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<br />But even without having made that promise to the community -the Eubanks Road site is <br />incompatible with the current and future development in and around the current landfill. County <br />soccer fields are being planned nearby on Millhouse Road -fields that will easily be walkable <br />and bikeable from many of the neighborhoods and residences in and around Eubanks Road - <br />absent the permanent expansion of garbage collection and 18-wheel waste transfer trucks <br />traveling the road. <br />When the current landfill is closed in 2010 -will the land then be returned to the <br />community as a park? How will this fit with the proposed waste transfer station? <br />You have heard the concerns of many of the long-time residents of this area. As we <br />know, the dramatic growth ahead far both Chapel Hill and Carrboro is in the northern most <br />sections of the towns, much of which will be near the current landfill. I hope that you will give <br />due consideration to not only the current residents, but the 1000's of future residents who will <br />soon be living within a short distance of and traveling Eubanks Raad an a daily basis. Traffic on <br />Eubanks has increased tremendously since the opening of the back entrance to Lake Hogan <br />Farms, which cut the distance to I-40 and shopping in Chapel Hill in half for many of the <br />neighborhood's residents. <br />Eubanks Road is no longer a country road outside of the day-to-day traffic streams. <br />Would you build a garbage transfer station in the middle of town? How about locating it on <br />some of the unplanned Carolina North campus? How ridiculous. <br />Yet the current proposal to site a permanent garbage transfer station nearby not only the <br />long-time Rogers Road neighbors, but also the two newer Habitat for Humanity neighborhoods <br />at Homestead Place and Rusch Hollow should be equally offensive to a community that prides <br />itself on social and environmental justice. Future Habitat and other low and mixed income <br />homes are being planned for the Greene Tract directly off of Eubanks Road -even closer to the <br />proposed garbage transfer facility - in addition to residences along Eubanks Road. <br />County funds are being used to build an elementary school and park just down the road <br />at the other end of Eubanks. A middle school is planned for the future. Will it be in our <br />children's best interest to walk and bike to school along a roadway that is permanently used by <br />not only our current garbage trucks, but that number multiplied many times over along with 18- <br />wheel transfer trucks? <br />The only justification far locating the garbage transfer station on Eubanks has been the <br />cost to county taxpayers. But what about the cost of quality of life for those citizens who have <br />borne the burden of the dump far years? <br />Earlier in this meeting, the Board approved $5,600 to purchase and display art at the <br />new Animal Shelter on Eubanks Road. A couple of years ago thousands of dollars, including <br />$15,000 on discussions alone, was spent to rename Airport Road in honor of the Reverend Dr. <br />Martin Luther King, Jr. I can't help but wander haw Dr. King would look upon this community's <br />treatment of the poor and elderly residents of Rogers Road. As we look upon Black History in <br />Orange County during this month of February, will we be building a proud history of keeping our <br />commitments to our minority residents? <br />Please commit yourselves to keeping the promises that were made by this County to its <br />citizens decades ago. Please find a way to make the alternate site on Highway 70 your choice <br />for the garbage transfer station. <br />Thank you, Sharon Cook, 1610 Claymore Raad, Chapel Hill 27516." <br />Katrina Ryan said that, in reading the initial estimates, the cost for Chapel Hill and <br />Carrboro comes down to about $10 per person per year additional to transport waste to the US <br />70 site. She said that Hillsborough has the largest capacity for urban growth. She said that the <br />purchase price of the US 70 property is $3.8 million, which is minute compared to the future <br />value of the redeveloped landfill if it does not have a trash transfer station sitting right next to it. <br />This will be prime real estate inside the rural buffer. She said that she does not know the dollar <br />