Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a special-use permit for Buckhorn Village, a 1.1-million-square-foot development in the western part of the county.
The site of the planned development is off Buckhorn Road, near I-85/I-40. Developers and county officials have said the development could bring in sales tax revenue and curb property tax increases.

Some county residents have expressed concern that the project would bring retail jobs to the county rather than higher-paying jobs.

The proposed development includes three individual development districts totaling nearly 130 acres, with a 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, government offices and residences.

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. The developers have said they would break ground in mid-2010 and anticipate completion four or five years later.

Commissioner Mike Nelson was not present at the meeting and thus did not vote on the project.

In other county business, the commissioners received a petition with 1,800 signatures from Preserve Rural Orange, a group of rural county residents concerned about the possibility of a new airport at a site near White Cross in southwest Orange County.

The petition asked for the board’s assistance in resisting the siting of an airport in that part of the county.

The site was identified as a possible location for a new airport in a 2005 consultant’s report to UNC. The General Assembly this summer voted to allow the UNC Board of Governors to create a 15-member airport authority to site a replacement for Horace Williams Airport, which will be redeveloped as part of the Carolina North project.

The board did not comment on the petition at the meeting.