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Statement on Objectives
The Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition

This Statement on Objectives has been prepared by the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition for the use of the County Planning Board and Element Lead Advisory Boards, as well as the Element Managers and Clarion Associates.

LAND USE ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 6)

County overarching goal: Coordination of the amount, location, pattern and designation of future land uses, with availability of County services and facilities sufficient to meet the needs of Orange County's population and economy consistent with other Comprehensive Plan element goals and objectives.

Coalition Recommended Goals: The Built Environment is ecologically sustainable, promotes locally self-reliant economic development, engenders social equity, and includes housing that is affordable to people of all income levels.

Objectives:

  1. Determine the best places where future growth may be accommodated, and concentrate growth within these "Growth Opportunity Areas" (GOAs). They should include existing urban and Transition areas, previously-identified Economic Development Districts, areas along transit corridors, and new "Rural Nodes" where transit-oriented, mixed-use development is appropriate.
  2. Discourage new development outside of designated GOAs. Provide incentives and remedies that protect the economic interests of existing landowners outside of GOAs.
  3. Zone GOAs appropriately to make them attractive to the private investment necessary for economic success.
  4. Allocate residential densities in GOAs at levels sufficient to support transit and affordable housing.
  5. Employ a fair, unified and streamlined development review process. Enact ordinances and administrative systems that encourage, reward, and expedite desirable projects.
  6. Create a Transfer of Development Rights program that allows and encourages owners of lands not located in GOAs (TDR "sending areas") to sell their development rights to landowners in "receiving areas" (such as GOAs).
  7. Within GOAs establish sites for neighborhood schools within walking distance of where children live.

HOUSING ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 5)

County overarching goal: Opportunity for all citizens of Orange County to rent or purchase safe, decent, accessible, and affordable housing.

Coalition Recommended Goals: Quality, diverse housing is available all along the price point continuum for both rental housing and home ownership, and is accessible by walking, biking, and public transportation to places of work, shopping, services, education, recreation, and worship.

Objectives:

  1. In Growth Opportunity Areas adopt zoning, subdivision regulations, and provide incentives to increase housing supply available to the County's workforce, senior citizens, and people making between 30 and 140 percent of the area median income.
  2. In Growth Opportunity Areas adopt zoning and provide incentives to ensure a mixed-use development pattern putting employment, shopping and recreation within walking distance of an ample and diverse supply of housing.
  3. Expedite the development approval process for:
    1. projects that commit to providing workforce and special needs housing;
    2. housing in rural nodes; and
    3. cluster developments throughout rural areas.
  4. Promote innovative approaches to housing that maintain quality, increase energy efficiency, and reduce construction and maintenance costs.
  5. Embrace opportunities for alternative forms of land development and housing types to broaden the choice of housing options.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 4)

County overarching goal: Viable and sustainable commercial development that contributes to both property and sales tax revenues, and enhances high-quality employment opportunities for County residents.

Coalition Recommended Goals:A robust, resilient, and enduring commercial sector that provides a third or more of County revenue, balancing revenue sources to take pressure off residential property owners. Achieve a sustainable balance between energy use, increased economic growth, the needs of existing communities and the protection of natural resources.

Objectives:

  1. Promote the growth of the commercial tax base by specifying and encouraging opportunities for commercial and light industrial development within horizontally and vertically mixed-use districts within Growth Opportunity Areas (including Economic Development Districts).
  2. Focus public investments and capital improvements in GOAs, and coordinate such efforts with the local municipal governments.
  3. Accelerate approval of model commercial and light industrial projects in the GOAs and Economic Development Districts.
  4. Ensure that zoning in GOAs and Economic Development areas is conducive to business development.
  5. Expand educational programs that will prepare our workforce for high quality jobs, especially "green collar" opportunities.
  6. Facilitate the development of local entrepreneurial networks so as to create new businesses in Orange County.

TRANSPORTATION ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 10)

County overarching goal: An efficient and balanced system that combines multiple motorized and non-motorized modes of transportation.

Coalition Recommended Goals:New development and redevelopment within the County are walkable, bikable, and transit-oriented. Local and regional destinations are accessible without use of automobiles. There is universal access for people with disabilities. Air, water, and soil quality are protected both locally and globally.

Objectives:

  1. Support the use of rail, bus transit, bicycles, and walking as primary modes of transportation to and from local and regional destinations by requiring amenities and proper design for these modes in all new developments and publicly funded projects.
  2. Locate new Growth Opportunity Areas along transit corridors. Allocate density in GOAs that will support convenient, efficient, and reliable public transit.
  3. Work with local and regional stakeholders and NCDOT to ensure that all roadway investments in the County address the needs of cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users.
  4. Implement Transportation Demand Management techniques that reduce parking needs by channeling trips to transit and non-motorized modes.
  5. Plan for transit, bikeways and walkways that enable both local and regional connectivity. Coordinate with neighboring Metropolitan and Rural Planning Organizations to improve connectivity.
  6. Ensure that roadways are user-friendly for residents and visitors.

ENERGY; NATURAL AND CULTURAL SYSTEMS (ENVIRONMENT) ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 7)

County overarching goal: A sustainable balance and appreciation of natural, cultural and agricultural resources.

Coalition Recommended Goals: The County is a healthy ecosystem in which critical habitats have been identified and protected, no watershed is impaired or threatened, and native species' populations are thriving. The people of Orange County rely significantly on local, renewable energy resources to house, clothe, and feed us and to supply our daily needs. A prominent sense of history and aesthetics is found in the built environment. Diverse local sub-cultures are flourishing.

Objectives:

  1. Continue to proactively conserve productive agricultural lands, watersheds, forests, and other critical habitats.
  2. Set goals for production, processing and storage of locally grown food.
  3. Set goals for carbon reduction, water conservation, and air quality.
  4. Set goals for local generation of energy through use of renewable resources.
  5. Adopt a development ordinance that incorporates and provides strong incentives for energy and resource efficiency goals, including high-performance building standards.
  6. Expand programs to support the local agricultural economy, including local farmers markets and accessible shared-use facilities for production and storage of value-added goods.
  7. Incorporate performance measures in the County's Development Ordinance that will help produce a built environment that addresses historic precedents and the desire for attractive, livable neighborhoods.
  8. Ensure that the costs of natural resource protection are shared equally by all stakeholders.

RECREATION AND PARKS ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 8)

County overarching goal: Regionally coordinated park facilities that provide healthy opportunities for recreation and exercise for all citizens of Orange County, and that preserve important cultural and natural resources.

Coalition Recommended Goals: Throughout the County, everyone has access by walking, biking, and public transit to a wide variety of recreation opportunities, both "passive" and active, from pocket parks to large complexes for sports and other group activities.

Objectives:

  1. Plan and build future facilities integral with and for the benefit of Growth Opportunity Areas.
  2. Develop an integrated Recreation & Parks Program that fully utilizes existing resources in assessing County-wide recreation needs.
  3. Interconnect parks, recreation facilities, schools and school facilities, and public open spaces with greenways and other regional corridors (e.g., the Mountains-to-Sea Trail). Coordinate this work with the established Triangle Greenprint and similar efforts that have identified such facilities and corridors.

COUNTY PROFILE (DATA) ELEMENT
(County Plan Chapter 3)

County overarching goal: A reliable source of basic county data and information that is updated regularly, accessible, useful, and relevant to all of the Elements of the Comprehensive Plan.

Coalition Recommended Goals: Comprehensive data are developed and utilized in the Update process. Individual Elements use the same data and interpret it consistently.

SERVICES (UTILITIES) AND COMMUNITY FACILITIES
(County Plan Chapter 9)

County overarching goal: Growth consistent with the provision of adequate County services and facilities while managing the impacts upon the environmental infrastructure and effectively protecting the county's natural and cultural resources.

Coalition Recommended Goals: Required government and social services and facilities are consistently provided in an ecologically sustainable fashion that supports and enhances compact patterns of development and a balanced, vibrant economy for everyone.

Objectives:

  1. Plan for appropriate public-sector infrastructure investments to accommodate projected growth and enable mixed-use development in the Growth Opportunity Areas.
  2. Identify and preserve suitable, walkable sites for future schools and county parks within or adjacent to Growth Opportunity Areas.
  3. Advocate at the state level for reduced or flexible school site size requirements.
  4. Identify and promote development of on-site water supply and wastewater treatment technologies and infrastructure that will allow for dense, mixed-use growth at rural nodes and other Growth Opportunity Areas where such systems would be more appropriate than traditional water and wastewater treatment technologies. Create institutional and policy mechanisms that ensure proper maintenance of such systems.
  5. Ensure that emergency response capabilities, schools, and the full range of social services provided by the County and by non-profit providers come available concurrently with new development.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS & REVIEW

Objectives:

  1. Develop simple and practical performance criteria for all Elements in the Comprehensive Plan.
  2. Implement a regular audit of the County's achievement of these performance indicators by an independent assessor.

 

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