Orange County NC Website
Pam Jones, an Orange County employee, stated that there would be demonstration areas for composting and <br />recycling. The schools bring busloads of school children out now and the current building cannot accommodate <br />them. <br />Sally Greene said the question is whether the educational function is an essential public service. <br />Pam Jones stated that it is an essential operation to the facility. It is difficult to split the two uses. Solid waste <br />staff on a daily basis will use the meeting space. <br />Sally Greene stated that it did not strike her as an essential public service. <br />John Link said that Section 3 of the tA~ater and Sewer Agreement does not define "essential sei•~~ice." Elective <br />bodies will have to wrestle with it. Going down Rogers Road in tei7ns of the se~~•er might well be a good idea <br />for the three governing bodies to consider outside the enterprise process of the solid waste facility because we <br />use solid waste fees and tipping fees to operate the primary services of the landfill process. The aspect of using <br />solid waste revenue is not something that we can do. <br />Joal Broun stated that members of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen feel strongly about connecting the Rogers <br />Road neighborhood. She voted against the transfer because the deal made for the neighbors was a poor one. <br />Six years later we have had a growth among pockets of neighborhoods developed under different ordinances <br />that have water and sewer because the other previous neighborhoods were developed without water and sewer. <br />We undervalue having individuals to live next to a landfill, economically what that means and socially what that <br />means. If they ~~•ere that popular, people who were living in million dollar houses would be living next to the <br />landfill. Let us look at this really critically. It is narrowly in the rural buffer. They live next to the landfill and <br />we do not have to. <br />Mark Kleinschmidt stated that this area will be part of Chapel Hill--we want that community. It is a community <br />that we value. It is setting up a false dichotomy to say that because we do not want to punch into the rural <br />buffer to put water and sewer in, and to go against what has been along-standing agreement of three <br />governments that it is someho«-• an insult to the Rogers Road Neighborhood. We do not have to compromise <br />that value. A small area plan has been a priority of mine for the past for years and it is a top priority to get that <br />done for the council. u~'e want to get that done -every opportunity that we have to get the sewer line pulled up <br />into that area, we have done. What we have before us right now is the addition of what is an ancillary activity <br />to what is an essential public service that does not need water and sewer. <br />Joal Broun asked if they have to wait another six years to get sewer. <br />14lark Kleinschmidt said half have gotten it in the last t~~-•o or three years. <br />Jim t~'ard said he feels strongly that this line of the rural buffer is something he does not want to cross until he <br />fully understands the ramifications of penetrating into it with water and sewer. He would not want to cross that <br />line, not knowing what is in that Pandora's box. The idea of using this as an opportunity to get sewer in this <br />area to get in Rogers Road «~ithout crossing rural buffer sounds great. Additionally, looking to Chapel Hill and <br />town operation facilities in terms of its ability to provide some of this meeting space for you. You are saying <br />that the landfill capacity will be used up in five years, and recycling and solid waste construction is fifteen years <br />that is a wink of the eye. He stated that he would rather see us invest in something else. I hear that you need <br />those meeting spaces but it is not a good enough reason to put sewer into the rural buffer. <br />