later than June 3.

The commissioners and planning board members heard public comment and fired questions at the developers about the proposed plan at a public hearing continued from Feb. 25.

Commissioner Mike Nelson questioned the kinds of jobs that the project would bring to the county. Developers have said the project could bring 2,500 jobs, including 1,700 for county residents.

“Not all jobs are equal,” he said. “It’s really hard to argue that $8-an-hour retail jobs are what we want for this county.”

Nelson also expressed concern regarding the project’s effects on global warming.

“If we’re serious, as we say we are, about global warming, why put this shopping center, that’s going to have thousands and thousands of vehicle miles traveled, farthest away from the population centers?” Nelson said.

The site of the proposed development is off Buckhorn Road, near I-85/I-40 in the western part of Orange County. Developers and county officials have said the development could bring in sales tax revenue and curb property tax increases.

The project is being developed by Buckhorn Road Associates, a partnership of East West Partners, Tryon Investment Group and Montgomery Carolina. The group submitted their plan for the development to the county in December.

According to county Planning Director Craig Benedict, while county residents lead the state in per capita retail dollars spent, 53 percent of those dollars are spent outside the county.

The proposed development includes three individual development districts totaling nearly 130 acres, with a proposed maximum of about 1.1 million square feet of building space for the entire property. The plan includes retail, office space, restaurants, indoor theaters, hotels, residential, government offices and other similar uses.

For the developers to begin work on the development, the county must approve the proposed rezoning and special-use permit.

The developers have said if the project were approved, they would break ground in mid-2010, and anticipate completion four or five years later. Roger Perry, president of East West Partners, said the project could bring in $6 million a year in sales tax revenue.

James Carnahan, a resident of Carrboro, questioned the development’s effects on carbon emissions and global warming.

“We have a three- or four-decade history in this county of a very prudent approach to development,” he said, “Until we’ve completed a carbon-emissions inventory for the county and until we have set goals for the county … it is totally inappropriate and imprudent to approve this project.”

Other county residents said they supported the project.

“I have wondered when this was going to happen and I’m looking forward to this happening,” said Charles Bowman, a resident of the area around the proposed development. “We have nothing on that end of the county. We need something down our end. It may not be the best thing in the world that could happen, but at least it’s a start.”

Both commissioners and planning board members asked the developers questions about the project that the developers said they would respond to in writing. They had questions about traffic patterns, global warming, the project’s effects on local business and what the development will look like.

The planning board will consider the development at their May 7 meeting and return a recommendation to the commissioners no later than June 3. The commissioners will then consider approving the plan before adjourning at the end of June.

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