MINUTES

MINUTES

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

COUNTY OF HENDERSON JULY 2, 2001

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners met for a regularly scheduled meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the Commissioners= Conference Room of the Henderson County Office Building at 100 North King Street, Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Those present were: Chairman Bill Moyer, Vice-Chair Marilyn Gordon, Commissioner Grady Hawkins, Commissioner Don Ward, Commissioner Charlie Messer, County Manager David E. Nicholson, County Attorney Angela S. Beeker, and Clerk to the Board Elizabeth W. Corn.

Also present were: Assistant County Attorney Jennifer O. Jackson, Finance Director J. Carey McLelland, Planning Director Karen C. Smith, Planner Josh Freeman, Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator Rocky Hyder, Property Addressing Coordinator Curtis Griffin, Travel & Tourism Director Melody Heltman, Webmaster for Travel & Tourism Karen Baker, Assistant to the County Manager/Budget Analyst Selena Coffey and Public Information Officer Chris S. Coulson. Volunteer Coordinator Amy Brantley was present through nominations.

CALL TO ORDER/WELCOME

Chairman Moyer called the meeting to order and welcomed those in attendance.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Commissioner Hawkins led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.

INVOCATION

The Reverend Charles Grady offered the invocation (retired Minister).

DISCUSSION/ADJUSTMENT OF AGENDA

Chairman Moyer added two items under Nominations - Water Authority Meeting and naming of a Chairman for the Environmental Advisory Board (EAC). He also stated the need for one addition to the closed session.

Chairman Moyer made the motion to approve the adjusted agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

CONSENT AGENDA

Chairman Moyer asked David Nicholson to comment on item AE@ under the Consent Agenda - A2001 NACo Achievement Award@.

Mr. Nicholson informed the Board that the National Association of Counties (NACo) has awarded Henderson County two 2001 Achievement Awards. He challenged any other county in the State of North Carolina to look at our wall of NACo Awards to see if they have won that many awards in the last seven or eight years.

The first award was to Emergency Management for their program Special Needs Assistance Database. Rocky Hyder stated that this database identifies people in our community that have special needs so that in the need of a disaster or other large scale emergency we know where those folks are located and can give them the special assistance that they may need. David Nicholson and the Board congratulated Mr. Hyder and his staff and applauded their efforts.

The second award was to Henderson County Travel & Tourism for their program Historic Hendersonville and Flat Rock Internet Site. Mr. Nicholson stated that with so many counties and departments developing Internet sites that it is a real honor to get an award for an Internet site. Melody Heltman explained how proud Travel & Tourism are of the site and thanked Karen Baker, their Webmaster. The site is user friendly, visually attractive, and updated daily. David Nicholson and the Board congratulated Ms. Heltman and her staff and applauded their efforts.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion for the Board to approve the Consent Agenda. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

The CONSENT AGENDA consisted of the following:

Minutes

Minutes were presented for the Board=s review and approval of the following meetings:

January 19, 2000 Regular meeting

May 29, 2001 Special called meeting

June 4, 2001 Regular meeting

June 7, 2001 Special called meeting

June 12, 2001 Special called meeting

June 13, 2001 Special called meeting

June 18, 2001 Special called meeting

June 19, 2001 Special called meeting

June 20, 2001 Regular meeting

Tax Collector=s Report

Terry F. Lyda, Tax Collector, had provided the Board with a copy of the Tax Collector=s Report dated June 28, 2001.

Darlene B. Burgess, Deputy Tax Collector, had provided the Board with a copy of the Deputy Tax Collector=s Report dated June 29, 2001.

Tax Releases

A list of 38 tax release requests was submitted by the Tax Assessor for the Board=s approval, a copy of which is attached as a part of these minutes.

Tax Refunds

A list of 26 tax refund requests was submitted by the Tax Assessor for the Board=s approval, a copy of which is attached as a part of these minutes.

2001 NACo Achievement Award

see above

NOMINATIONS

Notification of Vacancies

The Board was notified of the following vacancies which will appear under nominations on the next agenda:

1. Community Child Protection Team - 1 vac.

2. Western Carolina Community Action (WCCA) - 1 vac.

Nominations

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board of the following vacancies and opened the floor to nominations:

1. Nursing/Adult Care Home Community Advisory Committee - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting. A person was nominated at an earlier meeting and their name has been submitted to the Nursing/Adult Care Homes. The allotted time has not passed yet.

2. Mountain Area Workforce Development Board - 4 vac.

Chairman Moyer made the motion to reappoint David Sink to position # 5. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to appoint Darlene Stone to position #3. All voted in favor and the motion carried. Positions # 1 and #6 are still vacant.

3. Equalization and Review - 3 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

4. Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

5. Juvenile Crime Prevention Council - 3 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting.

6. Henderson County Zoning Board of Adjustment - 1 vac.

There were no nominations at this time so this item was rolled to the next meeting. Commissioner Hawkins asked the County Attorney what the composition of the Board needs to be now that the Board has zoned the whole county (all unzoned areas) open use zoning.

Angela Beeker stated that the Board had asked staff to prepare that information for the workshop coming up next week. She has not yet looked into the specifics. Ms. Beeker stated that the NCGS require a representative from each zoning area of the county and that is a moot point now that we have one large zoning area in the county. It is up to the Board=s discretion to decide how they would like to apportion those members, if at all.

Water Authority Meeting - add on

Chairman Moyer mentioned a letter he had received from Chairman Nathan Ramsey, Buncombe County Commissioners, regarding scheduling a meeting with two representatives from our Board, their Board, and the City of Asheville to sit down and see if any progress can be made on some of the open issues. Chairman Moyer felt that we should give it a try and asked the Board to name the two Commissioner representatives for that meeting.

Following discussion, Commissioner Ward made the motion that Commissioner Gordon and Chairman Moyer be our two representatives to that meeting. All voted in favor and the motion carried. The meeting is yet to be scheduled.

Environmental Advisory Board - name a chairman - add on

Chairman Moyer made the motion to appoint Fielding Lucas as Chairman of the EAC. Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to accept Mr. Lucas by acclamation. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

CREDIT CARD PAYMENT - Tax Bills

Carey McLelland reminded the Board that they had indicated in past discussions a desire to provide citizens with the option of making their real and personal property tax payments by credit card. At a previous Board Meeting, Staff presented a proposal to participate in a contract to process credit card transactions for the County. Since that meeting, Staff has received additional information on accepting credit/debit card payments specifically for Tax Bills at no cost to the County.

Staff has determined that the best option for the County is to use Official Payments Corporation as its vehicle for accepting credit/debit cards for real and personal property tax payments. There is no cost to the County for MasterCard, VISA, American Express or Discover interchange fees, no discount fees charged by a bank or any costs associated with buying or renting equipment (terminals, printers) to accept these payments. A processing fee is charged to the person=s credit card on a sliding scale. Taypayers, wishing to utilize this alternative payment method, would just call A1-800-2PAYTAX@ or through the Internet at Awww.officialpayments.com@.

This option would allow Tax Collection Staff to be free from swiping cards through a terminal and waiting on a payment authorization, which would be beneficial during the peak collection months. The County will receive 100 percent of all payments within 48 hours via the Automated Clearinghouse System (ACH) and the convenience fee to the citizen would be charged by Official Payments, not the County. With this option, the County would be free from the business of charging any convenience or paying administrative fees to cover processing costs. Daily reports are provided by Official Payments for all transaction activity that occurred on the previous day for accounting and auditing needs.

Provided for the Board=s review was information about Official Payments Corp., their current fee schedules, a current North Carolina Client List, and their standard terms of agreement. Implementation time will be approximately six weeks and we will have enough time to include language concerning payment by credit card on this year=s tax bills if the Board approves to move ahead with this recommendation.

Staff will bring back to the Board for future consideration the issue of accepting non-tax payments by credit/debit card after further cost-benefit analysis.

David Nicholson recommended that the Board consider entering into an agreement with Official Payments Corporation to provide citizens the opportunity to make real and personal property tax payments to the County by credit card and certain debit cards through both an interactive telephone voice response and Internet interface. This service does not address needs within other County departments. However, this appears to be a service that we should consider. Should the Board agree with this proposal, the appropriate wording would be added to the 2001 tax bills.

Following discussion, Chairman Moyer made the motion to authorize Carey McLelland to proceed with this Official Payments Corporation to provide citizens the opportunity to make real and personal property tax payments to the county by credit card and certain debit cards. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Commissioner Hawkins asked staff to check to see if we could get sales tax for Apoint of sale@.

TAX REFUND

Angela Beeker reminded the Board that on May 22, 2001, the Board of Commissioners received a request from ASLAN PROPERTIES, LLC, for a waiver of the interest on a real property tax bill which, as of April of this year, had totaled to $111.87 (as of today $118.39). Pursuant to 105-381, the Board has 90 days to consider any such request received. Staff has been unable to reach the taxpayer by phone, but has sent out written correspondence advising them of this meeting and offering to reschedule the hearing by the Board if this meeting were inconvenient for the taxpayer.

ASLAN PROPERTIES, LLC requested a waiver of the interest charged for their account due to the following circumstances. On January 9, 2001, their Bookkeeper notified the Henderson County Tax Collector office of non-receipt of the real property tax bill for tax year 2000. She was advised that a tax bill was sent to SR 1547 on Old Airport Road for the account in question. Mr. Easterling, the Bookkeeper, advised them that this was an incorrect address. She requested a fax copy of the tax data. Upon reading the fax, Ms. Easterling again called the tax office concerning the $109.41 interest due. The tax office advised her that a cover letter to Mr. Terry Lyda requesting a waiver of the interest would be required. On January 9, 2001 a $5,470.50 check with a cover letter requesting waiver of the $109.40 interest was mailed.

A delinquent notice of non-payment of tax was received in April for $111.87. The bookkeeper was surprised because after three months she assumed the interest had been waived since no further correspondence had been received. Ms. Easterling contacted Mr. Lyda=s office on April 10 and was advised only Mr. Lyda could assist her and he was out of the office for the week. On April 18, she spoke with Mr. Lyda and explained the above circumstances. Faxes of all documents relating to this matter were sent to Mr. Lyda. A letter was faxed from Mr. Lyda on April 25 advising Ait was beyond the scope of my authority under North Carolina Statutes to waive interest on tax bills ... and to write to the Henderson County Board of Commissioners and appeal.@

Ms. Easterling again requested a waiver of the interest on the real property (but by letter to the Henderson County Board of Commissioners dated May 22, 2001) tax bill since ASLAN Properties, LLC did not receive a tax bill due to an incorrect address in the Henderson County Tax Collector=s system. As soon as she realized the tax bill had not been received, she promptly acted by contacting the office and mailing a check that same day.

Following discussion, Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to deny the request for a waiver of interest charges. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Ms. Beeker will correspond back to the taxpayer on the Board=s behalf.

UPDATE ON PENDING ISSUES

This is an effort to keep the lines of communication open. It gives the Chairman an opportunity to bring the Board up to date on issues that occur between meetings. It is also the time to ask for direction so that the Board can develop public position on current upcoming topics.

This is also the opportunity for Commissioners to report on related committee work and assignments.

The topics to discuss during this meeting are as follows:

Fletcher Fire & Rescue

Mr. Nicholson wrote a memo to the Board explaining the several conversations that have taken place concerning the contributions to the Fletcher Fire and Rescue Department. The Town of Fletcher has decided to increase its contribution by 3/4 cent or about $35,000. This leaves the Department short about $9,000.

Mr. Nicholson explained that there are several ways to make up this difference including a transfer from Contingencies. Also with the expansion in this community, this shortage could be made up by natural growth within the District. Should the Board choose this option, a letter could be written to the Department that would guarantee the additional $9,000.

Town of Fletcher is now paying 9.75 cents and Henderson County just approved 9.50 cents to Fletcher Fire and Rescue.

Commissioner Messer has had several informal discussions with Fletcher Fire Chief, with Fletcher Town Manager and with Town of Fletcher=s Chairman. He felt that this was mainly a lack of communication between all concerned.

Following discussion, Commissioner Messer made the motion that the Board follow the Manager=s recommendation that the shortage could be made up by natural growth but if it is not received through that or any other source, then Henderson County would guarantee the additional $9,000 for Fletcher Fire & Rescue from contingencies. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

INFORMAL PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were none.

CLOSED SESSION

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to go into closed session as allowed pursuant to NCGS 143-318.11 for the following reasons:

1.(a)(3) To consult with an attorney employed or retained by the public body in order to preserve the attorney-client privilege between the attorney and the public body, which privilege is hereby acknowledged. To consult with an attorney employed or retained by the public body in order to consider and give instructions to the attorney with respect to a claim.

Anthony Wayne Gibson v. Henderson County

(Henderson County File No. 01 CVS 678)

2.(a)(6) To consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee; or to hear or investigate a complaint, charge, or grievance by or against an individual public officer or employee.

All voted in favor and the motion carried. Chairman Moyer explained that the Board would be back by 7:00 for the public hearings.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion for the Board to go out of closed session. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

PUBLIC HEARING - Road Names

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to go into public hearing to consider road names. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Rocky Hyder explained that the purpose of this public hearing was to name several roads in Henderson County, as follows:

New Road Names

North Pointe Drive

Dakota Springs Loop

Chads Way Circle

Burgin Way

Changing Current Road Name

Angeline Drive

Duplicate Road Names

North Hillside Road

Public Input

1. Phyllis Henderson had signed up to speak. Mr. Hyder had spoken to her earlier. She was here to address a totally different road name. Mr. Hyder resolved that issue with Ms. Henderson.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to accept the names as presented by Mr. Hyder. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to close the public hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

PUBLIC INPUT SESSION - Proposed Abandonment of a Portion of Macedonia Church Road (SR #1835) Bobby A. Johnson & L. D. Pace, Petitioners

Commissioner Ward made the motion for the Board to go into public input session to receive public comment regarding the abandonment of a portion of Macedonia Church Road (SR # 1835). All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Josh Freeman reminded the Board that the Board of Commissioners had scheduled for this date a public input session on a petition, submitted by petitioners Bobby Jones and L. D. Pace, requesting that the Henderson County Board of Commissioners request the North Carolina Board of Transportation to abandon from the secondary road system a portion of Macedonia Church Road (Secondary Road # 1835), which is located north of Saluda.

NCGS 136-63 sets out the procedure by which a road may be abandoned. This statute requires that before NCDOT abandons a road in the manner requested, the Board of Commissioners must take action to request that the road be abandoned. Such Board action must be based upon a finding that A ... the best interest of the people of the County will be served thereby.@ The Board typically takes input from the public and relevant agencies in considering such requests.

If the Board finds that the best interest of the Citizens of Henderson County will be served by the abandonment, appropriate action could be taken by the Board by the adoption of the proposed draft resolution, which requests that the North Carolina Department of Transportation abandon the subject portion of Macedonia Church Road (SR #1835) as requested by the Petitioners. If the Board chooses to expand the abandonment area as outlined in the Staff Impact Study, then the Draft Resolution must be amended accordingly.

David Nicholson recommended adoption of the draft resolution as proposed or modified following receipt of any comments during the Public Input Session.

Josh Freeman showed the location of the road on a site map. The petitioners have requested that the southernmost 365 feet that=s maintained by the State be abandoned, that would be between points A and B on the site map. The road provides access to Macedonia Baptist Church and associated cemetery, an apple orchard, a single family home and one vacant parcel. It also provides access to Macedonia Lake Subdivision. The reasoning behind the petition was the Church recently acquired a 70 foot wide swath of road on the western side of Macedonia Church Road. It runs parallel to the portion that they requested be abandoned between points A and B on the site map. The purpose behind acquiring that land was to provide an area into which they could expand their cemetery. However, the NC Department of Transportation (DOT )has plans to widen and pave Macedonia Church Road and they intend to complete that by the fall of 2001. That will consume about 55 feet of the 75 foot wide swath of property that they would like to use for a cemetery. The Church expressed their concerns to the Department of Transportation. The Department of Transportation advised that they abandon the road and express their concerns with regard to that.

Staff had asked a variety of agencies and individuals for input; Ed Green, George Erwin, Rocky Hyder, Tom Edmundson, Dr. Kohlan Flynn, and Jerry Cunningham. No one expressed any concerns. Rocky Hyder, Ed Green and Dr. Flynn voiced their approval for the abandonment. Staff in the Planning Department has no objection and recommended the Board of Commissioners adopt the prepared resolution and request the North Carolina Board of Transportation to abandon a portion of Macedonia Church Road per the petition. NC DOT mentioned at one point that it might be wise to go ahead and abandon an additional 210 feet down the road which would be abandoning from point A to C on the site map, the reason being it would simplify the ownership and simplify NC DOT=s maintenance in that area.

Chairman Moyer asked Ms. Beeker if it would be appropriate for the Board to consider abandonment of the road from point A to point C. She felt it would be. There was considerable discussion. It was the consensus of the Board to consider abandonment of a portion of Macedonia Church Road from point A to point C on the site map.

Public Input

1. Ronald Beach - Mr. Beach=s property adjoins the Church and the only way into his property is by the subject road. He looked at the site map along with staff and it was determined that his property is located between point A and point B on the site map. Mr. Beach read from his property deed regarding his right of way.

Chairman Moyer asked Angela Beeker to explain what abandoment means. Ms. Beeker stated that all that is happening at this meeting is a request to remove the road from the State Maintenance System. If they wish to close the road they would still have to pursue whatever procedures must be followed for closing of a road. This is just to ask that the portion of the road be removed from the State Maintenance System. The implication is that if the road remains in existence, it is up to the property owner/s to maintain the road. The State will not scrape it, add dirt or gravel, nor pave it. She stated there would be an issue between Mr. Beach and the Church as to whether they could close the road to him or not, once it is removed from the State Maintenance System.

Mr. Beach stated that if they close the road he has no way to get to his property. If the road were to stay as it is now, Mr. Beach wouldn=t care if the road were abandoned. He stated that the State has nothing to do with the road now, as far as he is concerned. They maintain the road up to Mr. Marshall=s entrance to his property, that is as far as the State goes. They=ve never gone along that stretch of road from point A to point B.

Ms. Beeker stated that it is very clear that if the road is not removed from the State Maintenance System, then it cannot be closed.

2. Doug Marshall - Mr. Marshall stated that Linda Marshall and himself own the property to the southeast of this road. He looked at the site map along with staff and it was determined that his property is located between point B and point C. He prefers the road be paved to his driveway and he understood that would happen until this request. This request concerns him. He has a right-of-way to his property. He sold the back side of his property to Mr. Beach and there was some disagreement over the right-of-way. He is afraid that sooner or later this disagreement will resurface. He would like the issue resolved before that land is abandoned by the State. He is opposed to the abandonment until the right-of-way issue is resolved.

3. Brentley Thomas - Mr. Thomas is on the Deacon Board of Macedonia Baptist Church. He stated that Macedonia Church is in favor of abandoning the 365 feet of road maintenance. If that road is paved as he understands NC DOT plans to do, it will put the road over into the cemetery. He stated that Mr. Beach and Mr. Marshall have the right to travel Macedonia Church Road.

Some issues were raised that concerned the Board regarding the abandonment of this road. Commissioner Hawkins stated that he could not find anything at this time that would indicate that the closing of this road would be Ain the good of the community to abandon this road@ other than we=d have some more cemetery space.

David Nicholson recommended to the Board that they allow staff to go out and look at the area of road in question and meet with the property owners to make sure that we have a clear understanding that all these issues have been addressed. Staff would then bring this back to the Board at the July 25 meeting.

Chairman Moyer stated that he felt the Church should take the leadership in getting the other neighbors together and coming up with a document that would set forth the understanding of the parties. If they can reach such an agreement, then the Board could move forward. But with these unclear issues the Board would not be comfortable to move forward on this request. Commissioner Hawkins also asked that Staff continue to contact the Sheriff and EMS to get their comments rather than assuming that they agree with it. All the adjoining property owners should be noticed too, such as the additional property owners between point B and point C on the site map.

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion for the Board to go out of public input session. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

PUBLIC HEARING - To Consider Repeal of Certain County Ordinances

Chairman Moyer made the motion that the Board go into public hearing to consider the repeal of certain county ordinances. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Angela Beeker stated that the focus of the hearing was to consider the repeal of certain ordinances, in particular the Motor Sports Facilities Ordinance, the Junkyards and Vehicle Graveyards Ordinance, and the Incinerators Ordinance. These uses have become a regulated use in the Open Use District which has been applied county wide. Therefore, it would be appropriate to consider the repeal of these existing ordinances so there is not duplication and perhaps conflicting ordinances on record.

This public hearing has been properly advertised in the Times-News on June 18, 2001 and June 25, 2001.

Staff had stated previously that there may be some provisions in the Solid Waste Ordinance that would need to be repealed but they did not find any after review of the Ordinance. There may be some minor clean-up items that could be handled at a later date.

Ms. Beeker explained that one of the reasons for the Open Use District was to avoid having separate police power ordinances and zoning ordinances.

If, after holding this public hearing, the Board wishes to approve the repeal of the above-stated ordinances, it would be appropriate for the Board to consider adopting the prepared draft ordinances as they are written or as revised by the Board.

The County Manager recommended that the Board consider adopting the proposed draft ordinances in order to simplify the regulation of these few uses. Without repealing the prior regulation there will be confusion for Staff and the public as to which regulation governs.

Much discussion followed, including but not limited to land use powers versus police powers of the Board of Commissioners. Ms. Beeker explained that technically the incinerator ordinance as it is is more of a police power ordinance and junkyards and motor sports are more of a land use ordinance. She stated that police power is a broad umbrella and zoning is a subset of police power.

Public Input

1. John Humphrey - Mr. Humphrey addressed the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. He stated that the incinerator ordinance does not deal with land use issues at all whereas the open use ordinance deals specifically with site standards land use issues. He stated that site standards were deliberately not addressed when the incinerator ordinance was drafted. It was felt by the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC), which was studying incinerators because the landfill was coming to a close and something had to be done about waste disposal, that incinerators pose enough of a technical problem and hazard problems both in operation and combustion products that some rather specific steps needed to be taken to enable the county to evaluate a permit application adequately. At that time Henderson County didn=t have a County Engineer.

Mr. Humphrey stated that even the best incinerators have both air quality problems and solid waste problems. The State governs the air quality, the emissions, except that their standards are rather loose and depend upon periodic inspections which are intermittent. The ash would have to be landfilled. He spoke about the intermittent feed of an incinerator and the inefficient operation of such because of that. When an incinerator operates inefficiently is when you have harmful emissions in the stack and accumulation of more waste in the solid ash.

The attempt in the ordinance was not to actually regulate the incinerator. It was designed to make sure that an applicant would give you enough information about his qualifications, his history of past operation, the equipment that he proposed to provide and the methods that he proposed to use to dispose of the solid ash and to take care of the fluctuations in input. AThat=s not zoning.@ Mr. Humphrey was opposed to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance.

2. Stefan Juchnowycz - Mr. Juchnowycz spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. He spoke about a unique weather phenomena in our area called Athermal inversion@ which lasts about 80% of the year. This means that for 80% of the year there is a kind of cap over our area which prevents ventilation and the removal of the pollutants accumulated here. Whatever pollutants are generated during the time of inversion will stay here because the surrounding mountains which surround our area prevent horizontal purging of the area. An incinerator located here would produce gases which contain particulate containing pollutants which are hazardous to our breathing. The thermal inversion holds radon here also.

Mr. Juchnowycz said that to protect this area so we have reasonable air to breath, we needed the incinerator ordinance to classify what type of pollutant we can tolerate. The incinerator ordinance was established in 1991 to protect us by enforcing upon the incinerator operator very strict conditions about emissions. To repeal that ordinance we would be going much too far to accommodate somebody who can come into our area, pollute our air and we have no control.

3. Stan Kumor - Mr. Kumor spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. He distributed a 2 page typed hand-out which he read that described items in the incinerator ordinance versus items in the open use ordinance. He spoke in some detail about different sections of the incinerator ordinance. He stated AThis board has started down a path of better growth management, now is not the time to abandon good, community protections developed in the past.@

4. Jay Rogers - Mr. Rogers spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. He distributed a 2 page typed hand-out and read it. He voiced concern that the incinerator ordinance repeal might lead to the building of an incinerator. He stated that what is created when something is burned in an incinerator is no longer just waste but rather hazardous waste. Hazardous waste is more expensive to dispose of than municipal waste.

5. Martha Sachs - Ms. Sachs spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. She felt that many of the previous speakers had already covered many of the technical points. She said that the people of this county have repeatedly spoken out that they do not want any further pollution of Henderson County. She also reminded the Board that a big part of the income of this county comes from tourists and retirees, approximately $358,000,000 and they chose Henderson County because it is a beautiful place. Henderson County is getting a reputation of having badly polluted air a good part of the year.

6. Kell Williard - Mr. Williard spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance. He stated that the incinerator ordinance controls incinerators, the zoning ordinance does not. He stated that he was unable to find any regulation of incinerators in the zoning ordinance. It controls where they can be but not how they can be established, how they may be operated, what they may burn, etc. He felt that the incinerator ordinance is complimentary to any land use ordinance and further adds strength to any land use ordinance. Not only does he not want an incinerator in our county but he would like to see stronger practices in the county regarding open burning.

Chairman Moyer called a 5 minute technical recess, to change videotapes.

7. Lisa Thurman - Ms. Thurman spoke in opposition to the repeal of the incinerator ordinance, the speedway ordinance, the junkyard ordinance. She is opposed to having an incinerator in Henderson County.

Chairman Moyer asked the County Attorney if there were any zoned areas where the motor sports ordinance or the junkyard ordinance is more restrictive than the zoning classification, any place where there would be less protection if these ordinances were repealed?

Angela Beeker stated AWith respect to the motor sports facilities ordinance we did almost cut and paste that into the open use, those standards. I don=t recall that any of those were changed. The residential density may have been changed but as far the ... open use was actually modeled after the motor sports facilities ordinance. There are some minor things in there that aren=t carried forward because they just don=t make sense from a zoning standpoint but the substantive is the same. For junkyards we actually went back and changed the standards in the other districts to make it consistent with what was being proposed in open use so the junkyard should be treated as far as from a standards standpoint, the same in the districts . . . by and large that=s true. With respect to incinerators that is very different.@

Ms. Thurman then said that she was sure that much time went into developing these ordinances but stated that wherever there is more restrictive clauses, those ordinances should stay.

There was much discussion by the Board. The incinerator ordinance repeal had raised many questions.

Chairman Moyer made the motion for the Board to close the public hearing. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Chairman Moyer made the motion that the Board adopt the Ordinances to repeal the Motor Sports Facilities Ordinance and the Junkyard and Vehicle Graveyard Ordinance, just those two. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Chairman Moyer stated that there are provisions in the incinerator ordinance, particularly with respect to health and safety, that are necessary to preserve. He also asked staff to take a look at whether it should all go into the Open Use Ordinance or do we need a separate Police Power Ordinance to regulate the kind of things that need to be regulated, what is the best way to go. He asked staff to research and come back to the Board with a recommendation. He stated that for the time being both ordinances will stay in effect so the protections will be there and the Board and Staff will study the best way to proceed.

IMPORTANT DATES

Chairman Moyer expressed a need to cancel the meeting the Board had scheduled for this Thursday (July 5) on the Comprehensive County Plan.

David Nicholson reminded the Board that the first meeting for September had been moved from September 4 to September 10.

Set Quasi-Judicial Public Hearing on a Special Use Permit Application (#SP-01-03) for Highland Golf Villas, a Proposed Planned Unit Development - Glade Holdings, Inc. , Applicant

Commissioner Hawkins made the motion to set this public hearing on Wednesday, July 25 at 11:00 a.m. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Set Public Hearing on Rezoning Application #R-01-02 (R-15 to T-15) - Robert Bayless, Applicant

Commissioner Ward made the motion to set the public hearing for Monday, August 6 at 7:00 p.m. All voted in favor and the motion carried.

Mr. Nicholson reminded the Board that the Sheriff would like to schedule the opening for the Detention Center for September 5 and asked the Board to mark their calendars. There will also be a fund raising event (for Dare Camp), a sleep over at the Detention Center on August 25.

The Town of Fletcher has challenged Henderson County to a softball game on July 28 at 10:30 a.m. at Fletcher Park. He asked anyone wishing to play to sign up with him as to their position and their shirt size.

Commissioner Ward reminded the Board about an invitation to mud wrestle with Mary Jo Padgett.

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Annual Conference in Fayetteville August 9 - 12. As far as he knew, there would be no representative from Henderson County. No one spoke up that they would be attending.

Chairman Moyer reminded the Board of the workshop on the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite scheduled for July 11 at 9:00 a.m.