Orange County NC Website
<br />said that she is unconvinced that not one of those 10-acre is less residential in nature than <br />either Eubanks or the US 70 site. She said that the lesson learned in Greensboro was that it <br />purposely sited away from residential areas because it has such a negative impact. She said <br />that the job is not done yet, and she urged the County Commissioners to do the job correctly. <br />Suzanne Heff is President of the Northwood Homeowners Association. She encouraged <br />the County Commissioners not to place a facility like this in afast-growing urban area. She said <br />that Gayle Wilson stated that he has had intermittent discussions over the last five to six years <br />with the Board, which means that there has been an opportunity to think about this. However, <br />now it feels like a crisis. She said that it seems like this should have been decided a long time <br />ago. <br />Brian Voyce said that at the last meeting the County Commissioners asked the citizens <br />to provide alternative sites. He asked about the Carolina North property. He said that the <br />center of trash generation is very close to this property, and UNC is the largest trash producer in <br />Orange County. He thinks that this is social justice to put the transfer station close to the largest <br />trash producer. The site access would be Martin Luther King Boulevard, which is one of the <br />largest secondary road arteries in southern Orange County. This is better than Eubanks Road. <br />The distance to I-40 is about the same. He said that over two weeks ago he was at the SWAB <br />meeting, and he specifically asked for the document for the criteria that has now magically <br />appeared. He was told at that time that it did not exist. He thinks that this should be on the <br />record. <br />Rebecca High lives in Northwood. She said that about ten years ago her son's 3~d grade <br />teacher told her about families she had come to know through teaching who had struggled far <br />years to acquire homes of their own, only to see them attacked by rats and other animals, and <br />otherwise devalued by the presence of the landfill. She said that while other homes in Chapel <br />Hill grow in value, these families struggle to maintain the value of their homes. She reminded <br />the County Commissioners of the longstanding nature of the promises that this landfill would be <br />closed. She said that a waste transfer station at this location would instead tend to make <br />permanent this area's excessive burdens in relation to the County's waste. She urged the <br />Board of County Commissioners to seek a mare appropriate non-residential location for waste <br />handling. <br />Bill Clayton said that he lives in an area that would be impacted if this facility were put in <br />the NC 10/US 70 areas. He said that this site would impact a lot of people and this is a rapidly <br />growing corridor. He said that he feels for the County Commissioners and the dilemma that <br />they face. He said that there should be a search committee to look at Orange County and try to <br />find a place where so many people will not be impacted. <br />Donald Curry asked about the difference between a landfill and a transfer station and <br />Gayle Wilson said that there is a significant difference. He said that a landfill is a facility <br />whereby waste is buried in an engineered liner facility. They are usually fairly large, a minimum <br />of 2~0-300 acres, and there are many more regulations that govern them because the waste is <br />being exposed directly to the environment. It is an open facility. The cost is $400,000 per acre <br />to develop. There has only been one landfill permitted in the state of North Carolina in the last <br />five years. A transfer station is a fully enclosed facility that has heavy-duty concrete floors and a <br />tunnel at one end for trucks to come through. The waste does not come into contact with the <br />environment. It can be constructed on 10 acres. Landfills typically last a long time, and transfer <br />stations could last 20-25 years. Transfer stations have about the same amount of traffic ar <br />slightly more than a landfill. <br />Commissioner Nelson said that a number of the speakers spoke about the process <br />specifically. There have also been a lot of letters from citizens about the process, including a <br />letter from Mayor Chilton. He said that neither Town government chose to give input, but Mayor <br />Chilton gave input on his awn behalf. Some of the criticisms involved the lack of criteria and <br />