Minutes 06-01-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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� forthcoming until more recently. The concerns include accountability, transparency, environmental sustainability, and the fast track for the money to be spent in construction and expansion. She asked the County Commissioners to slow down the process and ask questions. She said that the fast track has led the consultant to put in gas lines and she learned recently that there is an effort to put in a natural gas line to power a central energy plant. This involves a cooling tower, a gas line from Alamance County through Orange County, and the public is not aware of these details. She said that the discrepancy between what has been proposed and what actually exists on the site are of great concern. This fast track has led to violations at the local, state, and federal level. She asked the County Commissioners to look at what is best for County citizens. She also asked that the County test the water and soils here. Will Raymond said that UNC is a dominant land developer in the County. He said that he believes that they have reached a point with the University and this research facility that they need something like the Carolina North framework for these discussions. He said that this is an ad-hoc and crisis-to-crisis approach. There must be a structured, transparent process. Bob Lowman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at UNC, said that he has been in charge of this facility for three and a half months. He said that Chancellor Thorp gave him a charge to open up the process and be transparent, admit the mistakes they had made in developing the property, restore good relations with the neighbors, and put a team together that would lead in a positive direction toward further development that has the minimum possible impact on the neighborhood. He said that he subscribed to this charge and he set out to do this. He said that there have been town meetings. He made reference to the two violations and said that they have not received any violations since he took over and he intends not to receive any. He said that he has shut down the incinerator and he is trying to get it removed. He also shut down the wastewater treatment system, which was unreliable. He said that he hopes to make the reclaimed water available to fire departments if needed. He said that this reclaimed water is safe to discharge. He said that they received a $14.5 million grant from NIH to construct two more buildings at Bingham and the intent is to self-fund a third building and he is committed to obtaining every required permit and he will do so in an open fashion that allows the usual public input and comment. He has no intention of avoiding any of that process. He said that every letter they receive from any regulatory or governmental agency and every letter they send back in return, they send by email to every neighbor as quickly as it happens. Cliff Leath said that his property abuts this facility and he commended Mr. Lowman for his transparency, but the problems that are there came from before and he hopes that the facility now has a slower process. Commissioner Hemminger said that several Commissioners attended a tour of the facility and they do read the emails that are communicated between UNC and the property owners. Commissioner Jacobs said that he received an email from a citizen that was concerned about pharmaceuticals in the water. He asked how the treatment process would address this. Bob Lowman said that there would probably be less of a problem than most municipal wastewater streams, because they do not flush unused pharmaceuticals down the toilet. He continued explaining how the wastewater would be dealt with. Commissioner Jacobs said that there have been concerns raised by the local fire departments about the amount of money they are being paid to provide fire fighting capability,