Minutes 10-04-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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He reminded the Board that the area west of Rogers Road is within the corporate limits of the Town of Carrboro. The areas east of Rogers Road are part of the planning jurisdiction for the Town of Chapel Hill. He said that there is a need for political leadership to come together. PUBLIC COMMENT Robert Campbell from the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association said that the Rogers Road community has been dealing with solid waste issues since the landfill siting in 1972. In addition to toxic waste, there has been truck traffic, odors, and other impacts in this area. He said that this community wants the quality of life to be restored. He said that they appreciate the county offering to run a water line through the community, but this was not part of the original request. Most of the families cannot afford the connection fee for water. He asked the County Commissioners to do the right thing and close this landfill. Barbara Hopkins (was not present) and Kathy Kaufman with Justice United spoke in her place. In addition to water and sewer the mitigation request asks to clean up the illegal dump sites, provide startup costs for the community center, and buffers between the landfill and the community. The buffers need to be sufficient to hide the mound of trash on the other side. She said that an Executive Director needed to be hired. Stan Cheren is a long-time member of RENA, who is proudly joining forces with Justice United and Orange County Voice. He said that there is a moral obligation to close this landfill now. He said that this toxic landfill has operated for 40 years at the direct expense of a single community. He said that the mitigation is a small gesture on an enormous debt and it is payback time. It will still take years and years before the health and vitality of the community is restored. Bonnie Hauser spoke on behalf of Orange County Voice. She said that they are proud to join forces with RENA and Justice United. She said that they appreciate that the County is getting its arms around the economics of the landfill. She said that the County has a substantial legal and financial obligation association with this landfill whenever it closes. She asked that the County please consider some alternatives to increasing tipping fees. She asked the County to disconnect the discussion on tipping fees and extending the life of the landfill and begin to find other ways to fund it. Stephanie Perry spoke for Justice United's coalition of 26 member organizations representing thousands of citizens in Orange County. She said that there are so many questions that must be answered before this can be moved forward. She said that they ask that they finally call an end to the burdens placed on this community. She asked the County Commissioners to call an end to the burdens placed on the Rogers Road community. Steven McCraw lives in the Fox Meadow neighborhood. He said that he moved to Orange County a year ago from Wake County. He asked the County to please extend water out to the community because his drinking water contains arsenic. Will Raymond said that a lot of the costs from OWASA are tabletop engineering estimates. He said that this does not cover the costs of connecting people to the system. He said that it would be good to build the service, but it would be horrible not to be able to connect to it because of costs. Commissioner McKee said that he has heard that about half of the historic homes (pre- 1972) are already on the water system. He asked how many more of the homes could be added to this existing structure.