Minutes - 20091117 - Laserfiche WebLink

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- On October 1, 2008, the results of evaluating the ten sites pursuant to the community specific criteria were presented to the BOCC, which agreed to proceed with consideration of the top three sites. It is worth noting that during these discussions, the county attorney specifically advised against changing or applying criteria "after the fact." - In December 2008 the Site Selection Status Report was issued. It evaluated three sites "selected by the BOCC" and recommended the County pursue acquisition of the Howell site. At that time, the Commissioners were expressly given and clearly rejected the option to "revise site and evaluation criteria and restart search process." Further evaluation and analysis of the final three sites continued. - A Site Investigation and Evaluation of West 54 and OWASA sites was completed on April 16, 2009. - On May 14, 2009, former Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy unilaterally introduced a town owned site on Millhouse Road into consideration for the WTS. This site had also been eliminated from consideration by application of the technical and exclusionary criteria. - On September 1, 2009, almost two years after the site selection process was begun and, $450,000 was expended on conducting the site selection process, and ten months after a site which met all established criteria was identified and recommended for acquisition, the Paydarfar site was introduced by staff as a potential alternative. Despite acknowledging that consideration of this site ignored the established criteria and circumvented the carefully developed selection process and the lauded transparency thereof, four commissioners nonetheless voted to pursue Paydarfar as a viable option. Due process requires, at a minimum, that legal and governmental proceedings be fair, and that the governmental decision maker not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Clearly defined and openly established policy and procedures — and the impartial adherence to those procedures once adopted— are critical to protecting the due process rights of affected citizens. The BOCC's decision, at the last minute, to apparently abandon its established procedures, evaluation criteria, and timeline, and perform a cursory evaluation of the Paydarfar site betrays its stated commitment to a transparent process with meaningful community input. Environmental Justice Among all of the County's adopted exclusionary, technical, and community specific criteria, "Environmental Justice Considerations" is the highest weighted and valued element (the only criteria rated "extremely important" and allotted 20 points). In defining environmental justice, this criterion requires that the BOCC consider"inequitable sharing of negative environmental consequences and potential cumulative environmental impact on proximate communities or neighborhoods." As noted above, consideration of the Paydarfar site has not followed any of the established site selection procedures and thus there has been no substantive evaluation or analysis of the environmental justice issues of this site. Nonetheless, some have suggested that the Paydarfar site has no "cumulative" environmental justice impacts because it is somehow not part of the community that has borne nearly four decades of impacts of the landfill and related solid waste uses. This narrow conclusion fails to adequately recognize the history of the community surrounding the landfill, the ongoing legacy and impacts of other industrial uses approved and developed in the neighborhood, and the anticipated noise and traffic increases and patterns through the area. In additional, the Paydarfar site abuts the old