Officials from the Town of Hillsborough and Orange County held a public outreach meeting Tuesday night concerning jurisdictional chanages between Hillsborough and Orange County.

The potential changes are called for under the Strategic Growth Plan, a joint effort of the Town of Hillsborough and Orange County to examine jurisdictions and development expectations around Hillsborough.

"We want to make sure people understand where the line starts and where it may stop so they can understand whether they'll be in an urban area or rural area and have services that are matched with each use," said Craig Benedict, Orange County Planning Director.

Benedict said plans are still in the early stages so it's hard to pinpoint specific locations just yet. However, he said, for example, there are some areas where Hillsborough had in its original planning maps to grow west into places that are now environmental areas. In that case, he said, the county would look to work with the Town to see if there's a better place to move that growth.

"A place close to major transportation routes or utilities where water and sewer could be more easily served so we'd trade off environmental areas for higher potential growth areas," he said.

In addition to potential jurisdiction changes, two more areas would be designated: town and county urbanizing areas. These are areas where urban development is expected. According to a news release from the Town of Hillsborough, "town urbanizing areas would act much like Hillsborough's extraterritorial jurisdiction does, but the county would retain final authority. The county urbanizing area would have urban-type standards, but the county would have review authority."

Benedict said he understands some people are concerned about the rapid development in the county and town, but he said government officials are aware of that and trying to work with residents.

"It's a partnership you need between local governments and citizens," he said. "We're being very sensitive to make sure that it's inclusive and understand what the rights are of people enjoying their land and what the expectations are as to what services they may expect as the area grows."

There will be another public outreach meeting on Jan. 13 in Room 209 of the Durham Tech satellite campus in on 525 Waterstone Drive in Hillsborough.

Benedict said they will present the findings and preliminary work in a joint meeting between the Town and County in February.