Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
growth nor sustainable development. Mr. Godschalk stressed that the priority ought to be neighborhoods for <br />people and not far industrial materials handling. <br />Mr. Godschalk said that this would be inconsistent with the goals of the Comprehensive Plan and that the <br />area could be an ideal transit-oriented, mixed-use development site. He added that citizens, if shown <br />pictures of these two alternatives, would choose the development aver the transfer station. Mr. Godschalk <br />asked the Council and Commissioners to use their common sense and reject the proposal. <br />Kenneth Rudo, a Eubanks Road resident, gave a series of public health reasons against rezoning the tract. <br />He said that rezoning would be "amoral and shameful," arguing that elected officials should not have the right <br />to make a decision that would pose a health risk to their fellow citizens. Mr. Ruda stated that bath sides of <br />the landfill might have contaminated drinking well water, with carcinogenic and chlorinated solvents at levels <br />posing a health risk. He said that there might also be gasoline, MTBE in particular, in the wells on Rogers <br />Road. <br />Mr. Rudo pointed out that strong odors emanating from the landfill are making residents ill, including his own <br />daughter. He expressed amazement that officials would consider voting to rezone this area, given all they <br />know about how exposure to toxic odors and contaminated drinking water has affected those who live near <br />the landfill. He wondered how they could consider putting the health of the neighborhood at further risk <br />merely to fulfill an agreement. <br />Mr. Rudo suggested that it would be inadvisable to rezone this tract because there is a health document in <br />his Department with the State that claims that agents in odors such as these pose a health risk to humans. <br />He noted that there are laws that allow the State Health Department to close a facility that poses an imminent <br />public health risk. Mr. Rudo painted out that the State could close any installation the County put in there. <br />He asked the Officials to think about how they would feel if they had to smell the overpoweringly noxious <br />odors day in and day out while also knowing that their water was contaminated. Mr. Rudo said that the Town <br />had run roughshod over these folks for many years, and suggested that the Council not make it worse. <br />Mr. Rudo said that he had known several of the Council Members and the Mayor for many years and had <br />never seen them da anything that would put citizens' health at risk. He asked them to continue with that <br />record. <br />Council Member Bateman asked Mr. Ruda if the same harmful health effects that are occurring from the <br />landfill would occur from a transfer station or MRF site. Mr. Ruda replied that it would depend on what they <br />put on the site, adding that the boundaries of what could and could not be put there had not been defined in <br />any clear manner. He added that an incinerator would exacerbate the problem. Mr. Rudo noted that this was <br />citizens' last chance to oppose the station. He pointed out that the County could put anything there it wanted <br />if the Town Council rezoned it. <br />Commissioner Carey said that he did not think that materials handling included burial of any kind. He added <br />that he had heard no discussion from anyone about incineration being considered for the site. Commissioner <br />Carey added that he had not heard of incineration being discussed for anywhere in the County, far that <br />matter. <br />Carole Crumley, an anthropology professor at UNC and a member of the Shaping Orange County's Future <br />Citizens Committee, said she had been teaching a course to twelve advanced undergraduates and graduate <br />students on "the evolution of landscapes." She said that the course concentrated on a single landscape <br />element that can be traced through time-the dump. Ms. Crumley said that at the end of the semester <br />students will make their report available to Orange County citizens, County and Town elected officials, and <br />staff. She said that a few of her students would be offering some results of their research tonight. <br />Mark Pettit, a UNC student, discussed his class's research project, which he explained was focused an <br />people rather than trash. He said the purpose of the project was to understand the context in which waste <br />disposal decisions have been made. Mr. Pettit reviewed how the New Hope community had lived for thirty <br />