Orange County NC Website
~~~ <br />rl•~ - <br />~: - • • <br />~+ Issue pA~~~ <br />'Rxtension of Sewer and Water into Orange <br />County-along U. S. Route 70 <br />Background_ <br />s <br />The Department of Transpartatian.and Utilities of the City of Durham <br />has received a petition signed by nineteen property owners in Durham and <br />Orange Counties requesting water service. The petitioners own property <br />along Hillsborough Raad (U. 5. Route 70) and request extension of water <br />service from it's present stopping paint in Duxbam County near the pxaage • <br />County line across the County line a distance of some 3DD0 feet 5.nto l~;no - _ <br />Township. - <br />. This is an area in which a number of mobile name parks axe S.aca.ted. • <br />Several of these have had problems with malfunctioning septic. systems and ` <br />oNe of them, Brewer's Trailer Court, has been closed dawn by L•he Orange _ <br />-:- County Health Department because of tontauxi.natiori of it`s water supply 8y <br />individual sewage disposal systems. <br />Durham has established by ordinance boundaries beyond. which it will • <br />not extend water service. In the area in question, trie boundax}*: is the <br />county line. Durham also has a policy af•not extending water. lines without <br />• also eventually extending sewer service to the same areas. The petitioning - <br />property owners have retained a lawyer and axe expected to bring their' <br />•, petition before the Durham City Council in the next: several weeks. Their <br />case might be strong enough to change current policy. 7t is.t_1~erefpxe ~ _ <br />important far decision makeES in Orange County to foraulate a position on <br />this issue for consideration by Durham officials. <br />Plannning Issues <br />Prom a land use planning perspective, the petitioner's request raises <br />several issues. - <br />Health: There is a very real health.thxeat posed by cuxxene condit.-ions <br />San this area. According to Mr. Jerry Robinson, Orange County Health Depart-- <br />meat Director, several residents of Bxewex's Trailer Court became ill Exam <br />.:.• drinking contaminated water to the point of being hospitalized The extension <br />of water service to this area would allow Brewer's Trailer Court to reopen <br />and insure that several other mobile house parks in the same area have a ,- <br />potable water supply. _ • <br />Future Land Use: Mx. Robert Peck, Direttox of the Transportation and <br />_ Utilities Department of the City of Durham has stated yin a letter to the <br />Orange County Planning Department that if water linos axe extended into the <br />area, it would be logical to provide sixteen inch mains so further future <br />extensions could be accomodated. ' <br />Once these utilities were extended into Orange County, it is not clear <br />what a new logical boundary beyond which they should not be extended beyond <br />would be. Yxovision of these utilities to-the I-SS - 70. interchange would <br />open up that whole area to more intensive land use. The highway system <br />there would make it a logical area far the develapusent of commercial and <br />