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Commissioner Jacobs said that he has lived in rural Orange County for many years and <br /> he has often thought that there is an element of urban imperialism where if the municipalities <br /> do not want something, they dump it in rural Orange County. This goes for all over the <br /> country. He said that Cedar Grove and Littler River Townships have just as much burden from <br /> reservoirs where they do not get water and sewer, and Mebane is moving in without the <br /> County's control in Cedar Grove and Durham is moving into Littler River. Orange County does <br /> ask people to reduce and there are mailings on a regular basis to encourage this practice, but <br /> some of it is beyond the County Commissioners' control. He also thinks that it is an <br /> exaggeration to compare the transfer station to the airport as far as impact. A transfer station <br /> is not even remotely as large or as much of an impact than an airport. He said that he has <br /> some disappointment because he has never gotten an answer to the question of where the <br /> trash is going to go when the landfill is full. He does not totally believe that May 2011 is a hard <br /> deadline and he does not totally believe that all alternatives have been explored in the private <br /> sector. <br /> Commissioner Hemminger said that she has followed this process and has tried to take <br /> the emotion out of this. The more she has looked at this, the more she cannot agree that this <br /> is a good site because it is so far out on a rural road. She does not think this is a good long- <br /> term solution and she would like to take another six months. She would like better road access <br /> for the large trucks. She also thinks that this parcel is too large. <br /> Commissioner Nelson said that he shares the sentiment shared by his colleagues and <br /> this is a very difficult decision. He does not believe that there are any good options in this <br /> matter. If you only look at the technical criteria, the Eubanks Road site is the best site, but the <br /> County Commissioners decided that there were other issues that needed to be addressed with <br /> regard to that. He spoke about how the process was reopened and how there was much <br /> public input and it was very collaborative. He said that the worst possible option would be to <br /> reopen this process. He does not think that a suitable site would be found through reopening <br /> the process. <br /> Commissioner Pelissier said that she is not sure that if the County Commissioners <br /> started all over again that they would come up with a better site. She thinks that the long-term <br /> issue is looking at the waste to energy possibility. She wants to study this issue of waste to <br /> energy. She spoke about the biosolids application issue and said that there are concerns. <br /> There are 3,000 acres of biosolids application around the County and the County has no <br /> control because it is permitted by the State. Much of the applications come from Alamance <br /> and Durham Counties. She would like to deal with this issue. She said that this could not be <br /> coupled with the waste transfer station because it is a larger issue. <br /> Commissioner Jacobs made reference to page 6 of the Olver report under <br /> "Sustainability Considerations", which says that, "the transfer station may be considered a <br /> transition element in the County's Long-Term Solid Waste Management Strategy," and he <br /> thinks that the Board should look at this in that way. Even if a decision is made tonight, the <br /> Board can still operate on a parallel track to investigate other alternatives. He brought up the <br /> OWASA property, site #759, which has the biosolids applied on it. He said that one of the <br /> reasons why the County Commissioners moved from looking at the only viable sites on the <br /> interstate was because Hillsborough said that it would annex them if the County tried to build <br /> on them. Hillsborough has done this before. He thinks that if a transfer station is put in <br /> Bingham Township, then there should be a park that goes with it. He would like to talk about <br /> whether it is feasible to look at the two sites and also step up the effort to work with people that <br /> are interested in looking at alternatives. <br /> Commissioner Pelissier said that she did not think it was efficient as a recommendation <br /> to appoint one person from the neighborhood to be on the SWAB. From all of the comments <br /> expressed, she would like to have an advisory board of a group in the neighborhood to work <br />