Agenda - 12-07-2009 - 4a - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 Kathleen Schenley read a prepared statement: 2 From: Kathleen Schenley, 6714 Millhouse Road 3 To: The Orange County Board of Commissioners 4 Re: Waste Transfer Station Site 5 6 I am deeply disappointed in the actions of this body and highly discouraged about the 7 future of government in this county. My neighbors and I have watched due process be torn to 8 shreds in the last few months. This body has ignored their own site selection criteria, tossed 9 aside hundreds of thousands of dollars spent evaluating sites selected by that criteria, and 10 climbed merrily onto the bandwagon of an expedient solution. 11 Will you really look at what you are proposing? You want to site a waste transfer station 12 in the supposedly protected rural buffer, on a narrow winding road used by school buses and 13 school children. You want to place it next to a future park. And to do that, you will coerce the 14 Parks Department to sell you a piece of property bought with tax dollars, intended for inclusion 15 in the Blackwood Park, and sold to the Parks Department in good faith that the land would be 16 rejoined with the original parcel to expand the park. You told the residents of Rogers Road that 17 you would not site the transfer station on Eubanks Road. Do you think you're fooling anyone by 18 coming in the back door via Millhouse Road? I could go on and on. 19 I know you're tired of this. We're all tired of this. But you won't have to live next door to 20 your decision. We will. I beg you to take this opportunity to do the right thing. If you're going to 21 throw out the previous criteria, so be it. But at least take a vote and make it official. Open the 22 search to all available ten-acre tracts in the county. This county made a hasty decision 37 23 years ago. Don't repeat that mistake. Yes, it will take more time, but it's the right thing to do." 24 25 Kevin Brice was with Triangle Land Conservancy. He spoke about the Irvin Farm 26 Preserve, which is a partnership project that TLC has embarked on with experienced and 27 talented educators. He distributed a handout. This will be an educational area. 28 Livy Ludington also spoke about the Irvin Farm Preserve, and she is part of the staff for 29 this. She said that they worked briefly with the County Planning Department for a pilot project 30 this summer. The pilot project was successful and they want to expand this program. The Irvin 31 Farm Preserve would like the Board's support as it works with the Planning Department. The 32 vision is for a green camp that will teach children about the outdoors. 33 34 Neil Masson spoke about concerns with the current burning ordinance in Orange 35 County. The current ordinance states that yard waste can be burned between 8:00 a.m. and 36 6:00 p.m. as long as it is not a nuisance. He said that there are pockets within the County that 37 are outside city limits, but border neighborhoods within the city. Because of this, there are 38 some health concerns that he is experiencing. The first is air quality and the second is potential 39 danger of fire spreading. There is a house about 70 yards behind him that burns often, and 40 there is a neighbor that he shares a fence line with that can burn because he is outside the city 41 limits. He said that he is no longer able to open his windows in his home because of the 42 smoke. He said that there is no help from the fire department or police because their hands are 43 tied due to this ordinance. He asked for some revisions to the ordinance. He would love to see 44 the ordinance eliminated or some set limitations on the ordinance, such as setting mileage and 45 acreage minimums to those residing outside city limits. 46 Bonnie Hauser spoke on behalf of Orange County Voice. She said that Orange County 47 Voice would like to know the impact to shift from arevenue-producing landfill to a waste 48 transfer station. She said that they would like to know the fiscal impact. According to the data 49 from Olver, Inc., there will be a cost associated with the transfer station and no revenue. It 50 looks like it is going to cost over $50 a ton to use the waste transfer station. She said that this