Planning commission sets March 25 joint work session with Board as zoning-review milestone; consultants to tour county

Planning staff told the Orange County Planning Commission that consultants working on the countywide zoning ordinance rewrite will tour the county in late February, hold two focus groups and brief the commission and Board of Supervisors at a joint work session scheduled for March 25 at 3 p.m.

The planning staff update described a compressed schedule intended to deliver a draft package to the commission in March. The consultants will conduct two focus groups during their visit: one focused on agriculture, agritourism and rural-conservation interests, and another focused on surveyors, real-estate agents and development professionals. Staff asked commissioners to propose attendees for those focus groups.

Planning staff emphasized that the commission’s committee documents will be reviewed by the committee members and then sent to the board chairman for his comments; staff said the goal is to present an agreed-upon working document to the consultants by March to speed drafting. "We want to get the board's comments on the documents so that we can, hopefully, by March ... hand them our work," staff said.

The commission also covered routine project updates (Wilderness Shores, Unionville Brewing, Seagull/Shepherd items) and introduced new planning staff member Michelle Mikesell. Mikesell told the commission she has more than 20 years of urban-planning experience in Pennsylvania and Texas and said she is "super excited to be a part of the Orange County community." Planning staff asked commissioners to ensure a quorum for the March 25 session and to forward suggested focus-group participants to staff.

The commission set its next regular meeting for March 6 and asked staff to coordinate consultant site visits and focus-group invitations ahead of the March 25 joint work session.